Boulder, Colorado, Startup Simplifies Previewing, Purchasing Music and Video Over the Web and Wireless Devices

Business Wire, Nov 13, 2000

Business and Entertainment Editors/High-Tech Writers

Webnoize 2000

LOS ANGELES--(ENTERTAINMENT WIRE)--WEBNOIZE 2000

Nov. 13, 2000--ClickPLAY, Inc.:

-- New patent-pending technology to offer consumers a very easy and pleasurable
way to experience and purchase music, movies and other media over the Web and
via wireless devices.

-- Scheduled to launch in Q2 2001, the ClickPLAY Platform will provide major
media publishers, Web sites, media retailers and Internet marketing
organizations with a new and completely legal system for providing e-previews
to their customers.

-- Along with completed deals to license music and video content, ClickPLAY has
already signed a wireless partnership with GEO Interactive to package and
deliver previews over Emblaze(TM)-enabled mobile telephones and other wireless
devices.

-- Founded by award-winning music and computer-industry veteran Alan Josef
Kaplan, ClickPLAY, Inc. includes a team of seasoned entertainment industry
players, most notably Senior Consulting Advisors Deborah A. Morgan, formerly
general manager of BMG Classics and head of Marketing and Sales at Polygram
Classics and Jazz, and film executive Fred Fuchs, producer of Godfather III,
The Virgin Suicides and 17 other motion pictures.

Boulder, Colorado, startup ClickPLAY, Inc. is working on a new and -- for the first time -- simple way for consumers to experience and purchase music and video products via the Web and over wireless devices.

The first application of the ClickPLAY Platform will be the ClickPLAY Network. Scheduled to launch in Q2 of 2001, the new network will feature a patent-pending "user experience" that lets consumers easily preview and purchase media products, while assuring content owners of legal, secure promotions.

At the same time, the ClickPLAY services group will provide a completely new promotional and selling platform linked to major media publishers, Web sites, media retailers and Internet marketing organizations.

Simplicity is Everything

According to ClickPLAY, the recent controversy surrounding Napster and other media file sharing alternatives obscures the fact that most Internet users still don't know how to access audio and other media over the Web.

"I spend day after day talking to people about our new concept of media interaction, and almost everyone has had a problem trying to access music and other media on the Internet," says ClickPLAY founder and CEO Alan Kaplan. "For the 70% of Internet users still looking for a simple way to access on-line media, the ClickPLAY Network offers the first truly easy, one-click way to preview and purchase music and other media products over the Web and wireless devices."

To access the ClickPLAY Network, consumers will access a small (35K) browser-friendly applet the first time they find a Web site showing the spinning ClickPLAY logo. Once received, the ClickPLAY applet gives the user an easy, pleasurable way to preview a selection of 12 or more high-quality media clips lasting approximately 40 seconds each. If the consumer wishes to purchase a CD or video, they can click a "buy" button to order from an existing on-line retailer, or to print out a discount coupon that they can bring to a bricks-and-mortar retailer in their area.

A New Model for Promoting and Selling Media On-Line

In addition to the consumer experience, the ClickPLAY Network will also function as a promotional and selling platform that relies on a network of relationships with major media publishers, Web sites, media retailers and Internet marketing organizations.

"The ClickPLAY platform has the potential to change the way that all digital media is previewed and sold," says Kaplan. "We see the ClickPLAY Network as the first music solution that is acceptable to the vast majority of consumers -- and to the music and video publishing industry as a whole."

ClickPLAY has already signed agreements to demonstrate this technology with selected preview content from Gold Circle Entertainment, and preview material from the Internet feature film Quantum Project from SightSound.com. ClickPLAY is also negotiating content deals with a number of music and filmed entertainment organizations.

Additionally, ClickPLAY has signed a partnership agreement with GEO Interactive to encode, host, package and deliver previews over Emblaze(TM)-enabled mobile telephones and other wireless handheld devices. During demonstration trials, ClickPLAY will gather and package high-quality previews of music, movies and other video content for use by Emblaze-enabled wireless devices. ClickPLAY will be introduced to each carrier utilizing Emblaze products and services.

ClickPLAY Management

The ClickPLAY Platform is the brainchild of music and computer-industry veteran Alan Josef Kaplan, visionary, founder, and chief executive officer of ClickPLAY, Inc.

Before launching ClickPLAY last year, Kaplan launched and ran Music West, an $18 million music publishing and record label, which won Billboard Magazine's Label of the Year Award in 1989 and 1990. Kaplan has also served as an adviser to management of Gold Circle Entertainment (music), PackageNet (on-line package delivery), Headspace (now Beatnik, music on the Internet), MissionStudios (video games) and the Motorola Interactive Media Festival (a conference on new media and the Internet). In 1990, Kaplan was named one of the Top 40 Entrepreneurs Under 40 by the editors of Entrepreneur Magazine.