Celebrities Turning to Photobucket to Further Engage Fan Communities on Social Network Sites

Business Wire, Jan 8, 2007

Music Industry's Biggest Names Including Anthrax, Hinder, Korn, Enrique Iglesias, Bow Wow, Mudvayne, Chris Cornell and Otep Connect With Fans Using Photobucket for Images and Slideshows

PALO ALTO, Calif. -- Photobucket (http://www.photobucket.com), the online personal media company where over 32 million people create, manage and share their digital lives, today announced the launch of its community marketing relationship with Buddylube. Buddylube has introduced Photobucket to over 100 of the music industry's biggest names, who now use Photobucket as their preferred image and slideshow sharing provider on social networking sites including MySpace, Facebook, and Bebo.

Many of today's hottest artists, including Anthrax, Korn, Enrique Iglesias, Deftones, Chris Cornell, Army of Anyone, The Cinematics, and Otep, use Photobucket to share concert photos, album releases, fan contests, and more. Photobucket helped rap superstar and teen idol Bow Wow launch a celebrity look-a-like contest on his MySpace page to celebrate the release of his new album "The Price of Fame."

Photobucket currently serves over 70 percent of all image, slideshow, and video links to social networking Web sites, distributing more than 90 billion image requests per month. Photobucket members are currently adding over 7 million new images daily.

"We have always searched for opportunities to connect in meaningful ways with our fans and supporters," said Otep, regarded by metal peers as the first Web 2.0 musical artist. "Photobucket allows us to do exactly that."

"Our fans are everything to us so being able to connect with them online is huge," said Aimee, with the rock band Dirtie Blonde. "It's not just about selling music or doing shows. It's about creating a community with our fans who share our love for great music."

"We're connecting with our fans using Photobucket on our profiles," said Joe Garvey with the rock band Hinder. "Our fans are taking our slideshows and sharing them on their personal sites too. It's mind blowing, to see how their support is popping up in new places."

"Lacuna Coil's success has always been defined by the fans," said Cristina Scabbia, lead vocalist, Lacuna Coil. "It's that diehard devotion that gives us the fuel to create this music and we are extremely humbled by it. These photos represent just how loyal our fan base is, and we wish that we could give more back to them as thanks for all of their support. Our fans are part of our family and we would not exist without them."

"Photobucket is an ideal partner and solution for musicians and celebrities who want to engage and activate their fan bases across a variety of social networking sites," said John Eaton, CEO, Buddylube. "It doesn't matter if it's Myspace, Xanga, Facebook, Bebo, Tagworld, or Friendster. Photobucket is there. It's cool. It's viral. And the celebrities and the fans love it."

The growing list of artists includes but is not limited to:

Anthrax            Deftones            Hustle
Army of Anyone     DirtyBlonde         Jim Jones
Blood Simple       Enrique Iglesias    Jordis
Bow Wow            GettyBoy            Korn
Chris Cornell      Hell Yeah           Labba
Cinematics         Hinder              Lacuna Coil
Lil John           New Years Day       Sanaz
Mistress Juliya    Nothing Face        Scott Ian
Mudvayne           OTEP

About Photobucket

Photobucket is the easiest and most reliable way for people to create, manage and share their personal media online. With more than 32 million users, Photobucket is a creative hub linking billions of personal photos, graphics and videos daily to hundreds of thousands of web sites -- including MySpace, Facebook, eBay, Craigslist, Blogger, Bebo, and Xanga. In addition to linking, Photobucket users share images and videos by email, instant messaging and mobile devices. Everyday over 7 million personal photos, graphics and videos are uploaded to Photobucket for sharing with family, friends and the online world. The company actively moderates content to create a safe environment for its users, partners and advertisers. Photobucket has offices in Palo Alto, California, and Denver, Colorado, and is located online at www.photobucket.com