Beggars Group, V2, Edel, Ministry of Sound and More Join 500 European Independent Labels for 12 September eMusic European Launch

London, 12 September 2006 – eMusic (www.emusic.com), the no.1 site for independent music and the world’s second-largest digital music service, today announces the debut of material from more than 500 leading European independent labels on its newly-launched pan-European site. Well-known European independents making their catalogues available to European eMusic subscribers include: Beggars Group, Domino Records, Ministry of Sound, Edel, Chemikal Underground, Defected, V2, Memphis Industries, Disconforme, Dune Jazz, Harmonia Mundi, Haenssler Classic, SPV, Morr Music, World Music Network and Stern’s Music. These high-profile additions mean that recordings from acclaimed artists such as Franz Ferdinand, the White Stripes, Stereophonics, Paul Weller, M.I.A., Basement Jaxx, Billie Holliday, Chet Baker, the London Symphony Orchestra and more will now be available for European eMusic subscribers to download and enjoy.

eMusic has been negotiating agreements with European independent labels for more than a year, leading up to the launch of its pan-European site. eMusic now offers music lovers in all 25 EU member nations a catalogue of 1.7 million tracks in the universally-compatible MP3 format, which works on every device including the market-leading iPod®. eMusic believes this is the largest collection of European independent music ever assembled.

The latest European additions bring eMusic’s independent label roster to more than 8500. Its global catalogue also includes US bestsellers such as Prestige, Concord Jazz, Stax, Naxos, KOCH, Epitaph, Merge, Drag City, Asthmatic Kitty, New West, Shanachie, Secretly Canadian, Fat Possum, Justin Time, Vagrant, ESL, BIS, Stones Throw, Smithsonian Folkways and Sun Records.

“eMusic customers rely on us to help them discover new music. Their enthusiasm for new and off-the-beaten-track recordings along with eMusic’s superior editorial and music discovery tools allow us to successfully market non-mainstream and niche material. We welcome our new label partners and look forward to helping them increase sales and break new artists,” said Steve McCauley, President of eMusic Europe.

"We're very pleased that eMusic is launching over here,” said Martin Mills, Chairman of Beggars Group. “We find it a great service, and its total focus on independent music offers visibility to independent artists that other services can't offer. eMusic communicates very fully with its labels, which is a pleasure! We do great with eMusic.” eMusic also has signed a pan-European licensing deal with Netherlands’ author society Buma/Stemra, becoming the first digital music service to take advantage of the EU Common Market, which allows it to make a single agreement for publishing royalties covering all 25 EU member nations. eMusic’s license from Buma/Stemra does not require the company to enter into separate agreements with individual countries and protects the copyright interests of composers, songwriters and music publishers.

NEW LABEL ADDITIONS TO EMUSIC’S GLOBAL CATALOGUE INCLUDE:
UK
Domino Records
Ministry of Sound
Chemikal Underground
Defected
V2
Beggars Banquet
Stern’s Music
World Music Network
Dune Jazz

GERMANY
Edel
SPV
Morr Music
Phonag
Berlin Clasics
Nagel Heyer
Haenssler Classic

FRANCE
Harmonia Mundi
Season of Mist
O+ Music
Le Maquis Records
Bip Hop Records

SPAIN
Disconforme
Subterfuge
Musica Global
Galileo
Discmedi
Maldito Records
Oihuka/Elkar
Nubenegra
El Pescador De Estrellas

ITALY
Azzurra Music
Novaera Edizioni Musicali Saj
New Life Records
Duck Records
Time Spa
Media Records
Cinevox
Azzurra
Duck

HIGHLIGHTS OF EMUSIC’S OVERALL GLOBAL CATALOGUE:

ROCK/POP/ALTERNATIVE/ PUNK
With the addition of Beggars Banquet for the EU, eMusic expands its rock catalogue to include some of the most popular indie rock on the planet with the White Stripes, Interpol, Cat Power and the Pixies, as well as classic titles from Gary Numan and the Cult. Fans will also be pleased to find recent Domino recordings from Arctic Monkeys and Franz Ferdinand. V2’s essential artists include Stereophonics, Bloc Party and Paul Weller. Other highlights include Memphis Industries’ Pipettes and Field Music, Frankie Goes to Hollywood on ZTT, and the Kinks and the Slits from KOCH.

JAZZ
The legendary Prestige label features Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins and Ella Fitzgerald, and the Riverside label digs even deeper into classic jazz with Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane and Bill Evans. The eMusic catalogue is heaven for jazz lovers, with Count Basie, Louis Armstrong and Dizzy Gillespie on Pablo and salsa stars Celia Cruz and Ray Barretto on New York’s Fania Records.

CLASSICAL
Naxos is one of eMusic’s top-selling labels, with a catalogue that spans centuries of classical music. Other key classical labels include Harmonia Mundi, London Symphony Orchestra, BIS and Avie.

ELECTRONIC
Beggars Banquet leads the way again in Electronic, with Basement Jaxx, the Prodigy and M.I.A. Other catalogue highlights include Fatboy Slim on Skint, the Art of Noise and 808 State on ZTT, Lamb on KOCH and Underworld on V2.

BLUES/R&B
Blues and R&B fans will find Ray Charles' celebrated final album Genius Loves Company in the Concord Jazz catalogue, while eMusic also features classic Stax label recordings from Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, Booker T & the MGs and John Lee Hooker. Additionally, the Shanachie label includes essentials from Skip James and Mississippi John Hurt and the Westbound label brings classic albums from Funkadelic.

HIP-HOP
eMusic’s hip-hop roster starts with Beggars’ XL Recordings, with Dizzee Rascal, Wiley and M.I.A. Other highlights include Madvillain on Stones Throw, Public Enemy on KOCH, Roots Manuva on Big Dada and Matisyahu on Or Music.

COUNTRY/ FOLK
eMusic has plumbed the archives of the renowned Sun Records label to bring subscribers seminal and rare works from Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins. Smithsonian Folkways provides recordings from Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger and Lucinda Williams, and JSP Records features the Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers.

INTERNATIONAL
eMusic’s catalogue includes an abundant selection of music from all over the world. Key labels include Blood and Fire, with reggae greats King Tubby, the Congos and Horace Andy; and Palm Pictures with Baaba Maal and Sly and Robbie. And from The Buda-Ethiopiques label comes the spectacular twenty-volume Ethiopiques series.

About eMusic
eMusic (http://www.emusic.com) is the world’s leading digital retailer of independent music, second only to iTunes in number of downloads sold. The eMusic website offers a global catalogue of more than 1.7 million tracks from established and emerging artists in every genre from the world’s leading independent labels. Created by music experts for music fans, it features award-winning editorial content, a vibrant online community and unrivaled music discovery tools. A subscription-based service that offers 25 free downloads at sign-up, eMusic gives consumers an inexpensive, low-risk way to explore great new music they wouldn’t find otherwise, and unlike other download services, its universally compatible MP3 files play on any device including the iPod®. Based in New York with an office in London, eMusic.com Inc. is wholly owned by Dimensional Associates, Inc., the private equity arm of JDS Capital Management, Inc.

NOTE: eMusic is a registered trademark and eMusic.com is a trademark of eMusic.com Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Media Contacts: For more information or photography of the launch event please contact: Donna Amato or David Milsom +44 (0) 870 9905 425 emusicpr@golinharris.com Cathy Halgas Nevins, eMusic +1 212-201-9201 or cnevins@emusic.com