New singer/songwriter launches website

New singer/songwriter launches website

ALLOWAY, NEW JERSEY February 9, 2009, 2009.
Guitarist/singer/songwriter Zach Caruso will be launching his new website which will offer viewers a variety of information about the new, young artist. The site, http://www.zachcaruso.com, includes a biography and news updates, photos, video, and listings of upcoming performances, as well as streaming audio clips of Zachs music. In addition, the site will also feature merchandise including t-shirts and stickers.

Viewers can also visit Zachs MySpace page for more information at http://www.myspace.com/zachcarusomusic.


The 22-year-old south Jersey native began playing and writing music at an early age, and pulls from a wide-range of influences to create his own eclectic style. His passion for music and penchant for variety has led him to incorporate acoustic, electric, and slide guitar-infused melodies with strong vocals and mature songwriting to produce a sound that stands out among his peers.


The site will be updated regularly, with new photos being added, as well as information on where and when Zach will be playing live shows in the area. Zach also just wrapped up the recording of five new songs. These five tracks, plus four more songs recorded in late 2007, will appear on his new album Body and Soul, slated for release in October of this year. The album will be on sale at http://www.zachcaruso.com .


The nine songs comprising Body and Soul will also be available for individual download on ITunes and MSN Rhapsody, as well as http://cdbaby.com/cd/zachcaruso


In addition, Zach recently wrapped up filming on the music video for his single Jesus Walks, a controversial song that is a call to action for all listeners, and deals with the record-breaking murder rates in Philadelphia, PA. The video should be completed and available to view on his website, http://www.zachcaruso.com, as well as youtube.com, by early 2009.


Contact:
Zach Caruso
zach@zachcaruso.com

Investorideas.com Launches “News of the Day” for Music Stocks and Industry

Investorideas.com Launches “News of the Day” for Food and Beverage,
Organics, Homebuilding Stocks, Toy Industry or Music Industry Stocks and other Leading Sectors


POINT ROBERTS, WA – October 23, 2008, Investorideas.com, a leading global investor and industry research resource reports the InvestorIdeas.com newswire has added new options and upgrades to the Investorideas.com Newswire for public and private companies to gain enhanced market exposure and online visibility on a day- to- day basis to investors and industry following their sector. Companies and publicly traded stocks in food and beverage, organics, homebuilding, music and the toy industry can be featured as the sector news of the day.

With markets and investor sentiment changing daily Investorideas.com new service creates an online venue targeted to global investors for Story of the day, Sector News of the Day and Audio of the day in over 30 sectors including Oil and Gas Stocks, Tech Stocks, Telecom, Digital Media, China Stocks, renewable energy/cleantech, water, mining, biotech, nanotech, coal, natural gas, Homeland Security and more.

InvestorIdeas.com currently attracts a global investor audience averaging 15,000 unique visitors per day (and growing), made up of investors, brokers, analysts, media, industry peers, institutions and government seeking news and research on over 30 sectors and global markets. Additionally, InvestorIdeas.com and its related sector portals are visible multiple financial and news sites and blogs globally via the Investorideas.com RSS feeds and syndication partners.

About the Investorideas.com Newswire:
Investor Ideas Newswire is fast becoming a valuable news source for investors and industry leaders. Readers can subscribe to the feed, companies can submit news to the feed and investment and news sites can add the RSS feed for free. Investor Ideas Newswire is indexed by Google News, My Yahoo! and other leading news sources.
Newswire RSS Feed: http://www.investorideas.com/RSS/feeds/IIMAIN.xml

Companies can submit Stock, Investing and Financial News or Industry News: Target Your News to Investors, Investment Industry and Industry Eyeballs Following Your Specific Sector (Choose up to 3 Industry Portals). Submit your news release to our Investor Ideas Newswire, RSS Feed and sector portals covering the Environment, Homeland Security, Tech, Digital Media, Renewable Energy, Greentech, Oil and Gas, Nanotech, Biotech, Gold, Mining, China, India, Middle East and other leading sectors and global markets. The Investorideas.com newswire uploader: http://www1.investorideas.com/NewsUploader/Default.aspx

New Investorideas.com Upgrade Options for news release or announcements:

Do you have a great news release or announcement that you want to gain extra eyeballs and ear-balls for? With markets and investor sentiment changing daily- Be the Story of the day!

To accommodate short term targeted news distribution programs on a budget we have now added the following upgrades to give you multiple options at an affordable price!

In addition to the basis news distribution the $75 Investorideas.com newswire service provides – companies can now choose one or more of the following:

Be the Sector news of the day- Be the featured news story of the day on the sector home page of your choice and have your news sent to our subscribers!

Be the Investorideas.com home page top news story of the day – Be directly visible to 10-15,000 visitors a day! We will also send your news as the story of the day to our subscribers following your sector!

Be the Featured Podcast - audio news story of the day – We will read your news or announcement and create an audio file and add to our Podcast RSS feeds and your audio will be the featured audio on Investorideas.com home page for the day!
News uploader: http://www1.investorideas.com/NewsUploader/Default.aspx

About InvestorIdeas.com:
"One of the first online investor resources providing in-depth information on renewable energy, greentech and water sectors." InvestorIdeas.com is a leading global investor and industry research resource portal specialized in sector investing covering over thirty industry sectors and global markets including China, India, Middle East and Australia.
The Investorideas.com Trading Exchange: http://www.investorideas.com/trade/

RSS Ad feeds:
Investing Ideas http://www.investorideas.com/rss/feeds/adfeed.xml
Trading Services http://www.investorideas.com/rss/feeds/tradingservicesadfeed.xml
Financial Services http://www.investorideas.com/rss/feeds/financialservicesadfeed.xml
IR/PR Services http://www.investorideas.com/rss/feeds/ir-prservicesadfeed.xml
Business Services http://www.investorideas.com/rss/feeds/businessservicesadfeed.xml
Financial/Investing Products http://www.investorideas.com/rss/feeds/financial-investingproductsadfeed.xml
Disclaimer: Our sites do not make recommendations, but offer information portals to research news, articles, stock lists and recent research. Nothing on our sites should be construed as an offer or solicitation to buy or sell products or securities. We attempt to research thoroughly, but we offer no guarantees as to the accuracy of information presented. All Information relating to featured companies is sourced from public documents and/ or the company and is not the opinion of our web sites. This site is currently compensated by featured companies, news submissions and online advertising.
For more information contact:
Dawn Van Zant: 800-665-0411 - dvanzant@investorideas.com
Or cvanzant@investorideas.com

Marketplace Update- Connecting Business and Investors in Music Industry, Cleantech and Organics

InvestorIdeas.com Global Marketplace Update- Connecting Business and Investors in Music Industry, Cleantech and Organics

POINT ROBERTS, Wash., Delta B.C., 08 - www.InvestorIdeas.com, a leading online global investor resource, updates the Investor Ideas Global Marketplace connecting business and investors in the music, cleantech and organics sectors.
Other industries include the water industry, Homeland Security, Oil and gas, Real Estate and other leading sectors.

The Marketplace is a meeting place created for connecting global companies in leading sectors, seeking strategic partnerships, funding, mergers and acquisitions, licensing or branding. Investorideas.com is building a growing a global network of green and renewable energy companies both seeking funding, partners or management as well as funds, small public companies and Fortune 500 companies seeking investment opportunities.

http://www.investorideas.com/marketplace

To register and sign up as an accredited investor or business: http://www.investorideas.com/marketplace/signup.asp

The Global Green Marketplace
The marketplace fastest growing segments include cleantech, renewable and organics sector. Sector: Sector: Cleantech & Renewable Energy Seeking: Funding/Partners
We currently have green companies for review to accredited investors: small wind turbine, carbon capture, PV installer service company, green building and housing , agri-waste to marketable bi-product, waste to energy, China Fiber fuel- Jatropha, green automotive engine, environmental technology safely removes mercury from light bulbs and other green companies added regularly.
Investorideas.com was one of the first online investor resources providing in-depth information on renewable energy and water – with its Renewableenergystocks.com portal and Water-stocks.com portal.
About InvestorIdeas.com:
"One of the first online investor resources providing in-depth information on renewable energy, greentech and water sectors." InvestorIdeas.com is a leading global investor and industry research resource portal specialized in sector investing covering over thirty industry sectors and global markets including China, India, Middle East and Australia.
MusicIndustryStocks.com Portal is a global meeting place for investors and industry following the music sector, within Investorideas.com. Global visitors use the site daily to research the latest news, articles, audio, research reports and our stock directories.
Disclaimer: Our sites do not make recommendations, but offer information portals to research news, articles, stock lists and recent research. Nothing on our sites should be construed as an offer or solicitation to buy or sell products or securities. We attempt to research thoroughly, but we offer no guarantees as to the accuracy of information presented. All Information relating to featured companies is sourced from public documents and/ or the company and is not the opinion of our web sites. This site is currently compensated by featured companies, news submissions and online advertising.
For more information contact:
Dawn Van Zant: 800-665-0411 - dvanzant@investorideas.com

Best Buy to Acquire Napster

Best Buy to Acquire Napster


Email Story IM Story Printable View MINNEAPOLIS & LOS ANGELES--September 15 2008 -Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE: BBY) and Napster Inc. (NASDAQ: NAPS) announced today that the two companies have entered into a definitive merger agreement for Best Buy to commence a tender offer for all outstanding Napster shares at a price of $2.65 per share in cash. The transaction, with an aggregate purchase price of approximately $121 million (or $54 million net of approximately $67 million in cash and short term investments of Napster as of June 30, 2008), is subject to customary closing conditions, including the tender of a number of Napster shares that constitutes a majority of Napster’s outstanding shares of common stock (on a fully-diluted basis). The transaction is expected to close during the fourth calendar quarter. The transaction has been unanimously approved by the board of directors of Napster, and Napster’s directors and executive officers have agreed, in their capacities as stockholders, to tender their Napster shares and otherwise support the transaction.

The proposed acquisition includes Napster’s approximately 700,000 digital entertainment subscribers, its Web-based customer service platform, and innovative mobile capabilities. In conjunction with the definitive merger agreement, Napster CEO Chris Gorog and key members of senior management of Napster have entered into employment agreements, effective at closing, pursuant to which they have agreed to continue as the Napster leadership post-acquisition.

Best Buy believes that Napster has one of the most comprehensive and easy-to-use music offerings in the industry, including streaming music, music subscriptions, the ability to purchase individual tracks, albums and mobile offers. Napster has approximately 140 employees, with its headquarters in Los Angeles. At this time, Best Buy does not plan to relocate Napster’s headquarters or to make significant changes in personnel.

“This transaction offers Best Buy a recognized platform for enhancing our capabilities in the digital media space and building new, recurring relationships with customers,” said Brian Dunn, President and COO of Best Buy. “Over time we hope to strengthen our offerings to consumers, who we believe will increasingly seek devices and solutions that enable them to access their content wherever, whenever and however they want.”

Best Buy intends to use Napster’s capabilities and digital subscriber base to reach new customers with an enhanced experience for exploring and selecting music and other digital entertainment products over an increasing array of devices. Best Buy believes the combined capabilities of the two companies will allow it to build stronger relationships with customers, expand the number of subscribers, and capture recurring revenue by offering ongoing value over a mobile digital platform.

“We believe Napster brings us excellent capabilities in the mobility space, as well as international operations and an established team of technology experts,” said Dave Morrish, Executive Vice President – Connected Digital Solutions of Best Buy. “We can foresee Napster acting as a platform for accelerating our growth in the emerging industry of digital entertainment, beyond music subscriptions. We’re very excited to add these capabilities to leverage our existing relationships with the labels, the studios, and the hardware providers. We believe Napster will be an outstanding addition to our already robust portfolio of partners and offerings in the digital music space.”

“We believe Best Buy will be an ideal partner for Napster and are very excited by the benefits that this transaction delivers to our shareholders, partners and employees. Best Buy is uniquely positioned to benefit from Napster’s digital entertainment distribution platform. We are looking forward to combining our digital media capabilities with Best Buy’s resources and global network to extend our digital content platforms,” said Chris Gorog, chairman and CEO of Napster.

Under the terms of the definitive merger agreement, Best Buy will commence a cash tender offer to purchase all of the outstanding shares of Napster common stock for $2.65 per share in cash, with a supporting recommendation from the Napster Board of Directors. The closing of the tender offer is subject to customary terms and conditions, including the tender of a number of shares that constitutes a majority of Napster's outstanding shares of common stock (on a fully diluted basis) and expiration or termination of the waiting period under the Hart Scott Rodino Antitrust Improvement Act. The agreement also provides for the parties to effect, subject to customary conditions, a merger to be completed following the completion of the tender offer which would result in all shares not tendered in the tender offer (other than shares held by Best Buy, treasury shares, and shares held by Napster shareholders, if any, who properly exercise appraisal rights) being converted into the right to receive $2.65 per share in cash. The directors and certain officers of Napster have entered into agreements with Best Buy pursuant to which they have agreed to tender their shares in connection with the tender offer contemplated by the merger agreement and otherwise support the transaction.

Napster, which recently launched one of the world’s largest MP3 stores, had fiscal 2008 revenue of $127.5 million, an increase of 15 percent over the prior fiscal year; a loss of $16.5 million, an improvement compared with a loss of $36.8 million the prior fiscal year; and positive cash flow for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2008.

Best Buy intends to complete the acquisition using available cash. UBS Investment Bank served as the exclusive financial advisor to Napster, and Napster is represented by O’Melveny & Myers LLP. Best Buy is represented by Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi L.L.P.

About Best Buy

With operations in the United States, Canada, Europe and China, Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) is a multinational retailer of technology and entertainment products and services with a commitment to growth and innovation. The Best Buy family of brands and partnerships collectively generates more than $40 billion annual revenue and includes brands such as Best Buy, Audiovisions, The Carphone Warehouse, Future Shop, Geek Squad, Jiangsu Five Star, Magnolia Audio Video, Pacific Sales Kitchen and Bath Centers, and Speakeasy. Approximately 150,000 employees apply their talents to help bring the benefits of these brands to life for customers through retail locations, multiple call centers and web sites, in-home solutions, product delivery and in our communities. Community partnership is central to the way we do business at Best Buy. In fiscal 2008, we donated a combined $31.8 million to improve the vitality of the communities where our employees and customers live and work. For more information about Best Buy, visit www.bestbuy.com.

About Napster

Napster, the pioneer of digital music, offers the ultimate in interactive music experiences, creating better ways to discover, share, acquire and enjoy music -- anytime, anywhere. The Company's offerings include "Napster" (www.napster.com) -- the premier online music destination featuring the most popular on-demand music subscription service in the world and the largest, most comprehensive MP3 download store on the market; "FreeNapster" (www.freeNapster.com) -- a unique Web experience offering free on demand music legally; and "Napster Mobile" -- one of the industry's fastest growing mobile music platforms. Headquartered in Los Angeles, Napster's services are available in markets across the Americas, Europe and Japan.

Forward Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 as contained in Section 27A of the U.S. Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 that reflect Best Buy and Napster managements’ current views and estimates regarding future market conditions, company performance and financial results, business prospects, new strategies, the competitive environment and other events. You can identify these statements by the fact that they use words such as "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "project," "plan," "outlook," and other words and terms of similar meaning. These statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the potential results discussed in the forward-looking statements. Among the factors that could cause actual results and outcomes to differ materially from those contained in such forward-looking statements are the following: failure to meet the minimum tender condition or obtain any required stockholder or regulatory approvals or satisfy other conditions to the transaction; failure to achieve anticipated benefits of the transaction; and integration challenges relating to the acquisition. Other factors include the following: general economic conditions, acquisitions and development of new businesses, divestitures, product availability, sales volumes, pricing actions and promotional activities of competitors, profit margins, weather, changes in law or regulations, foreign currency fluctuation, availability of suitable real estate locations, Best Buy's and Napster’s ability to react to a disaster recovery situation, and the impact of labor markets and new product introductions on overall profitability. A further list and description of risks, uncertainties and other matters can be found in Best Buy’s and Napster’s annual reports and other reports filed from time to time with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including, but not limited to, Best Buy's Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC on April 30, 2008, and Napster’s Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC on June 11, 2008. Best Buy and Napster caution that the foregoing list of important factors is not complete and assume no obligation to update any forward-looking statement that it may make.

Additional Information and Where to Find it

The tender offer for the outstanding common stock of Napster has not yet commenced. This document is for informational purposes only and is not an offer to buy or the solicitation of an offer to sell any securities. The solicitation and the offer to buy shares of Napster common stock will be made only pursuant to an offer to purchase and related materials that Best Buy intends to file with the SEC on Schedule TO. Napster also intends to file a solicitation/recommendation statement on Schedule 14D-9 with respect to the offer. Napster stockholders and other investors should read these materials carefully because they contain important information, including the terms and conditions of the offer. Napster stockholders and other investors will be able to obtain copies of these materials without charge from the SEC through the SEC’s Web site at www.sec.gov, from the Information Agent named in the tender offer documents, from Best Buy (with respect to documents filed by Best Buy with the SEC), or from Napster (with respect to documents filed by Napster with the SEC).

MULTIMEDIA AVAILABLE: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=5777533

Best Buy
Media Contacts:
Susan Busch, 612-291-6114
Director, Corporate PR
susan.busch@bestbuy.com

Local teen gets strong start to indie music sharing site

Local teen gets strong start to indie music sharing site

By Kathy Michaels - Kelowna Capital News

Published: July 01, 2008 10:00 PM It’s only been a year since 19-year-old Taylor Van Zant started up a website dedicated to promoting new bands, and in that time thousands have had a chance to get their fill of indie music.

“It’s something we started up awhile ago,” said the UBC Okanagan student. “Basically, my mum used to have an greeting card company and I was into music, so I started writing my own stuff, and compiling music so we could send out music on a greeting card.”

With time, that developed into a site where indie bands could send out their music to multiple sources, almost effortlessly.

Van Sant explained that the service, at this point, isn’t income generating so much as it is a free way for up and coming bands to advertise and promote their own sound.

Bands can upload their music—so long as it’s in MP3 format— and they can send it up to 10 people at a time.

“It’s a good way to spread around what you are doing with your music. All the indie bands can send their music out without having to sending out huge files—and it’s free.”

For the past year, Van Sant and his mother have been working on building up the network, which at this time is 2,000 members strong.

“We have a band of the week and we promote anyone who sends their music out the most,” he explained.

“We keep a daily post of what bands are sending out their music, and we update our Myspace page to have more bands sign up and check it out.”

Once they’re better established they intend to make the service membership driven with ties to other music sites and labels, as well as some advertisement links.

Van Sant said that the types of music on the site vary from acoustic to hip hop, rap and dance.

“We have pretty much whatever you can think of— there are underground bands for every style of music.”\

To see what the site is all about, go to www.mp3musicgrams.com

kmichaels@kelownacapnews.com

Forrester: Digital Music To Surpass CD Sales By 2012

Forrester: Digital Music To Surpass CD Sales By 2012

Cambridge, Mass., February 19, 2008 . . . Half of all music sold in the US will be digital in 2011 and sales of digitally downloaded music will surpass physical CD sales in 2012, according to a new report by Forrester Research, Inc. (Nasdaq: FORR). Digital music sales will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 23 percent over the next five years, reaching $4.8 billion in revenue by 2012, but will fail to make up for the continuing steady decline in CD sales. In 2012, CD sales will be reduced to just $3.8 billion.
"This is the end of the music industry as we know it," said Forrester Research Vice President and Principal Analyst James L. McQuivey. "Media executives eager to stay afloat in this receding tide must clear the path of discovery and purchase, but only hardware and software providers can ultimately make listening to music as easy as turning on the radio."
The Forrester report is based in part on a survey of more than 5,000 consumers in the US and Canada. Among the drivers of Forrester's five-year forecast for music sales:
MP3 player adoption. The average MP3 player is only 57 percent full, suggesting that the devices are underutilized, while more of the devices are being bought by households with more than one MP3 player. Moving forward, a majority of MP3 players will be sold to households that already have one. DRM-free music. With the four big music labels now committed to eliminating digital rights management (DRM), DRM-free music will extend beyond pioneer Amazon.com to Apple iTunes and the other major online music sites. Social networks. DRM-free music enables every profile page on MySpace.com or Facebook to immediately become a music store where friends sell friends their favorite tracks. Forrester believes digital downloads are the logistical mass market for the future, satisfying all the needs that people have when it comes to music — easy to find, easy to buy, and easy to listen to, regardless of the device. On the other hand, subscription music services will show modest growth, reaching just $459 million in revenue in 2012 according to Forrester's projections, while experiments in ad-supported downloads will be silenced by the powerful combination of DRM-free music and on-demand music streaming on sites like imeem.com.
"The industry has to redefine what its product is," said McQuivey. "Music executives have spent years tracking CD sales. But the artist is the product — not just the source of it. New forms of revenue will come from unexpected sources. For example, the industry has failed to capitalize on the growing popularity of video games such as Guitar Hero and Rock Band. In a market where musicians are happy to sell a million copies of a CD, a video game market where titles can sell five million copies is enough to motivate even the most depressed music executive."
"The End Of The Music Industry As We Know It" is currently available to Forrester RoleView™ clients and can also be purchased directly at www.forrester.com.

About Forrester Research
Forrester Research, Inc. (Nasdaq: FORR) is an independent technology and market research company that provides pragmatic and forward-thinking advice to global leaders in business and technology. For more than 24 years, Forrester has been making leaders successful every day through its proprietary research, consulting, events, and peer-to-peer executive programs. For more information, visit www.forrester.com.
Contact:
Tracy SullivanSenior Public Relations SpecialistForrester Research, Inc.+1 617.613.6023press@forrester.com

Global Online Music Sales to Total US$8.9 Billion By 2010, According to a New Report by Global Industry Analysts, Inc.

Global Online Music Sales to Total US$8.9 Billion By 2010, According to a New Report by Global Industry Analysts, Inc.

The growing popularity, deployment and acceptance of digital music continues to contribute to the substantial growth in the online music industry. The epic dimensions of worldwide digital music industry continue to evolve as the highly touted 3G mobile phones, portable digital music players and broadband Internet finally see the light of day, throwing up opportunities for further growth in the market.

San Jose, California -February 25, 2008 -- As Internet gains popularity, a new strain of market forces emerged to shape growth and success in the now altered marketplace. In this regard, technology, and business models are being transformed, and developed to complement, and foster the take up of new services. The swift and enthusiastic uptake of downloading music directly onto mobile phone or PC has provided a cushion against ebbing revenues in retail music industry worldwide. The worldwide Online Music market is expected to witness rapid growth over the review period to reach US$8.9 billion in sales by 2010. The extent of growth in the worldwide online music industry can be gauzed from the fact that downloaded music revenues exceeded online sales of physical media during 2006. The widespread availability of legal web sites is a major factor contributing to the increased sales in this industry. The advent of new and sophisticated technologies and devices such as portable digital devices are expected to bolster sales in the online music industry. Growing penetration of Internet services and broadband among household consumers is also expected to push up the revenue generation capabilities of the online music industry.

Despite the strong growth, the online music industry faces challenges in the form of illegal file swapping services, price erosion due to intense competition and infrastructure hurdles. Uncontrolled growth of digital industry poses several challenges for the music industry. Extensive violation of copyright, poor interoperability of devices and files, and digital stream ripping are some problems faced in the online music industry.

Online Music: A Global Strategic Business Report The worldwide music industry was dominated by the presence of large labels such as Warners, Universal, EMI and Sony BMG, which captured a large chuck of the overall industry sales. However, the advent of Internet and online music has transformed the scenario, thereby contributing to proliferation of diverse worldwide music. Greater accessibility through Internet allowed independent and foreign artists to come close and compete with well-established music brands. The online music industry is currently witnessing increased consolidation activity, as existing players seek to fortify their presence through acquisitions, mergers or strategic collaborations. To deal with the intense competition, market participants are forging marketing alliances across diverse sectors.

The US dominates the global online music industry, which can be attributed to high levels of Internet penetration and availability of advanced digital technologies and devices. Adoption of broadband services and digitization of music with introduction of portable digital music players, represent two of the industry's major push factors. The US generated about US$2.7 billion in sales for 2007, as stated by Global Industry Analysts, Inc. Asia-Pacific is, however, expected to drive future growth in the global market, increasing at a compounded annual growth rate of 48% over the forecast period. In the United States, hard format segment is projected to dominate the market, capturing over 44% share of the sales by 2010. The European online music market witnessed a major turnaround in 2006 as the consumer spending increased by more than 100% during the year. Though piracy is the prime factor for ebbing retail music sales, replacement of shelf space dedicated for music with DVDs, games, mobile phones and books in major retailers also had a significant impact. one-off downloads segment dominates sales in the Asia-Pacific region reaching US$533 million in 2007.

The report titled "Online Music: A Global Strategic Business Report" published by Global Industry Analysts, Inc., offers a comprehensive analysis of the industry structure, market drivers, issues, trends and competition. The study analyzes recent past, current and future market data and analytics over the period 2004-2010 and long term projections (2011-2015) for regions such as the United States, Canada, Japan, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Rest of World.

The report reviews key players in the global and regional online music participants including Buongiorno Vitaminic SpA, eMusic.com Inc., iTunes, RealNetworks, Inc., Musicmatch, MusicNet, Inc., MTV Networks, OD2, Napster, Ecast, Inc. and Yahoo! Music Unlimited.

For more details about this research report, please http://www.strategyr.com/Online_Music_Market_Report.asp

About Global Industry Analysts, Inc.Global Industry Analysts, Inc., (GIA) is a reputed publisher of off-the-shelf market research. Founded in 1987, the company is globally recognized as one of the world's largest market research publishers. The company employs over 700 people worldwide and publishes more than 880 full-scale research reports each year. Additionally, the company also offers a range of over 60,000 smaller research products including company reports, market trend reports, and industry reports encompassing all major industries worldwide.

Global Industry Analysts, Inc.Telephone 408-528-9966Fax 408-528-9977 Email press@StrategyR.comWeb Site www.StrategyR.com

“High School Musical” Video Game Franchise Coming This Spring

Disney Interactive Studios Invites Fans to “Work This Out” With the Latest Addition to Its Successful “High School Musical” Video Game Franchise Coming This Spring Disney Has Shipped 3.8 Million Units of “High School Musical” Themed Video Games Worldwide

BURBANK, Calif.--January 30, 2008 --Disney Interactive Studios, the interactive entertainment affiliate of The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS), announced today that the newest video game in the “High School Musical” franchise – High School Musical: Work This Out! for Nintendo DS™ will be available April 2008. High School Musical: Work This Out! allows fans of the popular Disney Channel movies to dive into the world of the Lava Springs Resort in an all new musical adventure game, featuring storylines extending beyond “High School Musical 2.” For the first time on Nintendo DS, High School Musical: Work This Out! features all 10 songs from the movie, and allows players to take their favorite songs from the film on-the-go by using the Nintendo DS as a music player. This unique feature lets players listen to their favorite “High School Musical 2” songs even while the Nintendo DS is closed.

High School Musical: Work This Out! follows the extremely successful launch of High School Musical: Sing It!, High School Musical: Makin’ the Cut and High School Musical: Living the Dream this past holiday season. Across all titles and platforms in the franchise, Disney Interactive Studios has shipped 3.8 million copies of the video games worldwide. According to NPD data for the U.S., the “High School Musical” video games achieved Top 20 positions on each published platform for the month of December 2007. High School Musical: Sing It!, a karaoke-themed video game featuring songs from both “High School Musical” films, ranked as the #6 top selling Wii™ home video game system title and #11 selling PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system title. High School Musical: Makin’ the Cut, a rhythm-based music and adventure game, ranked #10 for Nintendo DS. High School Musical: Living the Dream ranked #5 among the GameBoy® Advance titles for the same month.

“The phenomenon of ‘High School Musical’ goes beyond simply watching the movies,” said Craig Relyea, senior vice president, global marketing, Disney Interactive Studios. “The success of the video game franchise proves that fans want to immerse themselves in the world of ‘High School Musical,’ whether they are singing the songs or embarking on adventures with the cast. This new experience once again underscores Disney’s passion to provide fans with unparalleled entertainment as they wait for ‘High School Musical 3’ to arrive, which will also usher in a new generation of video games this holiday season.”

High School Musical: Work This Out!, due out in April, is the only musical adventure game allowing fans to immerse themselves in the world of “High School Musical 2.” Fans can play as their favorite High School Musical characters Troy, Gabriella, Sharpay, Ryan, Chad and Taylor to explore the Lava Springs Resort as seen in the movie. Throughout the game, players go on various adventures at the resort, compete in time-based challenges and play different rhythm games, all while listening to the hit songs from “High School Musical 2.”

High School Musical: Work This Out!, rated E for Everyone, will be available in April 2008 exclusively for Nintendo DS for $29.99.

About Disney Interactive Studios

Disney Interactive Studios is the interactive entertainment affiliate of The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS). Disney Interactive Studios self publishes and distributes a broad portfolio of multi-platform video games and interactive entertainment worldwide. The company also licenses properties and works directly with other interactive game publishers to bring products for all ages to market. Disney Interactive Studios is based in Glendale, California and has five internal game development studios around the world including Avalanche Software, Fall Line Studio, Propaganda Games, Black Rock Studio and Junction Point Studios.
Contacts Disney Interactive StudiosMichelle Jacob, 818-553-6877michelle.jacob@disney.comorAccess Communications for Disney Interactive StudiosKatie Pagliara, 917-522-3531kpagliara@accesspr.com