MP3.com Introduces New Online Tools to Help Independent Music Artists Gain Exposure

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Monday, November 13, 2006; 07:51 AM

MP3.com (www.mp3.com), an online music resource fueled by an active community of musicians and fans, and a property of CNET Networks, Inc., today announced a comprehensive suite of online marketing capabilities for independent music artists as part of its streamlined new site design. Artists can now upload their music and videos to the site, and leverage free, easy-to-use promotional tools to gain exposure before MP3.com’s audience of music enthusiasts.

An increasingly popular resource for musicians and fans alike, MP3.com caters to both big and small artists looking to promote their material and connect with listeners, and to fans that thrive on discovering new music and expressing their opinions. MP3.com’s new upload and promotion features built specifically for independent artists add a valuable dimension to the site, enhancing the user experience by providing fresh tracks and videos for fans seeking new music, while giving emerging artists a valuable vehicle to build their fan base.

MP3.com provides its audience with content on both independent and major-label musicians via side-by-side presentation of both groups on the home page and throughout the site. The site’s innovative “Similar Artist” feature found on every artist page enables musicians to identify similar-sounding artists then allows the site’s community to vote on whether or not they agree with the selections. The result is a listing of quality recommendations for similar-sounding independent acts alongside major-label musicians that helps fans discover a range of artists that match their taste. For example, if a Madonna fan visits Madonna’s page, they will learn that independent artist Amy Kasio sounds similar to Madonna ultimately introducing them to a new musician they may otherwise have never been turned on to.

“MP3.com is 100 percent about music. Built by musicians for musicians and music fans, we are cognizant of the fact that everyone has varying preferences in their musical taste, thus we want to promote music from mainstream artists and give maximum exposure to independent artists who deserve to be heard and discovered,” said Laura Hess, director of MP3.com. “As artists ourselves, we are in tune with the challenges emerging musicians encounter, and are able to draw from our own experience as well as the feedback from our artist community to craft a resource that enables independent artists to extend their fan base easily and affordably.”

MP3.com features designed specifically for independent artists include:

• Advanced Admin Tools: An intuitive tool set that enables artists to upload and edit their songs, videos, photos, and information within one page using streamlined Ajax (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) forms.
• Artist Charts: Updated daily, these charts allow artist to view their popularity level and sort by genre and zip code.
• New Flash Audio Player: This new feature provides the ability to create and save playlists, and download files from within the player.
• Extensive, Free Audio and Video File Storage: The site provides artists with 100 MBs of storage space for audio files, and unlimited space for video content.