Official Press Release for Sharman Networks
October 30, 2003

New Kazaa Channel Enables Independent Artists to Promote and Sell Their Music Directly to 60 Million Fans Globally

by Rich Chernela
Magnet Communications


SYDNEY, Australia, Oct. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- Sharman Networks, publishers and distributors of Kazaa, today launched the Kazaa "Emerging Artists Channel," an initiative that enables emerging artists to promote and sell music using peer-to-peer technology. This new feature of Kazaa demonstrates the power and flexibility of peer-to-peer technology as a universal commercial platform for promoting and selling music, especially for independent musicians.

Developed in partnership with Altnet Inc, the leading provider of secure digital media via peer-to-peer technology, and Cornerband.com, a self-service online label for musicians, the Emerging Artists Channel provides a new music 'incubator' within Kazaa, allowing independent artists around the world to promote and sell their music directly to an estimated 60 million music lovers worldwide.

From just US$9.99 a month per track, plus a one time set up fee of US$49.95, artists can have their songs promoted in two ways: First, the songs are given preferred placement in Kazaa search results with a 'Gold' colored icon using Altnet's TopSearch service. Second, songs have a listing featured in the Emerging Artist Channel. Altnet also digitally secures each song and allows artists to control the distribution rules of their music, for example, as a paid download, try-before-you-buy, or free sample. Each time a 'Gold Icon' file is shared via Kazaa, each new user must agree to the license before gaining access to its content.

The Emerging Artists Channel showcases the latest and greatest independent music from around the world. Music fans can download songs, share and build playlists, vote in a "best bands" competition, and listen to a free streaming radio player. Popular songs appear in a "Top 100" style hit list, ranked according to their popularity with Kazaa users.

"More than 75 million songs from over 1,000 emerging artists have been downloaded by Kazaa users in the past 12 months through services provided by Altnet and Cornerband," said Nikki Hemming, CEO of Sharman Networks. "The Emerging Artist Channel recognizes the increasing demand for these services that make it even easier for a new generation of bands to take advantage of low cost promotion and for music lovers to discover great new music. Every great band and musician has to start somewhere, and this is a fantastic new way to be discovered."

Illustrating the power of peer-to-peer promotion, San Francisco based band, Ten Mile Tide, has promoted its music through file-sharing on Kazaa for the past 12 months. The band has seen its songs downloaded more than 8.6 million times and online CD sales double, making the dream of being able to quit their day jobs come true.

According to Scott Beck, CEO of Cornerband, "The concept behind the Emerging Artists Channel is to provide a low cost stepping-stone for growth into the mainstream market -- it's not much to pay for such great exposure. Once a band becomes more established, they can move to more prominent and higher trafficked promotional areas within Kazaa."

Altnet Senior Vice-President Christian von Burkleo said: "It's the new radio, a perfect win-win for independent musicians and music lovers. Independent musicians get a low-cost way to promote their music to a massive audience and Kazaa users get to discover great new music."



About Sharman Networks Limited

Sharman Networks Limited distributes the popular Kazaa Media Desktop software, the leading peer-to-peer application that allows users to search, download, organize and interact with a variety of file types. Founded in 2002, Sharman Networks is a private company committed to distributing computing software applications that are pioneering the digital revolution. Sharman Networks is a worldwide operation. For more information about Kazaa Media Desktop, Sharman Network's leading P2P software application, please visit Kazaa.com.


About Altnet

Altnet is the leading peer-to-peer distributor of secure digital media that originates from content owners. Altnet reaches an estimated 100 million users and is the #1 issuer of rights managed music in world. Altnet's products integrate with websites, applications, and peer-to-peer networks to allow Internet users to simply and easily locate, download, trial, and purchase digital content. Altnet is a subsidiary of Brilliant Digital Entertainment.


About Cornerband

Cornerband.com, Inc is a web audio-video solution provider and online community, focused on the promotion and secure distribution of music from independent musicians. Cornerband is a one-stop shop for artists, enabling them to control the manner in which their music is downloaded, sampled and priced to the consumer, and a strategic partner for companies that wish to leverage Cornerband's content, technology and services to broaden their product base, provide greater value to their customers and increase revenue.