e.Digital Corporation (fka EDIG)

[Tinroad]

MusicNet Announces Partnership With Zomba, The World's Leading Independent Music Label

Zomba Joins BMG, EMI and Warner Music Group to Deliver Some of the World's Best Known Artists to the MusicNet Service
Zomba Makes Equity Investment in MusicNet
http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/010724/sftu104.html

SEATTLE, July 24 /PRNewswire/ -- MusicNet announced today that it has added Zomba, the world's leading independent music label, to its growing list of content providers. Zomba will license its digital music library to MusicNet. Today's announcement confirms MusicNet's commitment to offering the widest range of content through its digital music subscription platform. In addition, Zomba has made a cash investment in MusicNet, and will become a minority shareholder in the company joining current MusicNet content partners, BMG, EMI and Warner Music Group. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

Zomba, which brings some of the world's top artists to the MusicNet service, will become the newest MusicNet label partner, along with BMG, EMI and Warner Music Group. Upon launch of the service, MusicNet will be the only major online music subscription-focused service offering retailers Zomba's impressive digital music collection.

``It has always been MusicNet's goal to combine the best technology, distribution and content into a single digital music platform,'' said Rob Glaser, interim CEO of MusicNet. ``Today's announcement with Zomba furthers our commitment to offering digital music consumers the broadest music selection available from the world's most popular artists. We are thrilled to offer music from both major and independent labels upon the launch of our platform.''

``We believe that online music subscription services will play a key role in the industry's future, so we are delighted to announce this new relationship,'' said Ivan Gavin, Senior Vice President, Commercial Operations & Finance of Zomba Recording Corp. ``We decided to partner with MusicNet because of their strong technology, their superior content relationships and their industry-leading distribution partners. This partnership shows Zomba's commitment to participate in an extremely compelling and comprehensive digital music subscription solution.''

About MusicNet

MusicNet is the world's first legal, label digital distribution platform for streaming and downloading music. It combines RealNetworks' industry-leading Internet media delivery technology with the music catalogs of major and independent record labels -- Warner Music Group, Bertelsmann AG, EMI Recorded Music, and Zomba. As both a technology provider and a music clearinghouse, MusicNet will license its ``private-label'' platform to companies seeking to sell music subscription services under their own brands. RealNetworks and Warner Music Group formed MusicNet in the spring of 2000 as a subsidiary, and RealNetworks incubated it from its inception. MusicNet was officially announced as a joint venture between RealNetworks, AOL Time Warner, Bertelsmann AG, and EMI Recorded Music in April of 2001. MusicNet's corporate information is located on the Internet at http://www.musicnet.com .

About Zomba

The Zomba Label Group encompasses seven record labels: flagship label Jive Records, Jive Electro, Silvertone, Verity, Brentwood, Reunion and Volcano. We are home to some of the biggest contemporary pop, R&B, gospel, and hip-hop artists in the world, including Grammy Awards winners, R. Kelly and Jars Of Clay; teen phenomenon's the Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, NSYNC and Aaron Carter; sultry R&B crooners Joe and Syleena Johnson; hip-hop icons Mystikal, E-40 and KRS-1; gospel legends Fred Hammond, Hezekiah Walker and Donnie McClurkin; alternative rock acts Tool and 311, and up & coming sensations Jive Jones, Nivea and Melissa Lefton. Jive Records, in particular, is known for consistently breaking the hottest acts. Additional information can be found at www.jiverecords.com .