WMG IN BED WITH RIOPORT

Warner Music Group and RioPort announced Monday that WMG will make available for sale, via RioPorts digital distribution infrastructure, more than 30,000 popular music singles to consumers for as low as 99 cents each.

Beginning later this month, consumers in the U.S. and Canada will be able to visit some of their favorite online retailers and music sites and download tracks by top WMG artists for playing on PCs, burning to CDs or transferring to secure portable devices.

Under the non-exclusive agreement, RioPort will handle the sales transactions, allowing online retailers to remain the merchant of record and maintain control of the customer relationship.

RioPort serves as the music application service provider for online retailers, such as BestBuy.com and Musicland Group, as well as MTV.com, SonicBlue.com and HP.com, among others.

"We are very excited to build on our long-standing relationship with WMG to begin opening the flood gates for affordable music downloads to the online marketplace," said Jim Long, President/CEO, RioPort. "We believe that this arrangement with WMG to deliver music from top artists for a reasonable price point and with flexible usage option is a great step forward in promoting digital delivery alongside physical sales through major music retailers."

Paul Vidich, Executive VP of Strategic Planning and Business Development, WMG, added, "For more than a year, RioPort and WEA Corp., WMG's U.S. distribution arm, have been fantastic partners in our digital distribution efforts, and during this period weve worked together to refine our offerings in order to address the demands of consumers and online retailers. With this new agreement, RioPorts expertise as an application service provider, combined with their relationships with leading online retailers and music portals will ensure that our artists’ music will be available conveniently and securely to millions of music fans."