Monday July 19, 8:03 am Eastern Time

Company Press Release

SOURCE: ARTISTdirect

ARTISTdirect Announces Exclusive Long-Term Partnerships with Forty-Four Of The World's Leading Music Stars to Distribute Physical and Digital Products Online

Metallica, Aerosmith, Beastie Boys, Tom Petty, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rolling Stones, Dwight Yoakam Among Recording Artists to Own Company Stock Options

ENCINO, Calif., July 19 /PRNewswire/ -- ARTISTdirect, LLC, operators of the Internet's premier music vertical, today announced exclusive long-term partnerships with 44 of the world's leading music stars. The deal allows the artists to generate significantly increased revenues from product sales online and participate in the success of the company as equity shareholders via stock options.

The artists, many of whom are international superstars, span the full spectrum of music and are drawn from every major record company. Participating artists include: Metallica, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Aerosmith, Tori Amos, Beastie Boys, Beck, Counting Crows, Cypress Hill, Marilyn Manson, Stevie Nicks, Ozzy Osbourne, Tom Petty, Rage Against The Machine, Korn, Rolling Stones, and Dwight Yoakam, among others (see attached list).

``The implications of this are far-reaching. Most importantly, this marks the first time that artists have absolute control over media - they control their own web sites, online stores, images, and downloadable music - and have a direct ownership interest in the net result,'' said Marc Geiger, CEO/Co-founder of ARTISTdirect and a 15-year music industry veteran.

``This is also about artist branding, and that's a new concept. To a certain degree, artists are isolated from their fans - now they can connect directly to their fans and vice versa in a self-determined way,'' Geiger added. ``This takes the ARTISTdirect relationship with major artists to a significantly higher level.''

Presence on ARTISTdirect Network

The partnerships link these artists to the ARTISTdirect Network (www.artistdirect.com), which is one of the most highly trafficked music networks on the Web. The ARTISTdirect Network includes the properties of UBL.com (The Ultimate Band List), the Web's foremost independent music site and music-specific search engine; iMusic, the Web's leading music community site; and official ARTISTdirect Superstores.

Each artist will have a retail presence in the ARTISTdirect Network in the form of a superstore, which will offer CDs and merchandise, rarities, news, information, MP3 downloads or similar digital music files which are unavailable elsewhere. Twenty-three artist stores have already launched; others are currently in production and will roll-out on the ARTISTdirect Network through the end of the year.

In addition to selling physical and digital music and related products directly to their fans online, ARTISTdirect enables artists to aggressively build substantial international databases of fans to whom they can continue to market and promote products for the length of their careers. As a result, artists will be less dependent on third party channels and other media and can communicate directly with their fans. This allows for both wide-scale and grass roots brand building and brand extension and enables artists to hold onto their fan base for much longer periods of time.

``The shortest distance between two points is a straight line,'' said Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich. ``ARTISTdirect gives us a straight line of communication to our fans, and vice versa.''

``Historically, artists have been a big part of building up the major record labels and distribution companies, radio networks, video networks, in which they had never had any ownership or participation themselves,'' said Gary Gersh, Chairman/ G.A.S Entertainment. ``Now, with the inherent ability of the Internet to create a connection between artist and fan, bands can generate more revenues from their products and even have ownership in a company like ARTISTdirect, which can create and maximize such an opportunity.''

Bill Curbishley, manager of The Who, added, ``I'm very pleased that The Who have agreed to join forces with ARTISTdirect. I feel that commerce over the Internet is becoming more and more of an important part of our business, and ARTISTdirect is leading the way.''

Terms of the Deals

Each ARTISTdirect partnership represents a long-term exclusive agreement tailored to the individual artist. Artists have agreed to promote their official online channels at ARTISTdirect in all album covers, tour advertising, and other print. In addition, each artist will utilize their Web presence as a channel to provide exclusive content, community building features, and online-only products for their fans.

ARTISTdirect will produce and manage artist web sites and online stores, providing a comprehensive turn-key Internet presence for the artists. Artists will participate as equity owners in ARTISTdirect through grants of stock options. Option grants were primarily based on historical sales of records, tickets and merchandise plus the degree to which the artists agreed to actively participate in the ARTISTdirect marketing activities and the development of their web sites and fan communities.

Marketing Campaigns

ARTISTdirect will leverage its artist relationships for extensive advertising and marketing campaigns with artist participation both online and off-line. Spots are currently planned for national and major market radio and print outlets. A television campaign is expected to launch in the fourth quarter of this year.

About ARTISTdirect Network

The ARTISTdirect Network is the premier music destination on the Web. The network is comprised of UBL.com (the Ultimate Band List), the only music specific search engine; iMusic, the premier music community site on the Web; and ARTISTdirect Superstores, retail centers for leading bands and artists.

About ARTISTdirect, LLC

ARTISTdirect is a total music entertainment company designed to provide a direct connection between music artists and global consumers. ARTISTdirect is comprised of three synergistic music businesses that provide the company with an on-line music network, access to high-profile artists, and intellectual property: ARTISTdirect Network (www.artistdirect.com), ARTISTdirect Talent Agency and the Kneeling Elephant record label (www.kneelingelephant.com).

Participating Artists:

Aerosmith
Tori Amos
The B-52's
Backstreet Boys
Beastie Boys
Beck
Black Crowes
Blink 182
Chris Cornell
Counting Crows
Cypress Hill
Def Leppard
Everclear
Foo Fighters
Chris Isaak
Kenny G
Korn
Limp Bizkit
Megadeth
Marilyn Manson
Matchbox 20
Metallica
Stevie Nicks
Offspring
Ozzy Osbourne
Tom Petty
Pantera
Pink Floyd
Rage Against the Machine
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Rolling Stones
Brian Setzer
Slayer
Social Distortion
Sonic Youth
Soul Coughing
Stabbing Westward
Stone Temple Pilots
Sublime
System of a Down
Dwight Yoakam
Robbie Williams
The Who
Rob Zombie
SOURCE: ARTISTdirect