New Online Service Allows Users to Create Personalized Remixes Using Artist VideosSINGAPORE, Oct 15, 2006 -- muvee, the pioneer and leader in Instant Personal Video, and global
music content company, Warner Music Group Corp. (NYSE: WMG), today
announced a strategic business agreement that gives users a quick,
easy and legal way of weaving their personal video clips and photos
into original artist music videos, tour footage and behind-the-scenes
concert reels. In signing this deal, WMG becomes the first music
company to use muvee's groundbreaking technology to enable fans to
engage and interact with their favorite artists in a completely new
way that will transform consumers' experience of user-generated video
creation and sharing.
muvee will draw from WMG's extensive catalog of premium artist
content to create a series of special artist styles that can be used
to make music video remixes -- which are called muvees. To make a
muvee, users simply upload video clips and pictures of their own and
select an artist style. muvee's back-end Web service will then
automatically synchronize and blend highlights of users' footage with
scenes from the artist music video to create a unique finished
production. WMG and muvee collaborated earlier this year to let
Jason Mraz fans create their own video mash-ups using footage from
the artist's original 'Geek In The Pink' music video. Both companies
now are working together to roll the service out to artists across
the breadth of WMG's roster. The service will be initially available
at artist sites and will be advertiser-supported. The next artist
site to feature muvee will be Tori Amos at www.everythingtori.com,
with more artist projects to follow across a range of genres and
territories. In addition, consumers will soon be able to access the
muvee web-based service directly from their mobile devices.
Alex Zubillaga, Executive Vice President, Digital Strategy and
Business Development, WMG, commented, "We're delighted to be teaming
up with muvee to further enrich consumers' experience of our artists
and their music. We embrace the technologies that are transforming
entertainment and media and believe it is compelling new tools such
as muvee's that allow us to creatively empower fans whilst respecting
the rights of artists and copyright holders."
Pete Kellock, muvee's founder and CEO, said, "It makes perfect sense
to bring together the strengths of muvee and WMG. Together we're
introducing amazing and revolutionary new experiences, such as
letting people 'dance with their favorite star' by seamlessly weaving
their personal video and photos into music videos. Music videos are
cool; now they're cool and personal. For six years muvee has been
developing and perfecting unique technology for creating music-driven
video productions using user-generated content, delivering
professional results in a way that's incredibly easy for users.
We're taking this to another level by combining our technology,
products and services with WMG's great array of major artists. Every
filmmaker knows how music brings images to life. We're bringing this
power to internet users in a dramatic new way."
Just last month, muvee launched its own online video mixing site at
www.muveemix.com. This free Web service lets users automatically
create finished video mixes out of their uploaded videos, pictures and
music, and extends muvee's capabilities to yet another popular
platform where consumers share video. muvee's technology is already
available around the world in consumer products by HP, Nokia, Sony,
Nikon and LG and muvee expects to make artist styles available to its
current list of global partners in the near future. muvee will be
demonstrating its award-winning automatic video creation technology
on various platforms at the 3GSM World Congress Asia, held in
Singapore from October 16-20 (Level 6, Hall 602, stand #B01).
This is the latest announcement to highlight Warner Music's
commitment to innovation in the digital space. In September, WMG
entered into an agreement to distribute on YouTube the library of
music videos from WMG's world-renowned roster of artists as well as
behind-the-scenes footage, artist interviews, original programming
and other special content. In a first-of-its-kind arrangement,
YouTube users will be able to incorporate music from WMG's recorded
music catalog into the videos they create and upload onto YouTube.
Last week, WMG also announced a strategic business relationship that
gives Google users the ability to stream on-demand WMG's extensive
music video collection for free, through an ad-supported revenue
sharing agreement, or to purchase videos online for download. Warner
Music has also unveiled a series of strategic partnerships around the
world, including agreements with Beeline, one of Russia's leading
mobile networks, China Unicom, the world's third-largest mobile
operator, and SK Telecom, Korea's foremost broadband and wireless
provider.
Notes to Editors:
About Warner Music Group
Warner Music Group became the only stand-alone music company to be
publicly traded in the United States in May 2005. With its broad
roster of new stars and legendary artists, Warner Music Group is home
to a collection of the best-known record labels in the music industry
including Atlantic, Bad Boy, Elektra, Lava, Maverick, Nonesuch,
Reprise, Rhino, Rykodisc, Sire, Warner Bros. and Word. Warner Music
International, a leading company in national and international
repertoire, operates through numerous international affiliates and
licensees in more than 50 countries. Warner Music Group also includes
Warner/Chappell Music, one of the world's leading music publishers.
About muvee
Founded in 2001, muvee is the pioneer and global leader in a dynamic
new field: Instant Personal Video. muvee's patented technology
revolutionizes home video production, enabling anyone to automatically
transform video and pictures into professional-quality productions in
hundreds of different styles. Users need no prior experience working
with video and each production is created in a fraction of the time
that it would normally take using conventional video editing tools.
muvee's products are available for PCs, embedding in CE devices,
photo kiosks, websites and other platforms. muvee's global partners
include Hewlett-Packard, Nokia, Sony, Nikon and ATI. For more
information, please visit www.muvee.com
muvee, n. (pronounced 'mew-vee', always written entirely in
lowercase)
1. A professional-quality, music-driven video production that is
created in seconds using intelligent, automatic editing technology.
2. An abbreviation for muvee Technologies, the pioneer in Instant
Personal Video and creator of muvee autoProducer software.