muvee Teams With Warner Music Group to Transform User-Generated Content
New Online Service Allows Users to Create Personalized Remixes Using Artist Videos
SINGAPORE -- (MARKET WIRE) -- October 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.
Contact Information: Contacts:
Singapore
Tania Chew
muvee
Tel (SG): +65 9179-7807
Tel (US): +1 (718) 354-1221
Email: Email Contact
London
Felicity McKane
WMG
Tel: +44 207 368 2829
Email: Email Contact
Mel Fox
WMG
Tel: +44 207 368 2828
Email: Email Contact
New York
Amanda Collins
WMG
Tel: +1 212 275 2213
Email: Email Contact
Will Tanous
WMG
Tel: +1 212 275 2244
Email: Email Contact