Escape Media Group Introduces Grooveshark - the First Legal Peer-to-Peer Online Music Brokerage

New Music Community Compensates Members for Sharing DRM-free MP3 Files and Pays Royalties to Copyright Holders

GAINESVILLE, Fla., Jan. 9, 2007 /PRNewswire/ -- Escape Media Group, LLC today announced Grooveshark, a new peer-to-peer (P2P) music-sharing community that will compensate both copyright holders and members who participate in the community.

Grooveshark combines the best of P2P file sharing and online music purchase sites into one service at www.grooveshark.com. Visitors can browse songs uploaded by other members and pay to download MP3 files with no digital rights management (DRM) technology. Songs vary in price, but cost no more than 99 cents. Grooveshark will pay appropriate royalties to copyright holders by taking commissions from users' transactions and also compensate users with free music for community participation such as uploading songs, fixing song tags, flagging unwanted files or reviewing music. Members will be rewarded based on their level of contribution to the community.

"Our bottom line is value. By bringing the convenience and selection of a peer-to-peer network together with the recommendation power of a community of friends -- all the while removing DRM -- we can generate revenue to compensate both copyright holders and users," said Sam Tarantino, 20-year-old founder and CEO of Escape Media Group, the parent company of Grooveshark.

Because all Grooveshark files are DRM-free MP3s, they can be played on any computer or digital music player, so users no longer risk losing the ability to play songs in their collection if they change their computer or player.

Grooveshark will function much like popular P2P file exchanges. Members can offer their media library for sale through Grooveshark and discover and share new music with other members (only MP3 or OGG files without DRM). The difference: Grooveshark will broker music transactions by charging up to 99 cents for each song downloaded and use those proceeds to pay royalties to the copyright holders and reward members for community participation.

"Much of the success of P2P networks can be amplified by a community aspect -- allowing users to find someone with similar musical tastes and sample songs from their collection to find new artists or rare and unique songs and genres," said Tarantino. "By harnessing the power of user-generated content, Grooveshark can bring together online community elements, compensate artists and users and provide customers with control over their music by eliminating unfair DRM schemes," he added.

Grooveshark expects to begin beta testing during the first quarter of 2007. For more information, or to be notified when the beta version is available, visit www.grooveshark.com.

About Grooveshark

Grooveshark, a peer-to-peer (P2P) music file-sharing community that brokers music transactions between members, is a service of Escape Media Group, LLC. By charging for the songs exchanged between members on their site, Grooveshark will compensate copyright holders and users while providing the convenience and selection of P2P file sharing in an online music community. All Grooveshark files are free of digital rights management (DRM) technology, allowing users to play the songs they purchase on any type of computer or digital music player. For more information, visit www.escapemg.com.