Hayley Kaslar, USWeb/CKS, 310/664-5029 or
[email protected]
USWeb/CKS Teams with UBL/ARTISTdirect Network To Expand Top Online Music Destination, Provide Home for Emerging Bands
New Version Integrates UBL.com and iMusic, Offers Digital Music Downloads, Host Band Web Pages, Showcases Improved Content, Navigation, Functionality
NEW YORK - July 13, 1999 - USWeb/CKS (Nasdaq:USWB), the leading Internet and marketing communications firm, today announced that it has teamed with ARTISTdirect Network (www.artistdirect.com), the premier Internet music vertical to provide the equivalent of a fully-furnished home for major artists and emerging bands on the web.
USWeb/CKS collaborated with the company to develop the ARTISTdirect Network, a comprehensive web site combining UBL.com, iMusic and ARTISTdirect Superstores, and to expand both content and community. Among other features the enhanced site enables new, unsigned bands to post their own Web pages within the ARTISTdirect Network, including band member biographies, photos and MP3 and Microsoft audio file uploads. USWeb/CKS provided strategic consulting and technology expertise for the site expansion.
"With strategy and technical help from USWeb/CKS, we are able to provide outlets for new talent who would not otherwise have a Web presence -- certainly not one as prominent and powerful," said Steve Rennie, President of UBL.com. "Now, a garage band can live under the ARTISTdirect umbrella and be featured right alongside the Beastie Boys and The Rolling Stones."
Founded in 1994, UBL.com (formerly the Ultimate Band List) is a music portal that aggregates and integrates music-related news and information, links, community and commerce into a searchable database. UBL.com is one of the most heavily trafficked sites on the Web, second only to MTV among music content sites.
Most of the information on UBL.com is contributed by music fans from the Internet community, who, after registering and receiving a password, can submit new links and audio clips or radio stations, and may even create new bank of artist pages. Contributors have access to an exclusive area within the site and are invited to update and edit their own submissions.
With a new overall design, the ARTISTdirect Network will expand upon the UBL.com concept by giving contributors the opportunity to upload Microsoft and MP3 files and images into their own areas. The site features a USWeb/CKS-designed online publishing system to easily facilitate the addition of artist information.
The ARTISTdirect homepage has been redesigned with index tabs for improved user interface and accessibility to the more than 65,000 links on the site.
"These changes continue to support UBL's position as the Web's premiere music destination -- the place to go to buy music merchandise, enter competitions and download and view information on thousands of artists," said Nick Rothenberg, Managing Partner, Entertainment & Media Practice Leader, USWeb/CKS. "It will also strengthen our efforts to help the ARTISTdirect Network expand UBL into an industrial-strength online portal for music-related activities."
Clients of the USWeb/CKS Entertainment & Media Practice includes music companies such as Atlantic, Atomic Pop, Electra, EMI, Epic, Interscope, Mercury, Polygram, Sony and Virgin; broadcasters NBC, ABC, CBS, FX Network, and the BBC; and such diverse entities as The Academy Awards, America Online, DirecTV, Hard Rock Caf�, Paramount Pictures, SFX Entertainment, Radio City Music Hall, Times Mirror, Twentieth Century Fox, UBL.com, Universal Studios, Warner Bros. and Warner Chappell.
About USWeb/CKS
USWeb/CKS (Nasdaq: USWB) is a professional services firm that works with companies to define strategies and implement innovative ways to build their businesses by combining the expertise of strategy, Internet technology and marketing communications. USWeb/CKS helps clients differentiate their products and services, strengthen customer relationships, leverage human capital and improve business efficiency in the digital economy. With more than 2,800 professionals, USWeb/CKS has helped hundreds of businesses advance their marketing communications programs as well as traditional IT and Internet systems - everything from brand development and advertising to business process automation and e-commerce solutions. The Company is headquartered in Santa Clara, California. Additional information about USWeb/CKS is available by calling 408/987-3200.
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" (as defined under securities law) regarding the relationship between USWeb/CKS and ARTISTdirect Network and the development of artistdirect.com. There can be no assurance that this project will be successful or that it will contribute positively to the company's results of operations. Further, this project does not necessarily indicate that the company will be able to secure additional similar projects. For additional information about factors that could affect the business of USWeb/CKS, see the documents filed by the company with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.