[London, ENGLAND] Former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney
has invested in Magex,
the company with technology to ensure fans pay for
their music rather than share it with a little help from
their friends via MP3.
Magex has not revealed the amount invested by McCartney,
saying merely that it is “in addition to” an $80 million
round of private equity funding completed in April 2000.
Among the other investors are NatWest Bank, Reuters, GE
Capital, Europ@web, affiliates of Soros Private Equity
Partners, SLF Ventures, Westpool Investment Trust and
Kistler Associates.
Sir Paul McCartney has been one of the music industry’s
most outspoken critics of all forms of copyright
infringement. His backing of Magex places him firmly
in the camp of those opposed to the free exchange of
music on the Internet.
Magex, a project originally conceived at the U.K’s
NatWest Bank, is currently being restructured to
address the U.S. market.
Earlier this week, Magex appointed W. Patrick Campbell
as chairman and chief executive. Significantly, Campbell
will be based in New York at the company’s new
headquarters, from which he will orchestrate the
introduction of Magex technology to the U.S. music,
film and media industries.
Magex believes its technology solves the security and
payment problems surrounding digital distribution,
enabling music and videos to be sold on the Web in fast,
safe and easy transactions.
Among Magex’s clients is Universal Music Group which
announced Wednesday that it will commence trials of
bluematter, its premium digital download format for
which Magex will provide financial clearing house
services.
