Audio and visual entertainment destinations sputnik7 and Palm Pictures
Thursday inked a five-year marketing and promotional agreement with online
music service provider MP3.com Inc.
Financial terms of the deal were not made public.
Sputnik7 has licensed Palm Pictures’ music catalog for use in MP3.com’s
highly personal My.MP3 service. MP3.com also pledged to create Web pages
for Palm Pictures artists that will allow users to stream tracks and access
artist information.
Palm Pictures’ catalog contains more than 1,500 releases from the Rykodisc
and Palm labels and includes artists such as Sophie B. Hawkins, Supreme
Beings of Leisure and Robert Cray.
Chris Blackwell, chairman and founder of both sputnik7 and Palm Pictures,
said the deal would be instrumental in promoting the sites’ artists. As
founder of Island Records, Blackwell is well suited to promote artists.
Sputnik7, which recently acquired independent music site Epitonic.com, mixes
up independent entertainment programming via interactive music and video
stations, and film, Japanese anime and videos on demand.
Like sputnik7, Palm Pictures actively produces, acquires, and distributes
music and independent film projects, but with a particular focus on the DVD
format. Palm Pictures also includes Japanese animation outfit Manga
Entertainment and Rykodisc.
Always bearing the mantle of trying to promote artists, MP3.com was all too
eager to help.
“We have always been impressed with the initiative that Chris Blackwell’s
group has shown in embracing the Internet and we look forward to assisting
sputnik7 and Palm Pictures in unlocking the power of the digital music space
to market and promote their great roster of artists,” said Robin Richards,
president of MP3.com.
