Tuesday, September 9, 2008

CreateSpace Announces Distribution for Indie Musicians and Labels on Amazon MP3

CreateSpace, part of the Amazon.com, Inc. group of companies , today announced the CreateSpace MP3 distribution service enabling independent musicians and labels to offer their albums and songs as DRM-free MP3s through Amazon MP3, Amazon's DRM-free digital music download store. Independent musicians or labels can go to www.createspace.com, upload their MP3s and make them available on Amazon MP3 with no setup fee. The new MP3 distribution service also allows members to simultaneously set up a CD via CreateSpace's existing inventory-free Disc on Demand service.

"The CreateSpace MP3 service allows musicians and labels to easily distribute DRM-free MP3s to Amazon.com customers," said Dana LoPiccolo-Giles, co-founder and managing director of CreateSpace. "Musicians and labels now have the freedom to make their music available in both digital and physical formats on Amazon.com, and to earn royalties through both channels without an investment in inventory or setup costs. Amazon.com customers will be able to discover even more music from independent musicians and labels and be able to enjoy that music on any hardware device or on CD if they prefer."

Amazon MP3 includes more than 6.1 million songs from independent and major music labels, including EMI Music, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and Sony BMG Entertainment. Every song and album in the Amazon MP3 music download store is available in MP3 format without digital rights management (DRM), and all downloads are compatible with virtually any MP3 hardware device.

The CreateSpace MP3 distribution service allows members to easily upload files through their CreateSpace member accounts and choose the royalty tier for their music, as well as set artist information on a per-track basis. Members with more sophisticated needs can also set up multi-disc sets, add ISRC information to tracks, and make tracks only available as part of an entire album.

"CreateSpace's Disc on Demand and MP3 distribution services are groundbreaking for independent artists like myself because they allow us to provide our content in whatever manner customers want to consume it -- physical or digital," said Mark Sly, a CreateSpace musician who made his original music, Mark Sly's Secret Soundtrack, available for download on Amazon MP3 and as a CD. "The CreateSpace MP3 distribution service gives me another great way to distribute my work to millions of customers on Amazon.com."

Sly also published an instructional guitar DVD with CreateSpace's Disc on Demand titled Mark Sly's Secrets (Guitar Teachers Don't Want You to Know!), along with an accompanying CD with Disc on Demand to help students learn to play the guitar.

To find out more about the CreateSpace MP3 distribution service and Disc on Demand, please visit www.createspace.com.

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