PRESS RELEASE
April 28, 2005
For Immediate Release

Continuing its support and advocacy of open music, Magnatune is co-sponsoring a one day symposium "Remix Culture: Creative Commons and Creativity" at the University of Sussex, United Kingdom on May 6, 2005. The symposium brings together a group of international music industry professionals who are actively involved in the theory and practice of creative commons, open source and Fee/Libre Culture.

Magnatune is considered a model record label for its use of creative commons licensing and open source principles. John Buckman, founder and CEO of Magnatune, got involved in organizing the symposium as a way to further promote and develop the discussion of how to handle creative works in an open way. "We are a clear use case for these practices" Buckman explained "Through creative commons licensing we are able to establish fair practices for both musicians and consumers." Unusual in the music industry, Magnatune shares profits from album sales 50/50 with its artists and allows them to keep the rights to their music.

All Magnatune's 128k MP3s have a Creative Commons attached to them, which allows use of the music in derivative works, so long as the new work confers no commercial benefit to the creator and is itself Creative Commons licensed. Commercial uses, such as for a film soundtrack, require permission and payment.

The label has found that by offering perfect creative commons open terms and instituting "customer friendly" policies tremendous brand loyalty has been build, which has translated into repeat sales, grass-roots support and Internet "buzz." "After two years in business, 517,000 Internet web sites point to Magnatune.com, we are profitable, and we among Google's top sites for "music licensing." says Buckman "We know our approach can work."

Buckman will be a featured speaker on a panel that will discuss "Creative Commons Music Labels, Use Practice and Ideas" along with the CEO of LOCA Records, David Berry and the Canadian Fading Ways Records CEO Neil Leyton.

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About Magnatune

Founded in 2003, Magnatune (www.magnatune.com) is an independent, online record label that hand selects its own artists, sells its catalog of music through online downloads and print-on-demand CDs and licenses music for commercial and non-commercial use. Based on the principle that "we are not evil," the company offers fair-trade music to consumers by equally sharing all revenue from the sale of albums with artists and allowing artists to retain full rights to their music. All music can be previewed free of charge with a "try before you buy" philosophy. Customers can also choose how much they want to pay for the music with pricing ranging from $5-18 for a downloadable album or print-on-demand CD. Magnatune is a music business where everybody wins.

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Press: Email Teresa Malango or call her at (510) 289-3781.