Looking for who said what in the sound world? Well there is no better place to find every audio related press release than 3DsoundSurge.!

``This is an industry first,'' said William Yeager, president and CEO of the Los Angeles based site, adding, ``Paying listeners for information isn't unique, but seeing that the recording artists are compensated is a concept that the artists and their industry should embrace. We're glad to lead the way!''

Designed in part to address growing record industry concerns

The site is the creation of the Los Angeles company Soundom Entertainment Corporation. In light of recent controversies surrounding digital music products such as Napster, Soundom.com was designed in part to address growing music industry concerns over distributing copyrighted material via Internet.

Yeager explained, ``The record industry has been up in arms over what's happening with digital music and MP3 files over the Internet. The allure of digital music is obvious. On the Internet, it's easy for consumers to get music they want at no cost. It's simple to swap perfect digital copies, and nothing has effectively addressed the issue of artist royalties.''

He continued, ``Record companies have only recently responded with secure digital rights management systems in the form of the SDMI (secure digital music initiative), but this has not yet materialized.''

``Artists and music companies are being deprived of royalties. With Soundom.com, not only are we paying the artists for a downloaded piece but via CD and Internet Radio revenue, we are creating a revenue stream they've never had before, and, arguably, they're not legally entitled to. Soundom.com will be the conduit to make this a ''win`` for both recording artist and listener.''

Plug-in identifies each piece of music played;

compensation of artists is unique site benefit

Soundom's software allows identification of the music the user is listening to. The software interfaces with Windows Media and Winamp, two of the market's three most popular players. After the site's formal launch in July, other players will be added to the mix.

When the consumer downloads a Soundom plugin to their existing Winamp or Windows media player, the plugin automatically sends a highly targeted advertisement to the player in both audio and banner form, and connects to a server which contains a machine listening technology which uniquely identifies each piece of music played. For those who don't have a player, Soundom provides a proprietary solution.

This technology then informs Soundom what the consumer listens to. Soundom will be able to recommend similar music and offer the consumer an opportunity to purchase this music. In addition to special promotions concerning favorite artists, people will have a keyword search option available to find information about a specific artist, such as concert dates or recent releases. ``Whether it's Third Eye Blind, Matchbox 20 or Santana, our keyword search option will have the answer to users' questions,'' said Yeager.

Artists receive a portion of Soundom's advertising revenue For each song played, Soundom pays the listener a percent of Soundom's advertising revenue and holds in trust a percentage of ad revenue for the artist. Every time a site visitor plays a song on the computer using the plugin and services, both the user and the record company/artist will receive a percent of advertising revenue from Soundom.com.

Yeager continued, ``We will ask our users to complete a demographic survey to provide us with specific information. We are extremely protective of our marketing data and never sell any information that allows an advertiser to uniquely identify a user.''

``We're willing to pay for information we receive -- namely what people are listening to, and what they're doing with their music.''

Unique benefits to consumers

Yeagar noted, ``We bring strong value to site users! We'll be able to recommend music, offer specialized purchase opportunities including concert tickets, and keep users apprised of promotions tailored to their listening tastes.''

``Our policy of compensating the artist enables each listener to feel he (she) is doing the right thing.'' He added, ``And, if you're a fan of Metallica, for example, you'll feel good about supporting them.''

The company has plans for development of business to business applications, and eventually, video applications. Presently, Soundom is completing negotiations for partnerships to allow the use of instream advertisements.

Yeager, who holds a Juris Doctorate from the University of California, Davis, previously served as Director of Strategic Partner Development for Searchbymedia.com, Atlanta, where he was responsible for negotiating agreements with online music destination sites including MP3.com (MPPP), Emusic (EMUS), Liquid Audio (LQID), and Mjuice as well as several independent and foreign language music sites.

Site to launch this summer; signup available now

Don't wait! Web surfers interested in signing up to be part of the Soundom.com experience can do so in the site's prelaunch mode by accessing www.soundom.com. For additional information, contact Yeager via e-mail, william@soundom.com, or (858) 212-7494.

Jim Farrell of PR First, 781-681-6616, prfirst@hardlink.com

SOURCE: Soundom.com