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Napster Joins Retail Partners AOL, RealNetworks in Offering MusicNet Service

With more than six million daily users, Napster becomes the third distribution partner to team with MusicNet. The first two affiliates are RealNetworks (Nasdaq: RNWK) and America Online (NYSE: AOL), both of which announced licenses for the MusicNet service in April. AOL, RealNetworks and Napster are all expected to begin offering their MusicNet-based subscription services to consumers by late summer 2001. As previously announced, BMG Entertainment, EMI Recorded Music and Warner Music Group will permit their content to be delivered to Napster at such time as Napster is operating in a legal, non-infringing manner and has successfully deployed a technology that accurately tracks the identity of files on the service.

``MusicNet is focused on providing a platform that will help consumers who are used to the experience of Napster to find, acquire and enjoy music in a manner that's legal, reliable, secure and supportive of artists and rights holders,'' said Rob Glaser, Chairman of the Board and interim CEO of MusicNet. ``Today's announcement is great for consumers, for artists and for the recording industry. We look forward to providing the MusicNet service to the Napster community.''

``We are pleased to be able to offer Napster members access to the MusicNet service,'' said Hank Barry, interim CEO of Napster. ``Our relationship with MusicNet underscores our commitment to supporting the members of the Napster community -- the world's most enthusiastic music fans -- in discovering and listening to music of all types from around the world.''

The agreement announced today represents a major step forward for Napster's efforts to provide members of its new paid service with access to major label music, which will be available to Napster users only through the MusicNet platform. Members of the new Napster service who subscribe to the MusicNet offering through Napster will be able to share MusicNet content with other MusicNet subscribers who are also Napster members.

The exclusive alliance with Napster demonstrates MusicNet's leadership position in the digital music marketplace over Duet- a lead that was recently reaffirmed by a May 2001 Red Herring Music Report. According to analyst and report author Matt Wells, ``MusicNet will be the case that serves as proof of concept for online music subscription services.''

About MusicNet

MusicNet is the world's first legal, major label digital distribution platform for streaming and downloading music. It combines RealNetworks' industry-leading Internet media delivery technology with the music catalogs of the three major record labels -- Warner Music Group, Bertelsmann AG, and EMI Recorded Music. As both a technology provider and a music clearinghouse, MusicNet will license its ``private-label'' platform to companies seeking to sell music subscription services under their own brands. RealNetworks and Warner Music Group formed MusicNet in the spring of 2000 as a subsidiary, and RealNetworks incubated it from its inception. MusicNet was officially announced as a joint venture between RealNetworks, AOL Time Warner, Bertelsmann AG, and EMI Recorded Music in April of 2001. MusicNet's corporate information is located on the Internet at http://www.musicnet.com .

About Napster

Napster is the world's leading person-to-person file sharing community. Napster provides music enthusiasts with an easy-to-use, high quality service for discovering new music and communicating their interests with other members of the Napster community. Napster's software application enables users to locate and share music files through a user-friendly interface, and features instant messaging, chat rooms, and Hot List User Bookmarks. In October 2000, Bertelsmann AG and Napster announced the formation of a strategic alliance to further develop the Napster person-to-person file sharing service. In January 2001, edel Music and TVT Records joined the alliance. Last year, Napster won several Wired Magazine Readers Rave Awards, including Best Music Site, Best Innovative Start-up, and Best Guerilla Marketing.

NOTE: RealNetworks is the registered trademark of RealNetworks, Inc. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

SOURCE: MusicNet