LOS ANGELES & NEW YORK & MILPITAS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept.
22, 2008--Leaders in music, retail and flash memory technology today
announced they're bringing consumers an innovative, new physical music
format, dubbed "slotMusic(TM)." microSD(TM) cards will soon be made
available with pre-loaded, high quality, DRM-free MP3 music of top
artists from EMI Music, SONY BMG, Universal Music Group, and Warner
Music Group. A selection of slotMusic cards will first be available at
brick-and-mortar and online stores throughout the U.S., including Best
Buy and Wal-Mart, with Europe to follow. A complete list of slotMusic
albums, availability and pricing will be announced in time for the
coming holiday season. SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ:SNDK), inventor of
the ubiquitous microSD format, is leading the technology development
behind slotMusic.
slotMusic cards enable consumers to instantly and easily enjoy
music from their favorite artists without being dependent on a PC or
internet connection. Users simply insert the slotMusic card into their
microSD-enabled mobile phone or MP3 player to hear the music - without
passwords, downloading or digital-rights-management interfering with
their personal use.
"slotMusic offers consumers an immediate, tangible, and high
quality alternative to CDs and digital delivery," said Danielle
Levitas, vice president, Consumer, Broadband & New Media, IDC. "This
year, more than 1.2 billion mobile phones will ship globally,
outstripping portable media players by nearly an order of magnitude -
and this trend is accelerating."
slotMusic cards will be packaged with a tiny USB sleeve ensuring
seamless interoperability with all computers - Windows, Linux and Mac.
The upshot is that slotMusic will enjoy an unparalleled, pre-existing
installed base at launch: hundreds of millions of
multimedia-phones, virtually any computer with a USB connector and a
growing number of in-car sound systems will be able to play slotMusic
cards.
The MP3-based music tracks will be played back at up to 320
kilobytes per second (kbps), offering a high quality music experience
for the MP3 format.
Musicians will find slotMusic cards offer a compelling new way to
express themselves to their fans. With 1GB(1) (gigabyte) of capacity,
slotMusic cards can hold songs, as well as liner notes, album art,
videos, and other creative content that an artist may choose.
Consumers can also add their own content to a slotMusic card, creating
a personal plug-and-play media library.
For photos, a quote sheet and other press material regarding
today's announcement, please visit www.slotmusic.org.
About EMI Music
EMI Music is the recorded music division of EMI Group Limited, one
of the world's leading music companies. EMI Music represents artists
spanning all musical tastes and genres. Its record labels include
Angel, Astralwerks, Blue Note, Capitol, Capitol Nashville, EMI
Classics, EMI CMG, EMI Records, EMI Televisa Music, Manhattan, Mute,
Parlophone and Virgin. Artists on EMI labels include Lily Allen, The
Beatles, Coldplay, Corinne Bailey Rae, Gorillaz, Hot Chip, Norah
Jones, The Kooks, Korn, Kylie Minogue, Katy Perry, Pink Floyd, Joss
Stone, KT Tunstall, Keith Urban and Robbie Williams.
About SanDisk
SanDisk Corporation, the inventor and world's largest supplier of
flash storage cards, is a global leader in flash memory - from
research, manufacturing and product design to consumer branding and
retail distribution. SanDisk's product portfolio includes flash memory
cards for mobile phones, digital cameras and camcorders; digital
audio/video players; USB flash drives for consumers and the
enterprise; embedded memory for mobile devices; and solid state drives
for computers. SanDisk (www.sandisk.com/corporate) is a Silicon
Valley-based S&P 500 company, with more than half its sales outside
the United States.
About SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT
SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT is a global recorded music joint
venture with a roster of current artists that includes a broad array
of both local artists and international superstars, as well as a vast
catalog that comprises some of the most important recordings in
history. Sony BMG Music Entertainment is 50% owned by Bertelsmann A.G.
and 50% owned by Sony Corporation of America.
About Universal Music Group
Universal Music Group is the world's leading music company with
wholly owned record operations or licensees in 77 countries. Its
businesses also include Universal Music Publishing Group, the
industry's leading global music publishing operation.
Universal Music Group's record labels include Decca, Deutsche
Grammophon, Disa, Emarcy, Fonovisa, Interscope Geffen A&M Records,
Island Def Jam Music Group, Lost Highway Records, Machete Music, MCA
Nashville, Mercury Nashville, Mercury Records, Philips, Polydor
Records, Universal Motown Republic Group, Universal Music Latino,
Universal Records South, and Verve Music Group as well as a multitude
of record labels owned or distributed by its record company
subsidiaries around the world. The Universal Music Group owns the most
extensive catalog of music in the industry, which includes the last
100 years of the world's most popular artists and their recordings.
UMG's catalog is marketed through two distinct divisions, Universal
Music Enterprises (in the U.S.) and Universal Strategic Marketing
(outside the U.S.). Universal Music Group also includes eLabs, its new
media and technologies division; Bravado, its merchandising company;
Twenty-First Artists, its full service management division; and Helter
Skelter, its live music agency. Universal Music Group is a unit of
Vivendi, a global media and communications company.
About Warner Music Group
Warner Music Group became the only stand-alone music company to be
publicly traded in the United States in May 2005. With its broad
roster of new stars and legendary artists, Warner Music Group is home
to a collection of the best-known record labels in the music industry
including Asylum, Atlantic, Bad Boy, Cordless, East West, Elektra,
Lava, Nonesuch, Reprise, Rhino, Roadrunner, Rykodisc, Sire, Warner
Bros. and Word. Warner Music International, a leading company in
national and international repertoire, operates through numerous
international affiliates and licensees in more than 50 countries.
Warner Music Group also includes Warner/Chappell Music, one of the
world's leading music publishers.
(1) 1 gigabyte (GB) = 1 billion bytes.
SanDisk's product and executive images can be downloaded from
http://www.sandisk.com/corporate/media.asp
SanDisk and the SanDisk logo are trademarks of SanDisk
Corporation, registered in the United States and other countries.
slotMusic is a trademark of SanDisk Corporation. microSD and SDHC are
trademarks. Other brand names mentioned herein are for identification
purposes only and may be the trademarks of their respective holder(s).
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements,
including expectations for new product introductions, applications,
markets, and customers that are based on our current expectations and
involve numerous risks and uncertainties that may cause these
forward-looking statements to be inaccurate. Risks that may cause
these forward-looking statements to be inaccurate include among
others: there may be a slower adoption rate for these products in new
markets that we are targeting or market demand for these products may
grow more slowly than our expectations, these products may not perform
as expected, these products may not be available when expected, and
the other risks detailed from time-to-time in our Securities and
Exchange Commission filings and reports, including, but not limited
to, our Form 10-K and our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. We do not
intend to update the information contained in this press release.
MULTIMEDIA AVAILABLE:
http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=5784094
CONTACT: EMI Music
Jeanne Meyer, 212-786-8850
or
Lyman Public Relations (SanDisk)
Carm Lyman, 707-256-3834
carm@Lymanpr.com
or
SONY BMG
Claire Von Schilling, 212-833-8082
Claire.VonSchilling@sonybmg.com
or
Universal Music Group
Peter LoFrumento, 212-331-2585
Peter.Lofrumento@umusic.com
or
Warner Music Group
Amanda Collins, 212-275-2213
Amanda.Collins@wmg.com
SOURCE: SanDisk Corporation
