Maroon 5 Earns Biggest First Week In iTunes Store History

Maroon 5 Earns Biggest First Week In iTunes Store History

NEW YORK, May 30 /PRNewswire/ -- A&M/Octone recording act Maroon 5's sophomore album, "IT WON'T BE SOON BEFORE LONG," has broken an iTunes Store sales record amidst predictions of a chart-topping debut week (www.itunes.com). The Grammy-winning band sold over 101,000 albums via iTunes in one week including more than 50,000 digital pre-orders that provided fans with two exclusive tracks and a Ticketmaster pre-sale offer.

"Maroon 5 fans broke an iTunes record, making 'IT WON'T BE SOON BEFORE LONG' the #1 most popular album upon week of release," says James Diener, President of A&M/Octone Records. "The band's extensive fanbase has spoken: they clearly love the new album and special content exclusives available on iTunes."

"This is an exciting milestone for iTunes with over 100,000 copies of 'IT WON'T BE SOON BEFORE LONG' sold during its first week," said Eddy Cue, Apple's vice president of iTunes. "iTunes is thrilled to be the largest retailer in the US for this hugely anticipated album from Maroon 5."

This digital success story began when chart watchers noted that the album's first single, "Makes Me Wonder," broke a Billboard Hot 100 Chart record in early in May when it jumped to #1 from #64 in just one week. Billboard reported that the explosion of "Makes Me Wonder" was fueled by digital sales of 243,500 downloads (as of May 3). The exclusive pre-order campaign with iTunes was an integral part of the roll-out plan of the highly anticipated follow-up to Maroon 5's debut album, "Songs About Jane," which has sold over 10 million copies worldwide.

The iTunes Store features the world's largest catalog with over five million songs, 350 television shows and over 500 movies. The iTunes Store has sold over 2.5 billion songs, 50 million TV shows and over two million movies, making it the world's most popular online music, TV and movie store.

In addition to online and radio exposure, the excitement for Maroon 5's album release was paved with a list of television appearances that includes American Idol, Saturday Night Live, Today Show, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, MTV's Total Request Live.

"It Won't Be Soon Before Long" is the follow-up to the multi-platinum, Grammy award-winning "Songs About Jane" and according to Levine, the new album is "sexier and stronger." Recorded in Los Angeles with producers Mike Elizondo (Fiona Apple, Eminem), Mark "Spike" Stent (Bjork, Keane, Gwen Stefani, Marilyn Manson), Mark Endert (Madonna, Fiona Apple), and Eric Valentine (Queens of the Stone Age, Nickel Creek) the album promises to be a louder take on the pop sounds of the band's first effort. "It's definitely aggressive, upbeat and pounding," says Levine.

Maroon 5 is Adam Levine (vocals, guitar), James Valentine (guitar), Jesse Carmichael (keyboard), Mickey Madden (bass) and Matt Flynn (drums). Their debut album "Songs about Jane" earned the 2005 Grammy Award for Best New Artist, has been certified quadruple platinum in the U.S. and has reached gold or platinum status in over 35 countries. The album has sold over ten million units worldwide. In 2006 the group earned another Grammy for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for a live recording of their international hit single "This Love." Known for their commitment to the environment, Maroon 5 was honored at the 2006 Environmental Media Awards.

Darren Baber of B|W|R Public Relations, for Maroon 5, +1-310-550-7776,
dvener@bwr-la.com / dbaber@bwr-la.com; Tom Neumayr, for Apple,
+1-408-974-1972, tneumayr@apple.com

Source: A&M/Octone

CONTACT: Tiffany Shipp of Sunshine, Sachs & Associates, for A&M/Octone
Records, +1-212-691-2800, shipp@sunshinesachs.com; Dvora Vener Englefield

Web site: http://www.itunes.com/

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Profile: International Entertainment