Paul Young Launches Etopia Music to Help New Acts Get Their Break

Paul Young Launches Etopia Music to Help New Acts Get Their Break

LONDON, January 31/PRNewswire/ --

- Website Offers Chance to Shine and Earn Alongside Established Artists

Etopia Music launched today as a new download store that also offers any new or unsigned acts the chance to promote and sell their work alongside some of the music industry's biggest names.

The store, which reflects a broad array of musical tastes, offers bands or solo artists from any country the ability to create online profiles and upload their music for sale at the price they choose. They benefit from guaranteed promotion alongside established music stars, also available to download on Etopia Music.

Paul Young, multi-million selling soul vocalist, has co-founded the website because he believes in the power of the internet to find and break new talent. He said: "The music business is all about getting your talent noticed, so Etopia Music sells new and unsigned acts alongside the biggest names. We are using the power of the internet to make it easier for bands to connect with new fans and hopefully earn some money from their music."

"Acts from anywhere on the planet can upload their music and have it for sale within minutes, profiled alongside major artists. Etopia Music can help fill the gap between the record industry's narrow commercial focus and the vastness of the web and social networking sites because we are dedicated to giving new or unsigned talent a break on their own terms."

Established artists available on Etopia Music include Paul Weller, Leona Lewis, Fatboy Slim, Elvis Presley, Paul Oakenfold, Bloc Party and hundreds more. Downloads are in the highest quality format available commercially online and are not restricted by Digital Rights Management (DRM). Consumers are free to hear tracks before they buy.

Ricky Simmonds, managing director of Etopia Music, said: "We believe most consumers want access to high-quality legal downloads and in return they can play their music on any device they like, without complicated and discouraging restrictions. Both established and unsigned acts can sell their music on Etopia Music free of copyright protection and hopefully increase revenues and their audience at the same time."

Notes to Editors:

Artists joining the Etopia Music catalogue can choose the price of their music, from 50p per track upwards, and will receive 80 per cent of revenues directly, significantly higher than the share from other download stores or record labels. All music sold by Etopia is in a high-quality 320kbps file format, the highest MP3 quality file legal music stores can offer. There are no digital rights management restrictions on downloads.

The cost of joining Etopia Music's artist catalogue starts at just GBP4.50 a year, which includes a profile page and 15Mb (around three tracks) of download space and the ability to upload photos, videos, biogs, blogs, contact details and web links. More extensive packages are available at GBP19.50 (150Mb - approximately 30 tracks) and GBP49.50 (350Mb - up to 75 tracks) a year for those wanting to upload a larger catalogue of songs to sell.

Paul Young will be regularly reviewing the music uploaded by unsigned artists to the store and will create a talent chart for consumers to review. Etopia Music is a joint venture between a number of investors, including Paul Young, and parent company Audiojelly, a specialist in dance music downloads since 2004, selling content from more than 4,000 labels.

Photography is available.

http://www.etopiamusic.com

Source: Etopia Music Ltd

For further information and interviews, please contact: Cass Stainton, +44(0)7798-554520, c.staintonpr@googlemail.com; Ricky Simmonds, Managing Director - Etopia Music and Audiojelly, +44(0)7899-986796, press@etopiamusic.com

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Profile: International Entertainment