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Napster media contact Seth Oster (310) 281-5027 seth.oster@napster.com
NAPSTER SELECTS VENABLES, BELL & PARTNERS AS ADVERTISING AGENCY
Mediasmith Will Provide Integrated Media Buying Services LOS ANGELES, June 26, 2003 - Napster, the groundbreaking on-line music service scheduled for re-launch by Roxio (NASDAQ: ROXI), today announced the selection of Venables, Bell & Partners of San Francisco as its advertising agency-of-record. The agency will be responsible for developing and implementing the advertising and marketing campaigns for the Napster re-launch. Additionally, San Francisco-based Mediasmith, which already handles offline and online media planning and buying for Napster's parent company, Roxio Inc., will serve the same function for Napster. "Napster continues to command unparalleled brand recognition in the on-line music space, and we believe that Venables, Bell & Partners offers the kind of creativity, innovation and experience that will make them an invaluable partner as we bring an even better and richer Napster experience to music consumers," said Scott Steinberg, vice president of strategic marketing for Napster. "We're thrilled to be involved with the re-launch of one of the social icons of our generation," said Bob Molineaux, president of Venables, Bell & Partners. "Napster is a powerful and electrifying brand, and we are very excited to put our creative forces behind it." About Napster Napster, the groundbreaking on-line music service, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Roxio, Inc. Headquartered in New York and Los Angeles, Napster will re-launch as a legal on-line music service in the coming months, bringing back to music fans the best known and loved music brand in the world. About Roxio Roxio, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROXI) provides the best selling digital media software in the world. Roxio makes award-winning software products for CD/DVD burning, photo editing and video editing. Roxio's family of products includes category-leading products Easy CD & DVD Creator™, Digital Media Suite™, Easy CD Creator® (Windows) and Toast® (Macintosh) for CD/DVD burning, PhotoSuite® for digital photography, and VideoWave® for digital video. Roxio also owns Napster® and plans to re-launch it as a legal, paid service in the near future. Roxio's current installed base is in excess of 100 million users. Roxio distributes its products globally through strategic partnerships with major hardware manufacturers, in stores with the leading worldwide retailers, through Internet partnerships and also sells its products -- direct at www.roxio.com. Headquartered in Santa Clara, California, Roxio also maintains offices in Minnesota, Canada, United Kingdom, Netherlands, and Japan. The company currently employs approximately 400 people worldwide. Roxio is a member of the S&P SmallCap 600 and the Russell 2000 Index. About Venables, Bell & Partners Venables, Bell & Partners (San Francisco) was started in June 2001 when Paul Venables and Greg Bell quit high-level jobs as Creative Directors of Goodby, Silverstein & Partners and lured Bob Molineaux away from being Managing Director of AKQA in New York to open their own agency. Since then, the shop has expanded to 30 people and has attracted several blue-chip clients in addition to Napster, including Mervyn's (a Target Corp. company) UltimateTV from Microsoft, HBO Home Video, Barclays Global Investors, LucasFilm, Robert Mondavi Wines, and others. Capitalized billings for 2003 are estimated at $65 million. About Mediasmith Mediasmith is a San Francisco based media agency and media consultant involved in media strategies, plans and buys for all media. The agency began as media specialists in the planning and buying of traditional media advertising in 1989. As the Internet emerged first as an alternative media channel and then transformed into the mainstream, the firm developed extensive expertise in creating strategic plans that successfully integrated new forms of Interactive media into the communication process. Today, Mediasmith works with a range of client companies including Eidos Interactive, Roxio, BabyCenter, Hyperion and others. Mediasmith is headquartered at 555 De Haro Street in San Francisco and can be reached on the Internet at http://www.mediasmithinc.com or by phone at 415-252-9339.
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Copyright © 2003 Roxio, Inc. All rights reserved. Roxio, the Roxio tagline, Easy CD Creator, PhotoSuite, VideoWave, Toast and Napster are registered trademarks of Roxio, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. Easy CD & DVD Creator and Digital Media Suite are trademarks of Roxio, Inc., which may be registered in certain jurisdictions. All other trademarks used are owned by their respective owners. |
