Listen.com Signs Licensing Agreement With Sanctuary Records Group

Listen.com has signed a content licensing agreement with Sanctuary Records Group, a division of Sanctuary Group plc, that will dramatically expand the amount of music available to consumers through its Rhapsody digital music service.

Listen.com's agreement with Sanctuary will add thousands of masters from artists in several important genres on Sanctuary Records and its affiliated labels, including Sanctuary Records, CMC International, Metal-Is, Castle Music, Trojan Records, Rough Trade Records and Noise Records. The Sanctuary Records Group's digital catalog includes a diverse mix of artists in the metal, reggae, rock, and punk genres, from Iron Maiden, Megadeth, Queensryche and Motorhead to Joey Ramone, Bob Marley, Widespread Panic, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Pet Shop Boys, and The Kinks.

"With the largest and most diversified independently owned catalog of music in the world, we appeal to countless fans that are increasingly active in the digital arena," stated Sanctuary President Tom Lipsky. "Services like Rhapsody are helping deliver on digital music's early promise. We're glad to be working with Listen.com, and pleased to be giving fans another exciting channel for hearing our artists' music."

Rhapsody gives music fans unlimited and unrestricted access to one of the world's largest libraries of legally available digital music, spanning more than 150,000 tracks from many of the world's best-known recording artists. Rhapsody is the only service to offer consumers legal access to music from four of the five major music companies, including BMG, EMI Recorded Music, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group. Listen.com has also signed licensing agreements with more than 50 independent labels.

"To satisfy the diverse tastes of online music fans, you need to offer a broad and varied mix of artists and musical styles," said Sean Ryan, chief executive officer, Listen.com. "Licensing Sanctuary's wide-ranging catalog of digital recordings gives Rhapsody subscribers access to a library of music that's a cut above what's available through other online music services."