Wurld Media Inks Deals With Sony BMG, Universal And WMG

(CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — Wurld Media, a leading developer of proprietary e-commerce and file transport technologies, has signed agreements with three major record labels. SONY BMG Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group have agreed to provide access to their vast catalogs of music to be made available on Peer Impact (http://www.peerimpact.com/ ), Wurld Media's new peer-to-peer (P2P) digital file-sharing network. Peer Impact is currently concluding internal beta testing and is scheduled to launch publicly in the first quarter of 2005.

Peer Impact's proprietary business model is designed to provide a clear, legal alternative for consumers to buy and share music, video and an assorted variety of digital content. At the same time, the service ensures that artists and rights holders receive their due compensation for each file shared on the network. Peer Impact is a revolutionary platform that harnesses peer-to-peer technology to create a low-cost infrastructure for distributing licensed content. Because Peer Impact will distribute only licensed and public domain content, it leverages the efficiencies of peer-to-peer distribution while respecting the work of artists and copyright holders.

"We're excited and proud to gain the cooperation of leading record labels, and we look forward to concluding even more agreements in the coming weeks, but we are not stopping there," said Greg Kerber, chairman and CEO of Wurld Media. "Peer Impact actually revolutionizes P2P in two ways: By minimizing distribution costs and by allowing legal file sharing within a closed network. Our goal is to populate Peer Impact with the greatest, and most diverse, collection of digital content anywhere."

"The online media market is presently split between authorized legal paid- download services and unauthorized free services; the consumer is stuck somewhere in the middle, and that's where Peer Impact comes in," Kerber continued. "From the beginning our objective has been to reach out to the consumer and help build a secure and legal file-sharing community, created by — and for — the fan, but which also ensures that digital-rights owners get compensated. We look forward to realizing that objective with the coming launch of Peer Impact." –Bob Grossweiner and Jane Cohen