SOURCE: IODA

July 09, 2008 08:00 ET

IODA Expands Latin Music Distribution Network

IODA Broadens Portfolio of Latin Labels and Digital Retailers, Bringing More Independent Latin Music to More Music Fans Around the World

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - July 9, 2008) - IODA, the global leader in digital distribution, marketing, and technology solutions for the independent music and film industry, today announced that Latin music labels Fuego and MCD Entertainment have partnered with IODA for worldwide digital music distribution. The Company also announced the addition of Latin music retailers Fuego Entertainment, iMusica and Agave Mobile to its Latin music distribution network. The new partners build on IODA's already robust portfolio of independent Latin labels and retailers. IODA now distributes its portfolio of music to fans in more than 22 Spanish-speaking countries and to millions of Latin music fans in the United States. On the heels of its worldwide partnership with Telefonica, IODA made the announcement today at the Latin Alternative Music Conference in New York City.

Adding breadth and depth to its catalog of Latin music and retailers serving Latin markets, the new partnerships include:

--  Fuego and Fuego Entertainment is a growing independent label and
    digital retailer based in Miami. Under the partnership, IODA will
    distribute the more than 2,000 tracks in Fuego's artist portfolio.
    Additionally, IODA's more than one million tracks will now be accessible on
    Fuego Entertainment's digital retail site at http://www.fuegomio.com.
     
--  iMusica, the largest service provider in Latin America and the world's
    leading digital distributor of Brazilian music, has established a presence
    in 18 countries. Its network of digital retail stores includes those in
    partnership with large portals such as Yahoo! and MSN as well as Claro,
    TelCel, ComCel and more.
    
--  MCD Entertainment, one of Brazil's largest and most respected
    independent labels, represents top-selling artists Barbatuques, Katia B,
    Fortuna, Atman, BiD, Roberto Coelho, Palavra Cantada and Clube do Balanco.  
    
--  Agave Mobile, a cutting edge mobile content producer and distributor
    with a focus on the Latino consumer, actively licenses and produces unique
    content that speaks directly to its audiences, including short form videos,
    mastertones and wall papers. Already a digital retail partner of IODA's
    through parent company MisRolas, Agave Mobile and IODA are expanding the
    scope of their partnership to sell IODA's Latin music catalog to mobile
    partners and off-deck portals in the United States and Latin America,
    including AT&T's MEdia mall, Ideas Telcel, Telefonica/Movistar, Iusacell,
    SendMe Mobile, ThumbPlay and Compera nTime. The deal also includes the
    MisRolas branded BREW ringtone application.

IODA will manage all aspects of digital distribution for the new label partners. This includes making the label's content available through IODA's network of more than 300 digital retail outlets like iTunes, Amazon MP3, Napster and Rhapsody as well as through mobile distribution outlets like Sprint and Verizon.

"IODA has the unique combination of a deep understanding of the independent music industry backed by a strong distribution network and one of the best back-end technology infrastructures we've seen," said Roberto Ruiz, International Relations Director of MCD Entertainment. "We are confident that IODA will connect our large catalog of artists with even more music fans around the world through both traditional and emerging outlets."

Fans who use digital retail sites Fuego Entertainment, iMusica and Agave Mobile, will now have access to IODA's large catalog of independent music. Each with a strong regional presence, these digital retailers will expose millions of fans to new music from around the world.

"Digital music sales in Latin America continue to grow as we provide increasingly easy access to music online in nearly 20 countries," said Felippe Llerena, Executive Director of iMusica. "Adding IODA's catalog of quality music to iMusica will give our users the ability to discover and purchase music from a much broader set of independent artists than ever before."

"The forward-thinking business models of our digital retail partners focused on Spanish-speaking markets are giving independent artists access to an important global fan base," said Kevin Arnold, founder and CEO of IODA. "By providing the opportunity for labels like Fuego and MCD to connect with fans through retailers like iMusica and Agave Mobile, we expand the number of fans for independent artists worldwide. Symbiotic relationships like these fuel our passion for this business and we are delighted to have such quality partners with which to work."

About IODA

IODA, the Independent Online Distribution Alliance, is the industry-leading digital distribution company for the global independent music community. IODA provides comprehensive services to record labels, physical distributors, and artists, including license negotiations; media encoding and metadata management; and royalty payment administration and reporting. The company also offers promotional support through a dedicated marketing division and through the IODA Promonet (www.iodapromonet.com), a promotional distribution network that provides qualified podcasts, blogs, and other promotional sites with access to pre-cleared, legal music and other promotional assets from IODA's labels. Founded in 2003, IODA represents a rapidly expanding roster of over a million tracks from thousands of independent labels around the globe. IODA also distributes independent film and video content for over 2000 titles. IODA was named one of FORTUNE magazine's 25 Breakout Companies for 2005. The company's website is www.iodalliance.com.