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finetunes press lounge

finetunes is joining its new worldwide distribution partner Pacha Recordings, along with many other finetunes label partners, at the Ibiza-based International Music Summit from June 27-29.

As leaders in the field of digital distribution for electronic labels, finetunes MD Oke Goettlich and export co-ordinator Phil Darimont will be on-hand at IMS to provide digital market intelligence for finetunes’ existing labels partners, as well as potential new labels and services.

2009 has already seen finetunes launch an exclusive world-wide distribution relationship with Ibiza-based label Pacha Recordings. House music label Pacha Recordings is one of the biggest and most celebrated names in dance music. Pacha’s legendary network of franchise clubs throughout the world has helped turn it into an iconic clubbing brand. But surprisingly, the twin-cherries powerhouse has never offered the label's catalogue digitally, until now.

The first 2009 „Hamburger Musik Forum's“ round table presented by the VUT Nord on the 2nd of Febuary dealt with the actual situation of physical music distribution. Participants of the panel discussion was, beneath Jochen Richert (Soulfood), Michael Ratelbeck (mconnexion), Dirk Mahlstedt (edel) and Günther Buskies (Tapete Records) Oke Göttlich (finetunes) in his function as a representative of digital distribution. Insolvencies like Neuton or Pinnacle do not only strike the physical distribution sector. Associated Labels find their economic existence more and more influenced and endangered by the situation of physical distribution. Despite the low-spirited situation, the participant's opinion during the panel discussion was to push forward quality and to create awareness around their releases. The customer/fan should experience high-quality products which create buying incitements through additional value. Therefore Oke Göttlich mentions that music downloads are still seen as competition for the physical product instead of being used as an independent and additional channel of distribution.

finetunes press release | 16/01/2009

finetunes signs licensing agreement with Deezer

Hamburg and Paris – 16/01/2009
On-demand streaming service Deezer has signed a licensing agreement with digital distributor finetunes.

Under the agreement, the French company will in future make available on its service the new releases and catalogue of all labels digitally distributed by finetunes. Deezer users will have access to leading record labels and artists including Record Makers (Sébastien Tellier), Cocoon Recordings (Sven Väth) and Honest Jon’s (Tony Allen).

finetunes press release | 13/01/2009

Honest Jon's Records chooses finetunes as exclusive digital distribution partner

Honest Jon's Records and the Hamburg-based digital distributor finetunes have signed an exclusive, world-wide distribution agreement.

World music label Honest Jon’s is a co-venture between the famous London record store Honest Jon’s and Blur and Gorillaz frontman Damon Albarn. All Honest Jon's digital releases by artists including Tony Allen, Elmore Judd, Simone White and Moondog will in future be distributed and marketed world-wide by finetunes.

David Balfour, finetunes’ UK representative, says: "Honest Jon's is a dream label for us - it has an amazing catalogue, an impressive release schedule, but most importantly a hard-earned reputation for quality and individualism. We're delighted to be working with Mark Ainley and his team to develop the label's profile in the digital space and spread its music to new and existing fans."

About finetunes:

finetunes strikes agreement with X5 Music
Digital distribution and service company X5 Music Group and finetunes, one of Europe's leading independent digital distributors for audio and video contents, have signed a distribution agreement. finetunes will in future provide X5 with technical solutions for encoding digital music and delivering X5 content to digital stores.

X5 Music Group CEO Johan Lagerlöf commented: “For us the co-operation with finetunes is a perfect match. They have a deep knowledge and broad network within the digital marketplace and this partnership will be an effective way to optimize our delivery process."

Torben Storjohann, Head of Encoding and Deliveries at finetunes, adds: “X5 Music Group can now take advantage of the possibilities offered by finetunes in the best way possible: not only will we prepare their content for delivery to their existing network, but finetunes can also expand their means of exploitation by adding our own extensive delivery network.”

Europe’s largest music trade fair takes place in Cannes from January 17-21. Finetunes will be attending Midem and will be available for meetings with both existing and potential new partners. If you have any questions about any of our our services: from distribution and label management, through to technical encoding and delivery (DSP) services, or digital retail solutions, please contact Hanns-Christian Gerth to arrange a meeting. Attending Midem for finetunes will be Oke Göttlich, Tom Günther, Phil Darimont, David Balfour and Vincent Quittard.

Press contect:
::: Hanns-Christian Gerth ::: hank (ädt) finetunes.net :::
::: finetunes GmbH :::
::: Marketing & Press Department :::
::: Stresemannstrasse 375 / Unit 11 :::
::: D-22761 Hamburg :::
::: Phone: +49 (0)40-328 91 981-00 :::

more information about finetunes @ MIDEM:
http://www.midem.com

finetunes is proud to announce that Oke Göttlich (GM finetunes) particpates as panel speaker at the kick off event from CHECKDISOUT in Hamburg Germany.

The first event ‘Music is Okay?!‘ will take place on November 20th. It will tackle current topics surrounding the state of digital music culture. The premiere will take a close look at the status of digital music, 10 years after the introduction of music-sharing service napster, apart from the major labels’ mourning and lack of creativity. The following speakers have been confirmed:

Oke Göttlich (GM finetunes)
Eric Wahlforss (Co-Founder of SoundCloud)
Marga Glanz (Owner Groovecity)
Ruben Jonas Schnell (CEO ByteFM)

The tickets for this event are extremely limited, so be quick and catch one via the checkdisout microsite (in German). Within the next weeks you can read a series of interviews with the panelists on PSFK.

VUT e.V. in cooperation with finetunes presents:

"Money for nothing and tracks for free!? - how to Monetize online Music!"

A showcase and panel discussion tackling one of the biggest issues affecting the modern-day music business: how to monetize online music. Our invitated companies will introduce themselves and their products with the focus on the newest business ideas and freshest opportunities for labels, artists and content partners. The event aims to provide your company how to use the full range of online models to generate a better online presence and, crucially, increase online revenues. The panel features leading online companies and music industry experts who will aim demystify and get "under the skin" of current and emerging online business models.
we would be glad to welcome you at our event.

[Participants] SOUNDCLOUD // DEEZER // we7 // JUSTALOUD // WEEKENDER REC. // PLAYLOUDER // ... AND MORE
[Date] WEDNESDAY // 08/10/2008
[Location] POPKOMM KONGRESSZENTRUM // [ROOM] ISTANBUL
[Time] SHOWCASE 15:45H // PANEL 16:45H

finetunes GmbH, one of Europe’s leading digital distributors and content aggregators, has issued a legal warning to Last.fm Ltd, operator of www.Last.fm.

The cease-and-desist order, which was issued on Friday the 5th of September 2008, cites infringements of German copyright law on the part of Last.fm. It states that that Last.fm is using finetunes’ music catalogue for its music streaming service without having been granted permission either from finetunes or from Germany's collecting societies.

Under the order, finetunes requires Last.fm to cease the use (via streaming on demand and personalised streaming) of songs from its catalogue of over 200,000 tracks. The order also demands that Last.fm provides finetunes with detailed information about previous streaming and duplication of these songs on its service. Furthermore, finetunes requires that Last.fm compensates finetunes for its prior illegal usage of its copyrighted material.