News Release

Paris, OCTOBER 2 2008 –

One year after completing a first round of funding in the amount of $3 million from XAnge Private Equity, BELIEVE DIGITAL, the leading European digital label, announces that it has acquired MTunes, a leading German digital distribution company and raised $6.5 million from Xange and Ventech in its second round of financing.

With these two operations, Believe Digital strengthens its leadership position as the only player with local A&R, digital marketing and promotion teams in all key European markets and the financial capacity to develop new innovative digital services.

The combined company, which will now operate under the Believe Digital name, will leverage, for the benefit of its artists and labels:  A unique catalogue of best-selling artists and developing talents, including
international artists such as Umberto Tozzi, MC Solaar, Barbara Hendricks, DJ Cam, Ozark Henry, Soko, Ennio Morricone, Bob Sinclar, VNV Nation, Emilia, Blowfly, D.O.N.S. or Antoine Clamaran;

A team of 50 employees dedicated solely to digital distribution, digital promotion and digital marketing with offices in all key European markets and the United States;

An innovative digital distribution and digital marketing technology supporting a distribution and marketing network of over 500 digital music stores, that includes all major music stores (iTunes, Amazon, Napster, VirginMega, MusicLoad…) and mobile services (Vodafone, SFR, Orange, Telecom Italia…), as well as the largest network of specialty stores (Beatport, Juno, Traxsource, DJDownload,
TrackItDown);

A proven A&R and digital marketing expertise that has lead to 10 top 1 digital single sales in the past year only including AaRON, Soko, Max Gazzè, MC Solaar, Maurizio Cinesi, Barbara… and more than 50 top 20 album sales in the past six months only.

All of these services are now being combined to offer Believe’s artists and labels the highest level of digital distribution, promotion and marketing services in a new digital music world.

“This combination clearly positions Believe Digital as the only digital player with a strong presence in all key European markets, allowing us to provide superior service to all our artists and labels on a pan-European basis. With a fantastic team of 15 dedicated to A&R, marketing and promotion in Germany, we now have a strong ability to coordinate distribution, promotion and marketing on a pan-European basis and globally for our artists and labels. As the digital market is international in nature, we are very excited by the new opportunities this opens up for our artists” declares Denis Ladegaillerie, president and founder of Believe.

MEDIA CONTACTS
Denis Ladegaillerie
denis@believedigital.com

Believe at PopKomm 2008

Believe will be present at PopKomm 2008. Contact us to have a meet :

• Denis Ladegaillerie –Believe CEO – denis@believedigital.com

• Nicolas Laclias – Head of A&R  - nicolas@believedigital.com

• Luca Stante – Italian office manager – Luca@believedigital.com

• Mario Lehmann– Germany A&R – mario@believedigital.de

Barbara Hendricks lets her public fix the price of her latest album in partnership with Believe.

The soprano Barbara Hendricks, one of the greatest voices of our time, with sales of 12 million albums throughout the world, is letting her public fix the price of her new album available as a high quality MP3 download on www.arteverum.com, her label’s website. This operation has been undertaken in partnership with Believe. In 2006, Barbara Hendricks announced the setting up of her own label, Arte Verum, in order to ensure the production and a better diffusion of the discs herself.

As an extension of this approach, and to broaden and democratise access to her music, Barbara Hendricks will be offering her public, from 21 November 2007, the possibility of downloading her new album with music-lovers themselves fixing the price they wish to pay.

Endless Pleasure will be available on the site www.arteverum.com in top quality MP3 format (320 kb/s) with the album cover and the booklet in pdf format.

On the occasion of this operation, Barbara Hendricks’s public will also be able to take advantage of a special offer on all the albums produced by Arte Verum:
- Her new album Endless Pleasure, her first solo disc of great baroque arias (Purcell and Handel), recorded with the Drottningholms Barockensemble in digipack format;
- Her two previous albums: Canciones Españolas (Spanish Songs) with the pianist Love Derwinger and Lieder by Robert Schumann with Roland Pöntinen also in digipack format;
- An exclusive CD bonus of hitherto unreleased recordings.

Every purchaser of the digipack CD will have the possibility of downloading the albums in digital format at no extra cost.

This operation, organised and carried out jointly by Believe and Arte Verum, is a first for a classical music artiste and for an artiste of the reputation of Barbara Hendricks.

Download the Pdf Version : press-release-barbara-hendricks.pdf

Believe, the leading European digital label secures a first round of financing

Press Release

Paris, 15 October 2007 – Believe, the leading European digital label secures a first round of financing of 3 million dollars from Xange Private Equity. This financing will allow the company to accelerate its international roll-out.

Created in 2005 and in less than 3 years with an innovative A&R 2.0 technology and an advanced digital marketing expertise, Believe has become the leading digital label in Europe.

Several thousand artists and labels across Europe have entrusted Believe with their digital distribution and promotion needs, including many top International artists such as MC Solaar, Barbara Hendricks, Bob Sinclar, the Paris Jazz Big Band, DJ Cam, Ennio Morricone or Albano Carrisi… , who benefit from Believe’s digital marketing expertise and the talents of a team entirely to digital distribution and marketing.

Believe is also reinventing A&R with an innovative approach for developing young artists. In the past eight months only, Believe has contributed to taking several hundred developing artists to the top of the charts, including two number one digital album and digital single sales across several European geographies: Aaron (number one single sales in France) and Soko (number one album and single sales in Scandinavia).

These artists and labels all benefit from Believe’s international distribution network that includes all major PC (iTunes, Napster, VirginMega, FnacMusic…) and mobile services (Vodafone, SFR, Orange, Telecom Italia…) and Believe unique digital marketing expertise and tools.

« This first round of financing will allow us to accelerate the roll-out of new and innovative interactive digital marketing tools that we initiated with the Believe Player, the first interactive player allowing the discovery of music with direct links to all digital music services where the product is available. It also shows confidence in Believe’s ability to buid creative solutions in the unique combination of an A&R, a digital marketing and a technology firm.” declares Denis Ladegaillerie, president and founder of Believe.

Download the Pdf Version : Believe founded