TUCOWS Enters Digital Music Download Space

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October 13, 1999

Music Site Offers Unique Promotion to Remix Ice T’s Single “Check Your Game”

TORONTO, CANADA — October 13, 1999 — TUCOWS (www.tucows.com), the leading online software distributor, is entering the Web music space with the launch of TUCOWS Music (http://music.tucows.com). TUCOWS Music, which goes live today, will feature a special promotion from hip-hop singer Ice T, in conjunction with Atomic Pop, and his recently released full-length album, “The 7th deadly SIN.” Fans can re-mix “Check Your Game” using instrumental and a cappela versions available only at TUCOWS Music. Additionally, TUCOWS Music will boast tracks from more than 200 artists, independent and labeled, including pre-releases from Danzig, Palm Pictures artists The Baby Namboos and Supreme Beings of Leisure; new releases from Bob Welch, Dr. Billy Taylor and Bernie Worrell; acclaimed Children’s Storyteller Bill Harley; and Digital Audio Postcards(TM) from Sinead O’Connor, Cowboy Junkies, Loreena McKennitt and Squeeze.

TUCOWS Music is planning future releases of watermarked, copy protected and e-commerce enabled downloads and is actively working with Trivnet and a variety of other Internet-based micropayment systems. The company expects to announce further details on their e-commerce strategy in a few weeks.

“TUCOWS provides over 8 million software downloads a month, offering the infrastructure and the traffic to make TUCOWS Music the fastest and best music download service on the Net,” said Jon Cooper, Director of TUCOWS Music.

Building on the huge distribution backbone of the TUCOWS network, which hosts the world’s largest affiliate program with mirror sites in 75 countries worldwide, listeners can count on faster downloads because their selections will be coming from local servers. The site will also leverage the company’s worldwide connections. Content partners include Audiopia, Global Music One, Mjuice, MusicMatch, MUSIC.RU (Russia’s oldest online music resource), and Whammo (Worldwide Home of Australasian Music & More Online). Additional regions will be added, allowing local content aggregators to bring their culture and tastes to the world.

“Like GMO, TUCOWS has been a leader in downloading technology since before the Web was born,” said Anthony Stonefield, GMO’s founder and CEO. “So it is with great pleasure that we are contributing to TUCOWS’ entry into the music downloading space. Our edgy Digital Audio Postcards and MP4s perfectly complement what promises to be a destination site of true distinction and global scope.”

TUCOWS Music allows consumers to sample tracks via “virtual listening stations.” Listeners can download tracks and create their own jukebox with downloadable audio players available on the music site. Artists and their Labels provide the digital tracks to the public via TUCOWS Music free of charge to promote their artists to TUCOWS’ international audience of downloaders.

TUCOWS Music will boast contextual links alongside relevant editorial content, free MP3 selections, a list of critically reviewed “Top Picks” and TUCOWS’ signature user reviews, a peer-to-peer program that lets users sound off on particular soundtracks.

About TUCOWS.com Inc.

With offices in New York City; Flint, Michigan; and Toronto, Canada, TUCOWS.com (The Ultimate Collection of Winsock Software) is one of the largest Internet distribution sites featuring Windows, Macintosh, Linux and PDA software. TUCOWS.com was founded in 1994 as a public service to new Internet users. Today the privately owned and operated company offers an array of electronic downloaded software programs that can be accessed through over 600 affiliates in over 75 countries worldwide. The site serves more than 80 million pages per month making TUCOWS.com one of the busiest sites on the Internet.