Universal Music Group Partners With Conduit Labs To Bring Music Discovery Into Social Games

Universal Music Group (UMG), the world's leading music company, and top online social music gaming company Conduit Labs, today announced a partnership that provides users of such popular social games as Music Pets, Super Dance and Loudcrowd access to UMG's library of chart-topping music. This catalog of licensed music enables Conduit to unite the excitement of social game play with the widespread appeal of music discovery.

Conduit Labs develops free-to-play social games for the web in which users can purchase virtual items to further enhance and personalize their experience. Through this agreement with UMG, and within the context of the company's various properties, Conduit Labs can now offer its over 1 million users the chance to discover, collect and recommend tracks from many of the world's most prominent artists. This business model benefits participating record labels through direct sharing of virtual goods revenue, with additional opportunities for users to separately purchase digital downloads and other products. 

"Conduit has created a truly dynamic platform for consumers to discover and enjoy music," stated David Ring, Executive Vice President of Business Development and Business Affairs for UMG's eLabs. "And no one is better positioned to take full advantage of the many opportunities unfolding in social gaming than UMG. Our incredible roster of chart-topping artists and deep catalog provide our partners and consumers with a wealth of well known artists and brands that create real value and provide for a more engaging experience."

The social gaming industry has seen incredible growth over the past year, with virtual item sales in North America estimated to exceed $1.6 billion in 2010, according to Inside Networks. This rapidly-growing ecosystem - over 100 million daily active users among the top 20 Facebook applications alone - lacked a breakout success in the music games genre before Music Pets, which surpassed one million users less than 30 days after its launch.  The music discovery game is currently one of the top 20 fastest-growing games on Facebook and was recently called one of the "most talked about applications" by Social Times.

"We are excited to offer the fans of such a wide variety of artists the opportunity to turn music discovery into a fun and social experience again," said Nabeel Hyatt, Founder and CEO, Conduit Labs. "Partnerships like this will help us continue towards our goal of building online games and music discovery experiences with social value beyond game play."

About Universal Music Group

Universal Music Group is the world's leading music company with wholly-owned record operations or licensees in 77 countries. Its businesses also include Universal Music Publishing Group, the industry's leading global music publishing operation.

Universal Music Group's record labels include A&M/Octone, Decca, Deutsche Grammophon, Disa, Emarcy, Fonovisa, Interscope Geffen A&M Records, Island Def Jam Music Group, Lost Highway Records, Machete Music, MCA Nashville, Mercury Nashville, Mercury Records, Polydor Records, Universal Motown Republic Group, Universal Music Latino and Verve Music Group as well as a multitude of record labels owned or distributed by its record company subsidiaries around the world. The Universal Music Group owns the most extensive catalog of music in the industry, which includes the last 100 years of the world's most popular artists and their recordings. UMG's catalog is marketed through two distinct divisions, Universal Music Enterprises (in the U.S.) and Universal Strategic Marketing (outside the U.S.). Universal Music Group also includes eLabs, its new media and technologies division; Bravado, its merchandising company; Twenty-First Artists, its full service management division; and Helter Skelter, its live music agency.

Universal Music Group is a unit of Vivendi, a global media and communications company.

About Conduit Labs

Conduit Labs is the largest creator of music games for the web and social networks. With an unmatched catalog of top artists and category-defining games such as Music Pets enjoyed by millions of people each month, Conduit is defining a new vision for experiencing, sharing, and monetizing music.

Conduit Labs is backed by Charles River Ventures and Prism VentureWorks, and has offices in Cambridge, MA and New York, NY.

Conduit's Music Pets allows users to create and care for a virtual pet, keeping it happy by feeding it the music they love. Each Music Pet learns its owner's personal music tastes and fetches them songs in a new, engaging form of music discovery. Users can then build music collections and visit other pets to share music preferences with friends. Visit Music Pets on Facebook at http://apps.facebook.com/musicpets In Super Dance, Facebook users explore different clubs and playlists, where they level up to unlock new clubs and international venues by mastering a variety of dance moves. Users can personalize their characters with clothing, accessories, new moves, and songs collected. Visit Super Dance on Facebook at http://apps.facebook.com/playsuperdance.

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