Press Release

EMusic.com Executes License With America's Music Publishers For Subscription Music Streaming Service.

Agreement Called Landmark Step Forward For A Leading Internet Music Distributor

NEW YORK & PALO ALTO - The Harry Fox Agency, Inc. (HFA), the wholly owned subsidiary of the National Music Publishers' Association, Inc. (NMPA), and EMusic.com (Nasdaq: EMUS), the Internet's leading seller of downloadable music, today announced an amendment to their previous Digital Phonorecord Delivery License Agreement, whereby HFA's publisher principals will agree to license to EMusic rights to electronically transmit songs to subscribers via streaming technology.

"We are extremely pleased to continue our licensing relationship with EMusic," said Edward P. Murphy, President and CEO of NMPA. "And, we believe that this Streaming Mechanical License Agreement will lay the groundwork for the licensing of future streaming services. It is particularly important to the copyright owners that the licensed Emusic streaming service will only work if protective mechanisms are in place. First, a copy of the song must be purchased by the user. Then, the user must confirm that purchase by either electronic detection of the song in the user's computer, by confirmation with EMusic at the point of purchase, or by purchasing a track or a subscription from EMusic for access to the song."

"EMusic is committed to making songwriters and music publishers thoroughly comfortable dealing within the e-commerce arena," said Bob Kohn, Chairman of EMusic. "We want to make sure that our streaming service not only compensates the copyright owners for the use of their copyrighted works with fair and equitable rates, but also protects those copyrighted songs by using a tracking mechanism. This licensing agreement will hopefully lay the groundwork for setting a standard for streaming services that will be adopted throughout the industry."

The Streaming Service offered by EMusic will enable a user to establish and maintain a Title List in a "Locker" that will designate which songs may be streamed to that user in accordance with the terms outlined in the Streaming Licensing Agreement.

EMusic will pay HFA a royalty fee equal to 10 cents ($.10) per each version of a song it encodes and uploads into its database. EMusic will also pay HFA a royalty fee of one quarter of a cent ($.0025) for each stream initiated for delivery to the user. Simultaneously with the streaming or DPD of each song, EMusic will display on the user's computer credits specifying the title of the song, the name of the songwriter(s) and a copyright notice. The user will also be enabled to order a CD copy if he or she wishes with the press of a button.

HFA is a wholly owned subsidiary of NMPA, the principal trade association of music publishers in the United States. HFA represents over 26,000 publisher principals in the issuance of mechanical recording licenses, digital phonorecord delivery licenses and other licensing activities. Established in 1927, HFA serves as an information source, clearinghouse and monitoring service for a large percentage of music manufactured, distributed, transmitted electronically and downloaded in the United States and around the world.

www.EMusic.com is a Web site for purchasing music conveniently and inexpensively in the MP3 format. Through direct relationships with leading artists and exclusive licensing agreements with over 600 independent record labels, EMusic.com offers an expanding collection of over 140,000 tracks for purchase - individual tracks for 99 cents each or entire downloadable albums for $8.99. The site also offers to subscribers as much music as they desire for as little as $9.99 a month.

Since it was founded in January 1998, EMusic (Nasdaq: EMUS) has established itself at the forefront of how music will be discovered, delivered and enjoyed in the next decade. In addition to having the Internet's largest catalog of downloadable MP3 music available for purchase, EMusic operates one of the most popular families of music-oriented Web sites - including Rollingstone.com, EMusic.com, DownBeat.com and IUMA. The company is based is Redwood City, California, with regional offices in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and Nashville.