Exclusive Deal Will Bring Billboard Charts to TouchTunes Digital Jukeboxes

Exclusive Deal Will Bring Billboard Charts to TouchTunes Digital Jukeboxes

LAKE ZURICH, Ill., Sept. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- TouchTunes Music Corporation, the world leader in digital-downloading commercial jukeboxes, and Billboard, the world's most trusted source of music, video, and digital entertainment news, charts, reviews, and analysis, have agreed to provide all TouchTunes online jukeboxes with current Billboard music charts.

Under an agreement starting October 1, TouchTunes will have exclusive rights in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico to download and display Billboard's 13 most popular charts.

TouchTunes is the first digital jukebox company ever granted rights to any Billboard charts.

Jukebox patrons will have on-screen access at the jukebox to the Billboard charts that TouchTunes considers most relevant to jukebox play, updated weekly via electronic feeds from the publisher. The jukeboxes will display information for songs and tracks from the top half of each chart. Using the jukebox's interactive touch screen, patrons will be able to select songs to play directly from the charts.

In addition, jukebox operators will have access to the same charts via TouchTunes' proprietary Web-based Operator Dashboard, an online music programming and business management tool.

The initial 18-month agreement provides for the following Billboard charts, which are based on airplay monitored by Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems and sales data compiled by Nielsen SoundScan:

-- The Billboard Hot 100
-- Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs
-- Hot Latin Songs
-- Hot Country Songs
-- Hot Modern Rock Songs
-- Hot Mainstream Rock Songs
-- Hot Adult Contemporary Songs
-- Hot Rap Songs
-- Hot Dance Music/Club Songs
-- Latin Pop Airplay
-- Latin Tropical Airplay
-- Latin Regional Mexican Airplay
-- Hot Canadian Digital Songs

Financial terms of the agreement weren't disclosed.

Laurie Hughes, TouchTunes vice president for business affairs, said, "Our exclusive deal with Billboard demonstrates that digital jukeboxes have joined the music industry mainstream and that TouchTunes is leading the parade."

She added, "We think this will encourage more record labels and music publishers to grant rights for digital jukebox play for more of their songs. With the addition of Billboard charts, TouchTunes' online jukebox network, the world's largest, becomes an even more potent platform for promoting artists and recordings."

"Coin-operated, pay-per-play jukeboxes have long been an integral part of the music business," said John Kilcullen, president and publisher of Billboard Information Group, a unit of VNU Business Media. "TouchTunes' industry- leading, digital-downloading jukebox network has revitalized the world of coin-operated music, and it's an attractive and powerful vehicle for distributing our charts and leveraging the Billboard brand."

Dan McAllister, TouchTunes senior vice president, sales and marketing, said, "This is another first for TouchTunes and another unique benefit for our jukebox operators and patrons. The Billboard charts have long been the most authoritative source of information about music popularity. We're proud to be associated with the Billboard name.

"Billboard's charts will be of immense help to operators in programming music and to patrons looking for songs they've heard on the radio or elsewhere but can't identify," McAllister said. "Helping patrons find songs faster enhances their experience with the jukebox. And the faster they find their songs, the faster the jukebox generates revenue for our operators."

About TouchTunes Music Corporation

TouchTunes Music Corporation introduced the world's first, coin-operated, digital-downloading jukebox in 1998. Today, the trail-blazing company has approximately 20,000 broadband and dial-up Internet jukeboxes in bars, restaurants, and other establishments throughout North America -- more than all of its competitors combined. In January of this year, TouchTunes logged the one-billionth song downloaded and played on its jukeboxes, becoming the first and, to date, the only company in the industry to reach that milestone. The company offers its customers -- jukebox owner-operators and distributors -- single-source responsibility for all jukebox hardware, software, and music services. TouchTunes is a privately held company with principal offices in Montreal, Quebec, and Lake Zurich, Ill. On the Net: http://www.touchtunes.com/ .

About Billboard

Now in its 111th year, Billboard is the world's premier weekly music publication and a diverse digital, events and brand, content and data- licensing platform. Billboard publishes the most trusted charts and offers unrivaled reporting about the latest music, video, gaming, media, digital and mobile entertainment issues and trends. Billboard is the flagship property for the Billboard Information Group, which also consists of Billboard.biz, Billboard.com, Billboard Chart Alert, Billboard Information Network (BIN), Billboard Directories, Billboard Books, Billboard Licensing & Events and Radio & Records. Billboard's many strategic partners include Fox-TV, Microsoft, Hands-On Mobile, Reuters, Sirius Satellite Radio, Telemundo, Univision Radio, ABC Radio Networks, Azteca America, BigChampagne and Billboard sister companies Nielsen SoundScan and Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems. These partnerships leverage Billboard's proprietary data, charts and information resources to develop broadcast entertainment, digital and mobile platforms and contextual commerce applications that expand Billboard's franchise and consumer reach.

About VNU Business Media

VNU Business Media maintains a leading position in the business to business arena by providing clients with innovative and actionable business intelligence, products, and tools via a wide range of delivery channels and methodologies including business-to-business publications, trade shows, electronic applications, database marketing tools, and media intelligence.

Source: TouchTunes Music Corporation

CONTACT: TouchTunes contact: Nat Silverman of Nathan J. Silverman Co.-PR,
Phone: +1-847-328-4292, Fax: +1-847-328-4317, Email: natsilv@aol.com , or
Billboard contact: Lila Gerson, Phone: +1-212-255-8455, Email:
lila@rosengrouppr.com

Web site: http://www.touchtunes.com/

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