Amazon.com Advantage for music uses the power of the Internet to revolutionize music distribution

SEATTLE, November 5, 1998 /PRNewswire/ -- On the first day of CMJ's Music Marathon, Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), the No. 1 online music retailer, today announced Advantage for music, a revolutionary new program that solves the biggest problem faced by independent artists, bands, and labels: securing widespread distribution of their CDs. Amazon.com's Advantage for music program makes it easy for independent artists, bands, and labels to sell their CDs to Amazon.com's 4.5 million customers worldwide.

Amazon.com's Advantage program was created to change the rules for success in the music industry. Unsigned artists, bands, and independent labels traditionally have a difficult time getting their CDs into stores so that fans can purchase their music. Advantage for music, a free program, now allows them to sell their CDs at the Amazon.com music store and to enjoy the same level of exposure on the Amazon.com Web site as CDs from major artists and labels.

"Our mission over the past two decades has been the discovery and promotion of new artists," said CMJ President Robert Haber, when asked about Amazon.com's new Advantage for music program. "We are delighted to learn of Amazon.com's strategy for assisting these new artists in getting their music exposed to a potential audience in the millions. This is just the kind of program that makes the new medium of the Internet so exciting." Through CMJ New Music Report, CMJ New Music Monthly, and its annual CMJ Music Marathon convention, CMJ brings emerging artists to public attention.

"In order to match the power of Amazon.com's global distribution, independent artists, bands, and labels would have to get their CDs into an estimated 100,000 retail stores worldwide," said Mary Morouse, Amazon.com's vice president of merchandising. "With music Advantage, these CDs will be only a few clicks away from 4.5 million Amazon.com customers worldwide."

"No matter how slammin' your band is, it is really hard to get distribution without being signed to a major label," says Dara Quinn of Seattle's Rockin' Teenage Combo, Amazon.com's Advantage charter band. "Even if we could get our CDs stocked in stores in every city we play in when we're on tour, who has the time and money to print and distribute all those CDs? Now, whenever anyone hears the buzz about our music, they'll be able to buy our CD at Amazon.com-what could be easier than that?"

Amazon.com Advantage for music builds on the success of Amazon.com Advantage for books, an innovative program that increases the visibility and sales of harder-to-find books from independent publishers. Getting the Amazon.com Advantage is easy-and it's free. Once enrolled, independent artists, bands, and labels simply place a limited quantity of CDs in Amazon.com's distribution centers for immediate sale and delivery to Amazon.com's customers all over the world. Amazon.com helps Advantage members sell CDs by enhancing their shelf presence with cover art, sound clips, and liner notes. Advantage members save time and money with hassle-free fulfillment, easy restocking, and automatic sales reports and payment.

For more information about Advantage for music, or to join, visit: http://www.amazon.com/advantage.

About Amazon.com's Music Store
Amazon.com's music store, which opened in June, offers shoppers more than 25 times the CD selection of the typical music store at everyday savings of up to 40%, including 30% off Amazon.com's 100 bestselling CDs and Editors' Choice titles. From alternative to zydeco, hip-hop to bebop, Amazon.com's customers will find everything from the latest releases to hard-to-find gems in any music genre. In addition, the Amazon.com music store features reviews by Amazon.com staff editors and nationally known critics, song samples, artist interviews, lists of essential albums by genre, thousands of bestseller lists, music in the news, and personalized music recommendations.

About Amazon.com, Inc.
Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), the Internet's No. 1 book and No. 1 music retailer, opened its virtual doors on the World Wide Web in July 1995 and quickly became Earth's Biggest Bookstore. Today, the Amazon.com store has expanded to offer more than 3 million books, music CDs, audiobooks, videos, DVDs, computer games, and other titles, plus easy-to-use search-and-locate features, secure credit-card payment, personalized recommendations, streamlined ordering through 1-Click(SM) technology, and direct shipping. Amazon.com operates two international bookstore Web sites: www.amazon.co.uk in the United Kingdom and www.amazon.de in Germany. Amazon.com also operates PlanetAll (www.planetall.com), a Web-based address book, calendar, and reminder service, and the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com), the Web's comprehensive and authoritative source of information on more than 150,000 movies and entertainment programs and 500,000 cast and crew members dating from the birth of film in 1892 to the present.

This announcement contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties that include, among others, Amazon.com's limited operating history, the unpredictability of its future revenues, and risks associated with capacity constraints, management of growth, and new business opportunities. More information about factors that potentially could affect Amazon.com's financial results is included in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 1997, and the quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 1998.

Amazon.com, Earth's Biggest Bookstore, and 1-Click are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. All other names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.