FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
AIRVISION’s AV CAPITAL
Division Announces Investment in
Shared Media Licensing, Inc., Developer of the Revolutionary Weed
Technology
SEATTLE –November 30, 2004 -- AIRVISION, a leading provider of direct-to-consumer brand positioning and strategic business growth planning, today announced an investment in Shared Media Licensing, Inc. Shared Media Licensing is the Seattle-based company which developed Weed , the revolutionary and file-sharing service for managing the distribution of music and other digital content via the Internet.
Weed was created by a group of musicians and software developers as a solution to the challenges of file-sharing on the Internet. Weed encourages file-sharing and makes payments to musicians while at the same time rewarding file-traders who respect artists’ rights. To date, more than 7,000 musical artists have had their music “Weedified” including Chuck D, Heart, Sir Mix-A-Lot, Built to Spill, Kristin Hersh and many others.
“We believe Shared Media Licensing and their Weed file-sharing technology represent the future of music file-sharing on the Internet,” said Arthur Rubinfeld, President and Founder of AIRVISION. “They have an innovative business model that is rapidly gaining widespread acceptance among many of the world’s top musicians and their fans. Weed has solved the problem with Internet file sharing in a revolutionary way which we believe will capture the imagination of other businesses on the Internet.”
Online auction giant eBay recently selected Weed to join a ground-breaking digital music download initiative. eBay has launched a new “store” for digital music downloads and is hosting Shared Media Licensing’s Weed technology, the only system that enables music buyers to earn cash by sharing music files. eBay’s 150 million-plus users will be able to use a breakthrough system that tracks music files so that the person who shares a music file, along with the rightsholder, is paid a percentage every time the file is shared with a person who buys it.
“We are extremely pleased to have the support and funding from AIRVISION’s AV CAPITAL group,” said John Beezer, President of Shared Media Licensing. “The involvement of AV CAPITAL allows us to move ahead rapidly in software development, marketing, and content acquisition. AIRVISION’s expertise in consumer psychology and brand development is key to our growth going forward."
About AV CAPITAL
AV CAPITAL, a division of AIRVISION, is focused on investing long-term
equity capital to support the strategic and financial objectives of
outstanding management teams in consumer-related businesses, including
consumer products, direct-to-consumer sales, marketing and distribution,
and retail concepts. In addition, AV CAPITAL’s affiliate, AV ADVISORY,
provides financial advisory services to selected AIRVISION clients with
respect to fundraising, mergers, acquisitions, and other financial
matters.
About AIRVISION
Founded by Arthur Rubinfeld in 2002, Seattle-based AIRVISION is known
for providing visionary work in integrated brand positioning, marketing
and retail design. AIRVISION specializes in the development and
execution of growth strategies and operational plans for
consumer-oriented companies worldwide. AIRVISION clients include some of
the most recognized brands in the world including: adidas, AmericasMart,
City University, Gateway, Media Play, Potbelly Sandwich Works, Oakley,
Omaha Steaks, Sam Goody, Shared Media Licensing, SunCoast Entertainment
and Washington Mutual. For more information about AIRVISION, please
visit www.airvision.net.
Arthur Rubinfeld has also written a soon-to-be-published book, “Built for Growth”, about his vision for the future of retail. For more information about his book, please visit www.builtforgrowth.com or www.amazon.com to pre-order a copy.
For additional information for this article, please contact:
Media Inquiries:
Megan McKenzie
McKenzie Worldwide
meganm@mckenzieworldwide.com
503.625.3680