EMI Music Taps The NPD Group for Digital Music Data

MusicWatch Digital Helps EMI Music Gain Consumer Insight on How U.S. Fans Enjoy Digital Music

PORT WASHINGTON, NEW YORK, October 23, 2003 – The NPD Group, a leading sales and marketing information company, announced today that EMI Music has entered into a subscription agreement with The NPD Group. With this agreement EMI will have ongoing access to data from NPD’s new MusicWatch Digital information service.

MusicWatch Digital is the only music-tracking product that provides aggregated information about consumer behavior in relation to digital music in the United States. Companies like EMI Music use MusicWatch Digital to gain an understanding of how digital music usage is evolving and shifting over time. In addition when MusicWatch Digital information is aligned with information about physical product sales and marketing from NPD Music Watch, companies can also track the growth of online music distribution and how it affects existing business models.

"MusicWatch Digital was a perfect fit for us, because NPD’s information gives us better insight on the many new ways consumers are enjoying music," said John Rose, Executive Vice President of EMI Music. "NPD also helps us understand how music usage may be complementing or competing with other diversions, so we can be even more responsive to consumer demand and deliver high quality music in the formats fans want most."

"We’re pleased that EMI Music has subscribed to NPD’s MusicWatch Digital product to keep abreast of this revolutionary segment of the music business," said Russ Crupnick, vice president of The NPD Group. "Industry leaders like the EMI need access to the latest data, in order to make informed business decisions in the digital age. MusicWatch Digital delivers the data that drives gut-feel guesses into fact-based decisions."

About EMI Music
EMI Music operates in nearly 50 countries around the world. Its record labels include Angel, Astralwerks, Blue Note, Capitol, EMI, EMI Classics, Manhattan, Mute, Parlophone and Virgin.

About NPD Music
NPD Music, a division of The NPD Group, provides reliable in-depth perspective on the most important issues facing today's music industry. MusicWatch and MusicWatch Digital are the flagship information services from NPD Music that reports on what consumers buy, as well as where -- and why. These two complementary services provide a detailed look at today’s music consumers, covering such critical issues as consumers’ habits related to downloading music and burning CDs, key influences on music purchases and customer viewpoints on specific retailers. NPD Music provides the consumer information needed to understand today’s music marketplace and discover where music consumers are today – and where they’ll be tomorrow.

About The NPD Group, Inc.
Since 1967 The NPD Group has provided reliable and comprehensive sales and marketing information for a wide range of industries. NPD provides critical knowledge on what is selling, where, to whom and why to help our clients make more successful, fact-based business decisions. Today more than 1,300 manufacturers and retailers rely on NPD to help them better understand their customers, product categories, distribution channels and competition in order to help guide their business and positively impact sales and revenues. Information from The NPD Group is available for the following major vertical sectors: apparel, appliances, automotive, beauty, cellular, consumer electronics, food and beverage, foodservice, footwear, home improvement, housewares, imaging, information technology, music, software, travel, toys and video games.

For more information:

Lee Graham For The NPD Group, Inc.		Jeanne Meyer For EMI Music
leegraham@leegraham.biz		212-786-8850
212-333-4983