Arista Records and AOL Music Orchestrate Smash Debut for Newcomer Avril Lavigne.

Entertainment Editors

NEW YORK--(ENTERTAINMENT WIRE)--June 17, 2002

Arista Records

AOL Music Introduced Seventeen Year Old Singer Songwriter

Sensation to AOL Members

and Web Music Fans Via An Advance Online Marketing Campaign;

Unique Program Grew Dedicated Fan Base Prior To Album's Release

and Helped Catapult Sales To The Top of The Charts

Antonio "L.A." Reid, President and CEO, Arista Records announced today the success of a unique interactive marketing campaign with AOL Music that drove the successful release of Avril Lavigne's debut album, "Let Go."

The two companies developed an online program to promote the 17-year-old Canadian singer songwriter to AOL Music members and Web music fans that resulted in more than a million interactions with her music leading up to and including the week of the album release on June 4th. In just one week, "Let Go" has shipped 320,000 copies and is currently ranked number 8 on the Soundscan charts.

"It's so cool that Arista was able to work with AOL Music to promote 'Let Go' online prior to its release," said Avril Lavigne. "I believe that the chance to reach so many people in such a short time was a huge part of the fantastic response the album received."

"We couldn't be more pleased with the role AOL Music played in Avril's debut," said Aahmek Richards/ Head of New Media, Arista Records. "We recognize that when launching a fantastic new talent such as Avril, it's important to take full advantage of the marketing power of the Internet. In that respect, we couldn't have asked for a stronger partner than AOL Music. The opportunity to introduce Avril's music to such a vast audience of online music consumers and capture the attention of fans with innovative original programming was key to the album's outstanding debut."

"The success of Avril's debut is a testament to her immense talent and we were pleased to be able to help AOL members and online music fans discover her fresh personality, point of view, sound and style," said Bill Wilson, Vice President Marketing, Programming and Promotion for AOL Music. "This comprehensive campaign, with exclusive advance access to Avril's songs, video, interviews and live performances, gave over a million fans the chance to get excited for the release of 'Let Go' and, clearly, had a big impact on sales."

The campaign, developed in collaboration between Arista Records and AOL Music, encompassed a wide range of exclusive content and premieres resulting in over a million total streams of her music and videos.

Highlights from the campaign include:

-- Avril was introduced to AOL members and online music fans via AOL's Artist
Discovery Network on March 8th when a stream of her first single, "Complicated"
was featured, pre-radio, on the AOL Welcome Screen, AOL Music homepage, AOL
Teens Music, Netscape Music, and AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) Welcome Screen.
The song was also promoted on AIM's "IM to a Friend" feature. "Complicated" was
streamed over 350,000 times.

-- In mid April, Avril's live performance and audio interview was features on
Sessions@AOL. The material was promoted across AOL Welcome Screen, AOL Music
Main, AOL Teens, AOL Pop, AOL High-Speed, Netscape, Compuserve, AIM and AOL
Keyword: Sessions@AOL. Online music fans accessed the performance and interview
over 300,000 times in three weeks.

-- Avril's video for "Complicated" premiered on AOL Music on April 26. The
video was streamed over 220,000 times in three weeks.

-- A full album listening party of "Let Go" was streamed on AOL Music five days
prior to its release. The listening party was promoted from AOL Welcome Screen,
Netscape Music, AOL Music Main, AOL Teens, Compuserve, AOL Pop and AIM. In just
seven days, the full album was streamed over 230,000 times.

About Arista Records:

Acquired by Bertelsmann in 1979, and now at the core of BMG Entertainment, Arista is among the world's most consistently successful, all-time hitmaking record companies. The careers of countless new artists have been launched and nurtured at Arista and LaFace Records, while many established artists have also flourished and reached new audiences at the label. In addition to demonstrating its ability to break international artists in the U.S., Arista maintains high-profile joint ventures with a number of successful producers and songwriters. Arista released its first records in late-1974, earned its first RIAA gold record in January 1975, and celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2000. Additional information can be found at the official Arista Records website, www.arista.com.

About AOL Music:

AOL Music, a division of America Online, Inc., reaches the largest audience of online music fans in the world through a rich array of programming products and services that make it easy to discover, experience, listen to and buy music online. AOL Music's leading offerings include the number one Internet music destination, AOL's Music Channel; premier online radio products, Radio@AOL and Radio@Netscape powered by Spinner; the most popular audio jukebox player, Winamp, and Webcaster directory, SHOUTcast. AOL Music programming, products and services are available throughout the AOL Service, AOL High Speed Broadband Service, and AOL's family of Web brands, including Netscape, Compuserve, AOL(R) Instant Messanger(TM) and ICQ. America Online, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of AOL Time Warner Inc. (NYSE:AOL). Based in Dulles, Virginia, America Online is the world's leader in interactive services, Web brands, Internet technologies and e-commerce services.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT

www.arista.com