Music Biz Embraces New Global Dot-MU Internet Music Domain.

Business/Entertainment Editors & Music/High-Tech Writers

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 8, 2001

LimpBizKit.mu, Korn.mu, GarthBrooks.mu, DixieChicks.mu, ColumbiaRecords.mu, SonyMusic.mu, Amazon.mu and WindowsMedia.mu Among

First Domains Registered at www.hot.mu

The music industry has quickly embraced the newly launched, worldwide top-level domain, dot-MU (.MU), with the registration of such high-profile domain names as korn, limpbizkit, tupacshakur, lisalopes, dixiechicks, garthbrooks, dcTalk, rebamcentire, starstruck, maxwell, kennyrogers, diamondrio, columbiarecords, windows, amazon, decca and universalclassics.

In addition, many artists and their representatives have registered additional domains such as tupac, 2pac, garth, reba, starstruckstudios, colrec, windowsmediaplayer and e-amazon to protect their famous marks and expand their online marketing activities.

Dot-MU is being marketed to provide a way for artists, labels, managers, agents, music-related enterprises and music fans to reserve domain names that are not only important to their businesses, but that would also help them stand out from the cluttered dot-com market, which currently stands at more than 30 million domain names registered worldwide.

The dot-MU domain address can mirror an existing .com address and be utilized for music-related content, events and services and aid in protecting brand and marketing efforts.

According to SamsDirect Internet.MU Inc. (SDI), the company that holds the exclusive mass-marketing rights to the dot-MU effort, the success of the domain has been so tremendous since its mid-December launch that three registration sites have been set up to handle the massive traffic: www.dot.mu, www.mu and the flagship site www.hot.mu.

"The response has been as we expected it would be -- amazing," stated Renee Sams, co-chairwoman and chief operating officer of SDI. "The global music community is rallying behind the dot-MU top-level domain suffix. Why be dot-common when you can be the master of your own domain? The music industry and its artists deserve to have a unique domain space -- and dot-MU provides an independent voice."

The standard price for a new dot-MU domain is $50 per year, with a two-year minimum. For a limited time only, individuals can register their own Personal Name Domain(TM) for free, although there is a minimal verification and activation fee of $4.95.

SamsDirect also reports that nearly 500 dot-MU reseller affiliates have signed on in the past two weeks, giving artists, record companies and online retailers the ability to sell dot-MU domain names via their own Web sites. Affiliates make a 20 percent commission (currently $20) on the sale of each standard .MU domain name.

"This can be a tremendous revenue source for people in the music business," stated SDI Chairman and Chief Executive Officer David Sams. "By posting a dot-MU banner on your site, or simply e-mailing your database of customers, a dot-MU affiliate can literally make thousands of dollars overnight."

SamsDirect Internet.MU Inc. is a privately held Beverly Hills-based company headed by nine-time Emmy-winning husband and wife e-couple, David and Renee Sams. The firm has also marketed the top-level domain dot-CC (.cc) in alliance with the world's largest radio broadcaster, Clear Channel Communications, at www.spot.cc. The dot-cc domain currently has approximately 400,000 registrants worldwide.

In 2000, SamsDirect also launched one of the first Spanish-language domain registration sites, www.uno.cc. In addition, David Sams, Chairman and CEO of SDI, continues to serve as marketing and distribution consultant to the dotTV Corporation, where he successfully has converted some 80 tv stations and the entire PAXtv network in the United States from using dot-com to dot-tv.