Gracenote Launches Largest Database of Licensed Cover Art and Artist Images for Asia Pacific

SINGAPORE, May 23, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Music Matters Conferences–Gracenote® today announced it is now offering licensed Cover Art, Genre and Artist Images for the Asia Pacific region as part the world's largest database of licensed imagery. Used by some of the hottest digital media services and products on the market, Gracenote's imagery database features content from a wide range of sources, including the world's four major record labels, Getty Images, a leading creator and distributor of digital media, and now key labels and independents in Japan, China, Taiwan and Korea.

Imagery Transforms the Entertainment Experience

Gracenote licensed Cover Art, Genre and Artist Images are a must-have for digital entertainment products to deliver richer, more vibrant user interfaces and help users navigate and explore large music collections. Gracenote Artist Images include high quality photographs of bands and artists, as well as Genre illustrations, which can be used when official album cover art is not available. This provides digital entertainment companies a one-stop source to provide licensed imagery for the Asia Pacific region.

"In this world of high definition entertainment, the ability to offer licensed Cover Art and Artist Images is essential for digital entertainment services and products," said Stephen White, SVP of product and content management for Gracenote.  "We are pleased to not only offer a vast database of creative photographs and illustrations, but to be the first and only service provider to secure partnerships with labels in Asia to allow us to expand our database to cover that region."

The Japanese companies that have entered into an agreement with Gracenote include labels Sony Music Entertainment Japan, Avex Marketing, Inc., and Victor Entertainment, Inc. as well as content aggregator VIP Times.  In China there is a deal in place with R2G, the country's first centralized distributor of copyrighted music content, and there are strategic relationships with numerous Taiwanese independent labels including Gold Typhoon and Wind Music.  In Korea, Gracenote has an agreement in place with Mnet, an entertainment network focusing on Asian pop culture.

"We are pleased to be working with Gracenote to provide licensed, high quality metadata and images for its world-class database," said Ken Yang, Founder and General Manager of Wind Music International Corporation. "Our music label is the leading alternative label specializing in traditional Chinese music and Thematic music and the ability to view cover art and images while listening to the music greatly improves today's digital media experience, and is also a great way to promote our artists and bands to their fans around the globe."

Gracenote's imagery database and Global Media Database of music and video metadata integrates seamlessly with its award winning media recognition and recommendation technologies, letting music fans enjoy the best of their own collection and discover new artists and albums across vast libraries.

Gracenote at Digital Matters and Music Matters

Gracenote will be at the Digital Matters and Music Matters conferences in Singapore May 24-28, giving briefings on its content and technology for the global market. To set up a briefing, please contact Veronica Skelton at 415.342.3435 or [email protected].

About Gracenote

A pioneer in digital media, Gracenote, Inc. provides music and video content and technologies to the world's hottest entertainment products and brands.  The company's partners in the entertainment community include major music publishers and labels, prominent independents and movie studios and television networks. A wholly owned, independent subsidiary of the Sony Corporation of America (SCA), Gracenote has offices in Munich, Berlin, Seoul, Taipei and Tokyo with worldwide headquarters in Emeryville, California.  For more information visit www.gracenote.com.

Gracenote is a registered trademark of Gracenote, Inc. All other names are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

For More Information Contact:
Veronica Skelton
Concept Communications for Gracenote
415.342.3435
[email protected]

Graham McKenna
Sr. Director of Marketing Communications, Gracenote
510.428.7288
[email protected]

SOURCE Gracenote