Gracenote Traffic Increases Five-Fold to Reach Eight Billion Searches Per Month

As digital music and digital video products became ever more popular over the course of 2008, more than 237 million consumers used Gracenote services across all its market sectors -- from automotive, to home, to mobile, to PC. This use of Gracenote's technology, services and content has resulted in a five-fold rise in searches against the company's Global Media Database. At the end of 2008, Gracenote was processing more than eight billion searches per month from all Gracenote-enabled products, up from an average of 1.7 billion per month in 2007. For comparison, major search portals like Google and Yahoo! are seeing 7.7 billion searches per month and 2.5 billion searches a month respectively, according to a December 2008 report from comScore.

Gracenote's Global Media Database, the largest media database in the world, contains metadata for more than 90 million music tracks and seven million CDs from more than 200 countries and territories in 80 different languages, as well as rich data for 300,000 DVDs and one million unique video programs. Throughout the year, Gracenote technologies were shipped to market across multiple platforms, from applications such as Apple's iTunes with the Genius feature, to mobile phones, to home audio and video devices, to in-car entertainment systems.

The use of Gracenote-enabled devices and digital media by consumers is expected to intensify into 2009 and beyond. According to figures from the Aegis Group agency Carat, digital platforms will account for 66 percent of media usage by 2010, a total that rises to 80 percent by 2020.

"Gracenote's substantial growth in searches last year can be attributed to the fact that we are the only company providing an end-to-end solution for music and video at a time of broadening digital media usage. We are unifying the consumer experience across different devices and creating a richer, more compelling experience on every major platform, from mobile phones, to online communities, to home entertainment, to the car," said Jim Hollingsworth, SVP of sales and marketing for Gracenote. "What we accomplished in 2008 is setting the stage for the advances we'll be making this year and beyond."

Gracenote at CES

Gracenote is located is in the South Hall 3, Booth 30333. The company is showcasing a greatly expanded line of digital media products that enable companies to deliver services with deep personalization on any platform. Demos will include a Video Platform, featuring the largest catalog of video works ever complied; a new personalized in-car entertainment system featuring celebrity images and voices; and the first solution to provide easy and seamless integration of unlimited music across any connected device in the electronics, home, automotive and mobile markets.

To schedule a meeting with Gracenote at CES, please contact Veronica Skelton at 415-342-3435 or veronica@conceptpr.net. For more information on Gracenote and its host of digital music and video services for the entertainment, mobile, automotive, and consumer electronics industries, please visit http://www.gracenote.com/, or contact us directly at GracenoteLicensing@gracenote.com.

About Gracenote

Gracenote, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, is a global leader in embedded technology, enriched content, and data services for digital entertainment solutions within the Internet, consumer electronics, mobile, and automotive markets. Formerly known as CDDB®, Gracenote delivers a substantially improved consumer experience in digital media devices and applications, plus media monitoring and other data services to the recording industry, making it an integral part of the digital media economy. Gracenote powers leading services including Apple iTunes, Yahoo! Music Jukebox, Winamp; home and automotive products from Alpine, Panasonic, Philips and Sony; and mobile music applications from Samsung, Sony Ericsson, KDDI (Japan), KTF (Korea), Musiwave (Europe), and others. Gracenote is headquartered in Emeryville, California. http://www.gracenote.com/corporate.

Gracenote and CDDB are registered trademarks 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
   veronica@conceptpr.net

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SOURCE: Gracenote

CONTACT: Veronica Skelton of Concept Communications, +1-415-342-3435,
veronica@conceptpr.net, for Gracenote

Web site: http://www.gracenote.com/