FreeHand Systems, Inc. today announces a licensing agreement with Sony/ATV Music Publishing, one of the world’s leading music publishers with a catalog that spans over 400,000 songs. With this agreement, FreeHand customers will now be able to access digital sheet music from some of the most influential artists and songwriters in modern music, including the Beatles, Beck, David Crosby, Bob Dylan, Everly Brothers, Jimi Hendrix, Graham Nash, Willie Nelson, Roy Orbison, Richie Sambora, Stephen Stills and Hank Williams.
Kim Lorz, President of FreeHand Systems, Inc., says: “We are absolutely delighted to be partnering with Sony/ATV Music Publishing on this new venture. Their catalog is one of the most impressive in the world, with the jewel in their crown being the most influential band in modern music, the Beatles. The impact of this deal will expand our popular music catalog enormously, and will allow our users to access sheet music from some of the greatest music writers.”
Charles Koppelman, Chairman of CAK Entertainment, adds, "FreeHand's technology, insight and vision are extraordinary. This Sony/ATV music Publishing deal is just one more example that when FreeHand says it wants to get the broadest and deepest digital sheet music catalog to musicians around the globe, they mean it. The integrity of the Sony/ATV catalog is yet one more validation of FreeHand's own integrity. I expect Freehand to build a world-class sheet music catalog." CAK Entertainment advised FreeHand Systems, Inc. in connection with the Sony/ATV Music Publishing partnership.
Sony/ATV Music Publishing (www.sonyatv.com) (NYSE:SNE), (TYO:6758) was established in 1995 as a joint venture between Sony and trusts formed by Michael Jackson. Sony/ATV Music Publishing has a catalog of 400,000, and owns or administers copyrights and catalogs by such artists as The Beatles, Beck, Brooks & Dunn, Leonard Cohen, Neil Diamond, Bob Dylan, The Everly Brothers, Fall Out Boy, Jimi Hendrix, Billy Mann, Joni Mitchell, Graham Nash, Willie Nelson, Roy Orbison, Richie Sambora, Stephen Stills, KT Tunstall and Hank Williams, among many, many others.
Freehandmusic.com is the Internet’s largest online sheet music catalog, with over 90,000 titles. Making physical deliveries and exhausting retail searches a thing of the past, FreeHand online users are able to digitally download music to their hard drives, printers or to FreeHand’s music tablet in a matter of seconds.
FreeHand Systems’ revolutionary music performance tablet, The MusicPad Pro® Plus, is the world’s only digital sheet music tablet, and can store literally a limitless number of sheet music pages. The environmentally friendly pad allows the operator to download from its online catalog or scan in any piece of sheet music, which then converts to the pad’s template. The user is then able to annotate or make corrections, including changing the key of entire compositions in a matter of seconds. The pad additionally contains a zoom-in/zoom-out feature, an extensive library of notation symbols, a half-page turn option (for look-ahead viewing in portrait mode) as well as a back-lit device (making external stand lighting unnecessary). The MusicPad Pro is accessibly priced at US$899.
While music revenues continue to decline (23% between 2000 and 2005, according to trade group IFPI), global instrument and related product sales have recently grown to $17 billion (says the National Association of Music Merchants). In a recent Los Angeles Times article, it was noted that the number of instrument players between the ages of 18 to 34 grew from 24% in 1997 to 32% in 2006. This group is, arguably, also the savviest users of new technology and the internet. FreeHand redefines the usage, storage and distribution of a musician’s most basic tool: sheet music.
The reception of Freehand Systems among professional musicians has created an impressive list of early adopters, including Herbie Hancock, Sting, Josh Groban World Tour, Andy Sommers, Jon Anderson, Etta James, Michael Nesmith, along with orchestras around the globe.
FreeHand Systems, Inc. a wholly owned subsidiary of FreeHand Systems International, Inc. (OTC:FSYI) is the global leader in digital sheet music publishing and is the manufacturer of the first digital music performance and education tablet, the MusicPad Pro® Plus.
