O-STA

Record Label Earache: Successful marketing of new album via free RapidShare downloads

Band and label gave away entire album to fans for free

Cham, London, November 2009 - Earache Records have successfully partnered with RapidShare for the promotion of Gama Bomb's new album, "Tales From The Grave In Space". During the first few days, the 70 MB album received over 10,000 direct downloads from RapidShare via a link on Earache's website as well as more than 30,000 tracked downloads elsewhere. Gama Bomb's previous album sold just under 7,000 copies in its first year of release.

By giving away the entire album for free in November 2009 Earache and Gama Bomb aim to grow the overall fanbase of the band in order to promote the sales of the CD box edition of "Tales From The Grave In Space" in February 2010 as well as the band's concert ticket sales. Philly Byrne, singer of Gama Bomb, comments. "It's an open-handed gesture that reflects the room the download revolution has created in the music business."

Digby Pearson, Founder and Managing Director of Earache Records, wants his UK independent label to remain at the cutting edge of the digital future of the music industry and he adds: "Actually the cost saving of distribution through the internet is a big incentive for us. Piracy is not a problem, because if a fan passes on the download link it can also be seen as free promotion for the band. In the future we expect digital music to be ubiquitous and the payments made to the artists or those who look after the artists to be small but consistent."

"We believe that the ability to spread electronic content fast and easily will become one of the keys to success as consumers devote more and more time to the internet. The promotion of Gama Bomb's new album was a great success and explores new ways of marketing", says Bobby Chang, COO of RapidShare.

About Earache

Earache Records is one of the few truly independent global record labels, has 20 year history of providing extreme music and boasts an impressive back catalogue of 450 albums.

About RapidShare

RapidShare AG distributes digital information to companies and individual clients. Data can be uploaded into a system in a few easy steps and then made available for users to download. RapidShare AG was founded in 2006 and has its headquarters in Cham, Switzerland.

Contacts:

Talita Jenman, Earache Records Ltd., Tel.:+44 207 240 5002, E-Mail: press@earache.com.

Bobby Chang, COO RapidShare AG, Tel.: 0041-41 748 78 88, E-Mail: bchang@rapidshare.com

Katharina Scheid, Company Speaker RapidShare AG, Tel.: 0041-41 748 78 81, E-Mail: kscheid@rapidshare.com.