"Bringing Billboard's preeminent chart data to the pressplay service greatly enhances the music experience of our subscribers by giving them unprecedented access to historical music information from the last five decades," said pressplay President and CEO Andy Schuon. "By connecting pressplay's vast catalog of music with Billboard's charts, pressplay subscribers will be able to instantly match the most meaningful moments of their lives with the most popular music of the time."

Set to debut this fall, pressplay's service will allow subscribers to stream and download music through affiliates including MP3.com, MSN and Yahoo!. Pressplay's expanding online catalog includes music from the libraries of three major labels - Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and EMI Recorded Music - and a number of independent labels. In addition to the Billboard music charts, pressplay's service will also feature extensive artist and album information, including discographies and artist biographies from All Music Guide (AMG).

"Billboard's charts of sales and radio airplay have been the definitive measure of musical popularity since the launch of the Hot 100 singles chart in 1955," says Ken Schlager, Vice President of Business Development for Billboard Music Group. "Now that there are legitimate services for digital distribution of major-label repertoire, we are pleased to be able to offer consumers the use of this unparalleled resource as a roadmap to the musical past."

As part of the agreement, pressplay will feature 11 Billboard charts on its service including:

· The Billboard 200
· The Hot 100
· Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks
· Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums
· Top Country Albums
· Top Country Singles & Tracks
· Top Canadian Albums
· Top Canadian Singles
· Top Jazz Albums
· Hot Rap Singles
· Modern Rock Tracks

About pressplay
Announced in May 2000, pressplay is an equally held joint venture between Sony Music Entertainment and Universal Music Group (a unit of Vivendi Universal), and is based in New York City and Los Angeles. Music companies, including EMI Recorded Music, Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, Madacy, Navarre, OWIE, Razor & Tie, Roadrunner and Rounder, will separately provide their music to pressplay on a non-exclusive basis. Scheduled for a fall 2001 launch, pressplay will be available to consumers through affiliate relationships with MP3.com, MSN.com and Yahoo! An independent executive team with deep music, programming, and technology and business experience leads the company.

About Billboard and VNU eMedia, Inc.
Billboard magazine is the flagship property for the Billboard Music Group, which also consists of Airplay Monitor, Amusement Business, Billboard Bulletin, Billboard.com (http://www.billboard.com), Billboard Licensing and Music & Media. VNU eMedia, Inc. (http://www.vnuemedia.com) manages the web sites, electronic products and digital assets of VNU Business Media. VNU Business Media also includes: VNU Business Publications USA, Inc., an international media company with over 80 leading business publications (including Billboard, Adweek, The Hollywood Reporter, Editor & Publisher, Sales & Marketing Management, Training, Progressive Grocer, Display & Design Ideas, Convenience Store News and Beverage World); and VNU Expositions, Inc. which produces more than 100 trade shows, conferences, and special events each year including GlobalShop, Medtrade, the Training Conference & Expo, OnLine Learning, Outdoor Retailer, and ASD/AMD Merchandise shows.

VNU Business Media, a subsidiary of VNU, also includes: VNU Media Measurement & Information (Nielsen Media Research, NetRatings, SRDS, Scarborough Research, ACNielsen EDI, and VNU Retail Entertainment Information); and VNU Marketing Information (ACNielsen, Spectra Marketing Systems, Trade Dimensions, MediaPlan, Claritas (USA) and Solucient).

VNU (http://www.vnu.com) is one of the world's leading media and information companies. Its core activities are marketing information, media measurement & information, business media and directories. VNU is active in more than 100 countries, around the world. The company employs over 35,000 people and has annual revenues of approximately $4 billion.