Las Vegas, April 4, 2000 -- Killer Tracks, the third largest production music company in the U.S. and a division of BMG Music Publishing Worldwide, will debut the world's first large-scale production music library available in Dolby digital 5.1 surround sound at the annual National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) convention April 10-13 in Las Vegas.

Also at the convention, Killer Tracks will announce a digital download partnership with Beatnik, the online music service founded by Thomas Dolby. Starting with selections from the Killer Edge collection of production music, Killer Tracks will become the world's first production music company to offer music in Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound. This ground-breaking format, targeted to producers of feature films, movie trailers, DVD releases, software games, HDTV, commercials and network shows that already broadcast in Dolby digitial 5.1, will provide unparalleled sound quality.

Throughout the year, Killer Tracks plans to convert the remainder of its 800 CD catalogue to Dolby digital 5.1 surround sound. Killer Tracks will also announce its partnership with Beatnik, the online music service founded by Thomas Dolby. Through the deal, Beatnik will offer digitized production music from Killer Tracks that can be downloaded through the http://www.beatnik.com website. To mark the occasion, Killer Tracks has scheduled a 'meet and greet' with Thomas Dolby in the company's NAB booth on Tuesday, April 11 from Noon to 1 p.m. In addition to founding the Beatnik website, Dolby is best known as a hit recording artist ("She Blinded Me With Science").

"Electronic delivery of music in no longer something to dream of; it is upon us today," said Gary Gross, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Killer Tracks. "Beatnik has allowed Killer Tracks to get in on the ground floor -- offering us a turnkey method to serve new clients in new ways. We are very excited about the new business opportunities that will be opening for Killer Tracks as a result of our relationship with Beatnik."

Other advancements to be announced by Killer Tracks at NAB include the unveiling of the company's new logo as well as the final beta version of the company's BMG Track Search (BMGTS). The BMGTS system will allow Killer's clients to quickly access over 55,000 musical selections from Killer's leading catalogues. Using an interactive desktop application, clients can conduct searches by track title, composer, genre, track length or by the BMG-represented catalogues including the Killer Tracks library, NJJ, Atmosphere, Koka Media and Chronic Trax.

If a user is not sure of the exact sound needed for a project, the track-search application provides "intuitive" recommendations of music selections to complement the project's goals. These recommendations are based on the user's aesthetic preferences, such as mood or tempo. The user's preferences also can be added to the search database for future reference and fast retrieval. The BMGTS system is currently available in both Windows and MAC formats. As the internet will play a major role in the future of the Production Music industry, Killer Tracks is aiming to launch its song search engine online.

Founded in October 1989 by Sam Trust and now led by Senior Vice President and General Manager Gary Gross, Killer Tracks has grown from an original catalogue of 30 CDs to nearly 800. The company has developed a reputation as the premiere music source for all needs, ranging from classical through period pieces to cutting-edge club music. Acquired by BMG Music Publishing in 1992, Hollywood-based Killer Tracks has bolstered its presence in the industry with Killer Latino, Killer Classics, NJJ and Chronic Trax.

The acquisition of Audio Action by Killer Tracks in 1997 has given the company representation of other non-U.S. music libraries, including Koka Media, the number one production music company in France. Killer Tracks also represents BMG Music Publishing's international production music companies, including Atmosphere, Cezame, K-Vox and Match Music. With these companies, Killer Tracks now contains a catalogue of over 55,000 musical selections. With 47 offices in 36 countries around the world, BMG Music Publishing is one of only four multinational music publishing groups. BMG Music Publishing is a unit of BMG Entertainment, the $4.6 billion a year music and entertainment division of Bertelsmann AG, the $16.4 billion a year worldwide media enterprise. BMG Entertainment has operations in more than 53 countries around the world.

Source: Killer Tracks
Web Site: http://www.killertracks.com