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MetaSwarm Announces Exclusive Licensing Agreement for Music Rights in China
BEIJING, March 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- MetaSwarm, Inc.
(Pink Sheets: MSWM) today announced that it has signed an exclusive agreement
with Beijing InfoSure Technology Ltd. to market ringtone music titles to be
licensed by MetaSwarm. The agreement grants Beijing InfoSure the right to
telemarket the music anywhere in mainland China and the right to distribute
ringtones and callback tones on mobile phones, telecommunication value-added
services and mobile Internet devices. Complete music titles will also be
available to business establishments through licensing agreements. The
agreement will initially encompass a catalog of Chinese music and ringtone
titles licensed to Beijing InfoSure but will subsequently encompass catalogs
from outside China during the first two years of the agreement due to
potential licensing deals that MetaSwarm is negotiating. MetaSwarm's
responsibilities will include the negotiation and licensing of music from
content providers in the United States and throughout the world. Beijing
InfoSure's duties will include the promotion, distribution network
construction and sales.
Due to the nature of the service, potential revenues are based on how much
content MetaSwarm can bring into the distribution channel as well as the
number of people who will access the content. MetaSwarm anticipates potential
2008 revenues of US$1.6-2.3 million from these music rights, assuming no
expansion of geographic service areas. Revenues are expected to increase in
2009 to US$800,000 to $1.1 million per month once the licensing agreements and
technology are fully in place. This would potentially bring additional
revenues of US$9.6-13.2 million to MetaSwarm in 2009 on the music rights
business alone, assuming no expansion into additional provinces in China.
The Mobile Ringtone Market in China
As a result of the proliferation of social networks in China, there is a
large demand for diverse inventories of ring tones and other licensed music in
China. According to a recent speech given by the Chairman of the
International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, the international
record companies operating in China derive 15% of industry revenues from sales
of music via mobile phones.
According to Chinese news site ChinaByte
(http://data.chinabyte.com/142/2307642.shtml) China Mobile, China's largest
cellular phone service provider, had 400 million users as of the end of 2007,
of which 270 million were caller ringback tone ("CRBT") subscribers. In
comparison, the entire population of the United States is about 300 million.
One of the areas in which the telecommunications giant sees the most growth is
in value-added services, such as CRBT. China Mobile noted that it generated
approximately US$1.4-1.74 billion in revenues from CRBT subscriptions in 2007,
an 18.54% increase over the same period in 2006. China Mobile predicts that
the number of CRBT users in China will increase to 300 million and that annual
revenues are expected to exceed approximately US$20 billion by 2010.
About MetaSwarm, Inc.
MetaSwarm, Inc. is headquartered in California and is focused in the
information technology industry. MetaSwarm specializes in personal and
commercial information assurance solutions, including anti-fraud, anti-spam,
and relationship analysis solutions for the Internet e-commerce markets.
Specifically, MetaSwarm products provide applications for message management,
message and website validation, and message and website analysis for email,
cell phone text messaging (SMS), instant messaging (IM), and web pages.
MetaSwarm has a strategic partnership with China Standard Technology
Development Corporation, the SGS China JV partner in China, to support and
manage the Company's technology network in China. China Standard will manage
the MetaSwarm government validated messaging system through their own data
center and will also install, validate and manage all of the hardware for
MetaSwarm's technology. China Standard's JV company, SGS China, currently
issues many of the certificates of validation for imports/exports as well as
quality assurance for China's government so this partnership is an extension
that gives China Standard and SGS China reach into the online realm. China
Standard will play a crucial role in MetaSwarm's China expansion, particularly
when the system initiates its nationwide rollout to a potential market of 455
million cellular phone users.
About Beijing InfoSure
Beijing InfoSure Technology Ltd. is the only licensee of the Hyperswarm
Engine patent pending products of MetaSwarm, Inc. Beijing InfoSure surfs on
top of the leading tide of the state-of-the-art technologies in the world.
Based on the platform of the Hyperswarm Engine, it does R&D and design,
provides solutions against various digital information, including high
efficient anti-spam solutions in email and SMS, anti-phishing solutions, as
well as solutions and application services on message verification,
information personalization, etc.
Beijing InfoSure has an exclusive agreement with China Unicom (NYSE: CHU)
to install MetaSwarm's technology onto one of China's largest cellular
networks. As of December 31, 2006, China Unicom served over 140 million
cellular subscribers and is the world's third largest mobile phone operator.
To date, China Unicom is the only licensed full telecom service provider in
China, with services spanning fixed-line to mobile, IP telephony, data and
Internet. Beijing InfoSure is the exclusive licensee of MetaSwarm's technology
in China and the relationship between Beijing InfoSure and China Unicom is
based on this licensed technology.
Safe Harbor Statement Under The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act
of 1995: Except for historical information contained herein, the statements in
this news release are forward-looking statements that are made pursuant to the
safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Act of 1995. Forward-looking
statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which may cause
a company's actual results, performance and achievement in the future to
differ materially from forecasted results, performance, and achievement. These
risks and uncertainties are described in the Company's periodic filings with
the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company undertakes no obligation
to publicly release the results of any revisions to these forward-looking
statements that may be made to reflect events or circumstances after the date
hereof, or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events or changes in the
Company's plans or expectation