EAGAN, MN - WAM!NET Inc., a leading provider of digital content management services for the media industry, today announced that Universal Music Group (UMG), the world's leading music company, will use WAM!NET's wide area networking and digital proofing services to reduce the time it takes to distribute packaging artwork and marketing materials worldwide for new music releases. Universal Music Group is the world's largest music company and currently represents a wide-range of artists globally, including Bryan Adams, Aqua, the Bee Gees, Melissa Etheridge, B.B. King, Patti LaBelle and LL Cool J. UMG currently uses the WAM!NET Service in the United States, Japan, Canada and the U.K. With this global agreement, UMG will link its offices in the United States, along with offices in Germany, France, and Australia using WAM!NET's networking services. "Universal is committed to a fully digital workflow for artwork," says Jonathan Bender, vice president of asset management at Universal Music Group. "Connecting our offices to WAM!NET helps us achieve this goal, improving our time-to-market performance both domestically and internationally because it is all handled seamlessly online. We no longer wait for couriers, which can add days to tight timelines. Now, our production teams send and receive ready-to-print artwork internationally, directly via their computer desktop. Then, these files can be sent directly to local printers via the WAM!NET(R) network." "WAM!NET unites the people who produce digital content and enables them to work collaboratively around the world," says Brent Bauer, vice president of global marketing at WAM!NET, Inc. "WAM!NET is providing UMG with a highly efficient way to specify, create, print and distribute new creative content online. The result is improved turnaround time and significant savings in both time and money." About Universal Music Group: Universal Music Group is the world's leading music company with wholly-owned record operations or licensees in 59 countries around the world. Its businesses also include Universal Music Publishing Group, one of the industry's largest global music publishing operations. Universal Music Group consists of record labels: A&M Records, Decca Records, Decca Broadway, Deutsche Grammophon, Geffen Records, Interscope Records, Island Def Jam Music Group, Jimmy and Doug's Farm Club, MCA Nashville, MCA Records, Mercury Records, Motown Records, Philips, Polydor, Universal Records, and The Verve Music Group as well as a multitude of record labels owned or distributed by its record company subsidiaries around the world. The Universal Music Group owns the most extensive catalog of music in the industry, which is marketed through two distinct divisions, Universal Music Enterprises (in the U.S.) and UM3 (outside the U.S.).