monday 15 october 2001

AN INNOVATIVE ONLINE SUBSCRIPTION SERVICE

BMG Entertainment choose Tornado Group PLC to provide the technology infrastructure for an unprecedented subscription service for WESTLIFE, their major International Recording Artist who sold over 10 million copies of their last album.

Tornado Group PLC (“LSE: TDO”), Europe's leading Digital Service Provider, and BMG Entertainment announce today they have entered into an agreement to launch and operate BMG’s first online Subscription Service. The launch of this service, which is the first of its kind, is set to coincide with the pre-Christmas release of the new Westlife album, ‘World of Our Own’.

This partnership will enable fans to access added-value content such as promotional videos, behind the scene footage, exclusive interviews, interactive features, breaking news and gossip, music and videos. Also, services such as priority booking for tickets, offers of exclusive merchandise, free SMS and ring-tones plus access to exclusive mobile phone downloads. Westlife fans will be able to gain access to the subscription service either online, directly through the Westlife official site or they can purchase pre-paid cards from leading participating retailers.

Tornado will provide the technical infrastructure to support the Westlife Subscription Service and the delivery of its content, encompassing the hosting and content provision services, digital rights management capability, membership enrolment tools, including a payment gateway to facilitate use of both credit/debit payments and the prepaid ETC Card.

The Westlife Premium Site will constantly be refreshed with new content and Tornado's Customer Services division will play a key role in ensuring that all Westlife fans derive the maximum pleasure from each of their visits by providing dedicated e-mail and web based support.

“We are delighted to be working with BMG on this ground-breaking project” commented Neil Ferris, Commercial Director of Tornado Group PLC “With the potential of massive traffic volumes, the inherent capacity, resilience and robustness of the Tornado system is fundamental to the projects success and the primary reason for BMG's choice of Tornado as it's technology partner.”

Jon Davis (BMG, New Media Manager) says, "This innovative subscription service heralds a new product for the label and new media team that will bring the fans closer to Westlife than they have ever been before. It underlines our commitment towards the online space in terms of marketing, promotion and revenue."