I am Scott Purcell, President, CEO and founder of WWW.COM. WWW.COM is the world’s largest Internet webcast network and is the number two webcasting site worldwide.

I started this business because I love music, think it should be available anytime, anywhere and want to give people a reason to be online. Webcasting is the means by which I’ve made this vision possible. Webcasting involves the use of cutting edge technology and software, but in its essence is simply the transmission of music entertainment over the Internet so that listeners can tune in with readily-available players. WWW.com delivers stereo-quality music to about three million people each month. We have more than 200 stations categorized by every imaginable music genre featuring recordings from our 350,000 plus song library.

WWW.COM webcasts music to individuals who visit our Web site directly, as well as through other Web sites through syndication agreements. Indeed, our company enjoys the unique position of being the music industry’s first and largest business-to-business ("B2B") webcast network. Our products enable e-tailers, media companies, web portals, and other online properties to integrate music entertainment, e-commerce, and banner and audio advertising services into their site’s core product offering.

To bring this all down to earth, an example may be helpful. One of our clients is Cool.com. Cool.com is a community or portal site that offers visitors a wide range of entertainment and information. Cool.com’s Web site includes a feature that permits its audience to choose to listen to music while they explore the site. This music entertainment is seamlessly delivered to Cool.com’s audience by our webcasting service.

Our business and its success are clearly built on the use of the sound recordings created by recording artists and record companies. An important part, therefore, of WWW.COM’s corporate culture is our respect for the creators whose works make our business possible. We think it is important that recording artists and record companies receive a fair return for the investment they make in producing the music we all enjoy every day. For that reason, I am proud to say that we were one of the first in the webcast industry to sign a webcasting license agreement with the RIAA on behalf of the thousands of sound recording copyright owners it represents.

Not only does our agreement with the RIAA represent our commitment to the rights of artists, but it makes good business sense and represents what I think is an ideal, market-based solution. Make no mistake about it – our negotiations with the RIAA were as tough as any marketplace negotiations. But the negotiations provided us the opportunity to craft a license agreement that recognized the unique nature of our business and surrounding circumstances. The RIAA had a clear understanding of our business and the issues we face, and worked in a cooperative way to accommodate our needs. Our negotiated agreement also permitted us to minimize risk and obtain certainty for our business in what has become, more than ever, a competitive, fast paced industry.