Mi2N Unveils Next Gen Entertainment Industry News Site

Mi2N launches redesigned site featuring e-wire, an email self-publishing tool, and QuickNews, a rapid news retrieval feature.

New York, NY -- October 1, 2000 -- Mi2N, a leading news publisher and CSP (Content Service Provider) in the digital entertainment market, unveiled the site's third generation design. Launched in December 1998 by new media publisher Tag It, Mi2N was a pioneer in providing a news channel for the independent and emerging dot-com market to reach decision makers in the music/new media sector.

The redesign takes a new approach to online publishing by focusing on one of the Internet's oldest tools: email. In addition to allowing users to email specific news stories from their browser, a relatively standard practice among news sites, users can 'e-Wire' various top 10 headlines to themselves, colleagues and friends. The redesign also focuses on content accessibility by providing more 'charted' headlines, and through QuickNews, a rapid news retrieval feature.

"The value of information in a digital and networked environment is determined by the ease with which it can be accessed and distributed," explained Eric de Fontenay, Editor-in-Chief of Mi2N and CEO of Tag It. "Napster, or even something as simple as e-cards, have proven to be very popular because the content is easy to find and share. As use of the site's online email feature grew since its implementation in late spring, we realized that we already had the perfect tool to empower our users to become news publishers. At the same time, with over 350 news releases per week, providing a design and tools to quickly identify and retrieve news of interest was at the core of this redesign."

The foundation of the redesign rest with a content management and publishing backend system developed in-house by Tag It CIO, Stephanie Polatsik. The system provides a centralized location for Mi2N's editorial team to aggregate, store, manage and publish in several formats the growing levels of content, up over 50% in the last six months. The system also manages the site's numerous opt-in email lists, including full-featured list management and newsletter formatting. Tag It in-house solution has given Mi2N greater control over the evolution of the site

"This will play an important role in accommodating continued growth in users and content while having little effect on operating cost" said Stephanie. "But we've also progressively expanded the backend system to provide greater control over the site's dynamic design, as well as flexibility in expanding and upgrading functionality."

e-Wire
The site's e-Wire feature leverages the everyday familiarity with email by giving users the ability to publish mini-newsletters made up of various top 10 headlines. Headlines presently e-wire enabled include the daily Editor's Top Picks and In-Box Top Picks as well as the weekly top 10 headlines as selected by the site's users. The In-Box Top Picks features ten headlines from Mi2N's daily newsletters, including B2N (Business Net News), covering the evolving business and technology developments, and i2N (Indie Net News) featuring independent music sector news.

"For those using our service to distribute news, the redesign delivers real benefits," explained Eric. "Tools like e-wire provide a powerful viral marketing tool in the hands of Mi2N reader. But it also gives our readers a greater level of convenience, an important factor for any B2B resource."

QuickNews
QuickNews offers users with a set of topic-specific keyword groupings, including Artists, Women in Music, Music Industry, Music Events, Labels and Radio Charts. A user selecting Wyclef under artists or RIAA under industry would be presented with the respective keyword's headlines over the past two month. "We believe this feature will have a lot of appeal with journalist and anyone requiring some quick research," noted Eric.

Latin & Urban Channels
Latin & Urban Channel are mini-versions of Mi2N's Channel PRO ASP content integration service for Latin & urban music sites. Present throughout the site and updated in real time, it features the three latest Latin and urban music headlines in the Mi2N newswire. The NY Times recently wrote that Mi2N's LATIN Channel "chugs with the latest industry music news."

About Mi2N
Mi2N (www.mi2n.com) is a leading news publisher and CSP (Content Service Provider) in the digital entertainment market. Over the past two years, its has established a reputation as a major news aggregator and provider with over 1,400 news releases and announcements each month from the major and independent players in the industry. Mi2N has recently entered into a strategic distribution relationship with iSyndicate to introduce its CSP services, a set of turnkey content integration solutions, to its customer base.
Mi2N is part of a network of innovative music sites published by Tag It, a New Media firm founded in 1997, and consist of MusicDish (www.musicdish.com), an industry trade e-Journal, 'LA'Ritmo.com (www.laritmo.com), a Latin music magazine, and Black Hole (www.yourblackhole.com), an urban music & culture site.

Contact:
Eric de Fontenay
Co-Founder & CEO, Tag It
Editor-in-Chief, Mi2N
718-726-1938
editor@mi2n.com