REDMOND, Wash., and NEW YORK - May 6, 2002 - Microsoft Corp. and Lenny Kravitz, along with EMI subsidiary Virgin Records America, today announced that the multiplatinum recording star and the record label are inaugural recipients of the Microsoft^® Windows Media(tm) Innovation Award.

Dave Fester, general manager of the Windows Digital Media Division at Microsoft, presented the award to Kravitz in New York on May 2 for his pioneering use of digital media, including Windows Media Audio (WMA) and Windows Media digital rights management (DRM) technology, to distribute music securely and easily to fans over the Internet. The award recognizes innovative achievements in digital media from pioneering recording artists, film and music distributors, and enterprises.

The award, which Microsoft plans to present biannually, carries with it a donation of $25,000 (U.S.) in cash and $25,000 (U.S.) worth of software to be made to the recipient's favorite charity. Microsoft Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates sent a letter to Kravitz congratulating him on his innovative use of digital media. Gates wrote in the letter to Kravitz, "Your experimentation with digital media is setting a groundbreaking example of how the Internet can be a secure and powerful medium for legitimate music distribution. I'm impressed by the many cool ways you're using this technology not only to share your work, but also to build personal, ongoing relationships with your fans over the Internet."

"We're establishing the Windows Media Innovation Award as our way to recognize those organizations or individuals who are using digital media in breakthrough ways," Fester said. "We're excited about presenting this award to Lenny Kravitz because of his groundbreaking example of how to deliver music on the Internet to his fans all over the world."

"Music is all about expressing yourself freely and communicating ideas," Kravitz said. "The combination of digital media and the Internet is helping me connect with my fans all over the world in new ways, and it's cool to be recognized for this."

Already widely recognized as a music-industry innovator, Kravitz's aggressive adoption of digital media technology to promote his work with existing fans while attracting new followers distinguishes him among recording artists. Microsoft's choice of Kravitz as the first recipient of the Windows Media Innovation Award was based on accomplishments such as these:

Kravitz made music history by becoming the first artist to have a single qualify for a GRAMMY Award based on sales from online downloads. Using Windows Media Audio, Kravitz released the single in digital form on the Web early enough to qualify for a GRAMMY Award. Acceptance of online sales by the GRAMMY's controlling body, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, is a major step in establishing the legitimacy of online music. After qualifying for the award, Kravitz received his fourth consecutive GRAMMY Award, a GRAMMY first, for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance.

"Lenny has always challenged us to come up with new ideas to embrace the Internet to reach his fans," said Ty Braswell, vice president for New Media Virgin Records. "Time after time we turned to Microsoft for help with our digital media promotions, and time after time it gave us the tools we needed to be innovators."

In March, Kravitz and Virgin Records co-sponsored a digital song remix contest in which fans downloaded Sonic Foundry's free ACID XPress software to remix Kravitz's song "Believe in Me." Fans submitted entries in WMA format, offering CD-quality audio in half the file size of an MP3 file. The contest winner received an all-expenses-paid weeklong trip to the Winter Music Conference in Miami from March 23-30, courtesy of Virgin Records, and an autographed guitar from Kravitz during a ceremony at the conference. The winning remix of "Believe in Me" is featured at ACID Planet's Web site, http://www.acidplanet.com/contests/lennykravitz/.


About Windows Media
Windows Media is the leading digital media platform, providing unmatched audio and video quality to consumers, content providers, solution providers, software developers and corporations. Windows Media offers the industry's only integrated rights-management solution and the most scalable and reliable streaming technology tested by independent labs. Windows Media Technologies includes Windows Media Player for consumers, Windows Media Services for servers, Windows Media Tools for content creation, and the Windows Media Software Development Kit (SDK) for software developers. Windows Media Player, available in
26 languages, is the fastest-growing media player. More information about Windows Media can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmedia/.