Welcome To The Future Of Independent Music

Rochester, NY--March 28, 2005--Vision Music USA and Stretch The Skies have fused their talents and resources to provide independent musicians with a technology driven, one-stop shop for achieving their musical goals. This union brings together teams of like-minded individuals focused on identifying problems and creating positive solutions for the artists with whom they work.

Progress in both online as well as conventional areas of the music business relies on a balanced system of trust, education, guidance and resources. This is the space Stretch The Skies intends to fill. "This merger will show the independent music world what can be achieved when the focus is on empowering the artist instead of competing with other organizations for an artist’s attention. When companies truly start concentrating on assisting musicians, our industry will be in a much better place," says Jeff Fournier, President of Stretch The Skies.

The core belief behind this philosophy is that artists have the ability to empower themselves. The system is specifically designed to walk a musician through each stage of the music business by offering practical tools, industry education, artist development and a career path that makes sense. "If being a career musician is your goal, you’ve got to look at it as a business. We empower artists so they don’t have to rely solely on others. We feel the sooner an artist understands the business side of things, the sooner they will understand what it takes to reach their goals," adds Josh Epstein, former President and co-founder of Vision Music USA.

Stretch The Skies addresses the hurdles all independent artists face, including selling merchandise and CDs and receiving credit for CDs sold. For example, they’ve created a revolutionary piece of technology called "The Music Button" that is designed to increase CD sales. And through their state-of-the-art, patent-pending technology for online distribution, artists have the ability to sell their music virtually anytime, anywhere from any website that allows for the retail link. Additionally, artists receive vital Soundscan credit for these sales.

In total, there are twenty-five different artist development services at Stretch The Skies, including commercial retail placement, college and commercial radio promotion, publicity campaigns, bio writing, graphic and web design and a pro bono press kit and demo evaluation. Artists are given a free account, allowing them the opportunity to research the system and services for themselves. The complete service listing is available on the company website.

Contact: info@stretchtheskies.com
Website: http://www.stretchtheskies.com
Music Button: http://www.themusicbutton.com
Phone: 877-241-2613

###