TheFilter.com to play key part in We7 future

Monument PR Worldwide, Tuesday, 30 September 2008

Peter Gabriel ventures sign major deal to improve and heighten user experience

Tuesday 30th September - Entertainment recommendation service TheFilter.com is announcing a major new deal with download music site We7. The partnership will enable We7 users to get filtered recommendations based on their listening habits.

We7, which recently signed EMI for its ad-supported streaming music service, now has a catalogue of over three million tracks. But the site claims that it is now a challenge for its users to discover new music based on tastes due to the huge choice available.

TheFilter.com's integration into the We7 service will combat this problem by giving users access to its smart filtering tools. The tools use an advanced mathematical algorithm to filter out music that a user will not like and filter in content that reflects their taste.

The powerful Filter engine will be used to recommend artists, albums and songs – first within a specific genre and then across more genres as it gathers more consumption and usage data related directly to the We7 catalogue.

"At We7 we really believe it is critical that music fans can listen to the music they want, when they want with a simple 'click'," said Stephen Purdham, CEO at We7, "but with a catalogue at 3m tracks and growing, sometimes that choice becomes difficult. That is where the great recommendation technologies of TheFilter.com come into its own, providing easy suggestions to guide fans to music they will love, increasing their enjoyment of the We7 service."

David Maher Roberts, CEO TheFilter.com says: "I am delighted to be able to add We7 to our growing list of partners. The Filter's smart recommendation engine is the perfect solution to help content owners and distributors connect more users to more of their content - and I am convinced that We7 will see an immediate effect."

Maher Roberts added that one of the major benefits of partnering with TheFilter.com is that "we share the aggregated usage data with all of our partners - this means that the more partners we have using our service, the greater the depth of the consumption data and the better the recommendations for all involved. We hope to be signing up a number of new partners in Europe and the US over the coming months."

TheFilter.com tools on We7 are expected to be live shortly after their major launch later in the year.

About TheFilter.com

The Filter is a personalised content filtering system that aggregates entertainment and information and connects users to content that reflects their tastes and moods. The developers behind The Filter are world leading British software company Exabre. They are backed by high profile investors, including Peter Gabriel's Real World Group and Eden Ventures.

The Filter has been downloaded in 164 countries. Its database currently includes over 5m songs, 330k movies and more than 50m individual purchases and playlists.

The Filter works by using Bayesian mathematics. It was developed by Martin Hopkins, a physicist who was struggling to manage his growing digital music collection. www.thefilter.com

About We7

We7 is the first free and legal service of its kind in Europe delivering music in the way consumers want it. We7 users can listen to music for free whenever they want, and buy whatever they love. The service works by 'grafting' short, relevant ads which precede the free music tracks based upon information known about the user, such as location, age and gender. This advertising ensures that artists and labels receive royalties for making their songs available, whilst consumers receive streamed legal music free of charge. We7 showcases exciting music of all genres from labels big and small (including three majors) as well as directly from unsigned artists. Co-founded by Peter Gabriel, We7 is expanding the digital download market and pioneering incremental music revenues from advertising - www.we7.com