Seattle, WA. AEI Music Network has announced a major management reorganization in response to the business music production company’s rapid international expansion.

Michael Malone, AEI Music’s Chairman and CEO, announced the changes yesterday, centred on the appointment of Barry Knittel to the new position of President and COO. “This decision comes after much planning and thought,” commented Malone. “Our steady and continued growth has made this position necessary for some time, and Barry unquestionably has the ability to meet the challenge.”

Knittel joined AEI Music in 1995, most recently serving as Senior V-P of Music and Customer Relations. Before joining AEI, he was Director of Licensing for ASCAP, where he negotiated music licensing and employed music as a marketing tool on a worldwide basis. In his new role, Knittel is responsible for managing all day to day operations of the domestic U.S. corporation.

Malone also announced a number of related moves and new appointments:

Sean Gleason becomes V-P of Marketing and Product Development. He will oversee all aspects of AEI’s corporate and product marketing, including internal and external communications, public and media relations, market research, product and channel marketing and creative services. Gleason comes to AEI Music from Miramar Images, where he was Executive V-P and General Manager, and supervised the release of several Grammy-nominated recordings.

Tim Seaton has been appointed AEI Music’s new V-P of Sales. In this capacity, Seaton is responsible for all sales divisions including national music, national systems, regional and affiliate sales. He was previously AEI’s Director of National Sales.

Don Schlosser has been promoted from Director of Corporate Development to V-P of International Operations and Corporate Development. His new position involves responsibility for the company’s operations in Asia and Latin America. He will continue to direct corporate mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures and alliances.

And Mike Matysik has been named AEI’s V-P and CFO. Matysik directs all aspects of AEI Music’s finances on a worldwide basis.

AEI Music is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. The company’s music programming is heard by millions of people worldwide every day in businesses, fashion retail, specialty retail, restaurants, hotels and airlines. AEI pioneered the use of original-artist recordings in business music.

Issaquah, WA. Midisoft Corporation has reported financial results for the third quarter of its fiscal year, ending September 30, 1996, showing that revenues increased 136% over the previous quarter (from $491,000 to $1,234,000 US).

Midisoft’s President and CEO, Larry Foster, credits the introduction of four new products for the growth in revenue: Sound Bar™, PlayPiano™ 2.0, MIDI Kit™ 3.0, and Family Music Center™. “The unique capabilities of the Sound Bar to simply, powerfully and inexpensively control PC audio and send audio messages over the Internet has attracted media, retailer and OEM attention. We are now aggressively marketing Sound Bar for integration into OEM products.”

In spite of the increased revenue, Midisoft incurred a net loss for the third quarter of $868,000 (US). This was a marked improvement over the third quarter of 1995 when Midisoft reported losses of $5,512,000 (US).

Seattle, WA. Progressive Networks continues to evangelize it market-leading RealAudio Internet audio streaming technology across the broadest possible base. Progressive announced today that Prodigy Inc. has licensed RealAudio for a broad package of applications on its new-look Internet-based service.

The Prodigy Internet (PI) service was announced yesterday. It is targeted at the new-to-the-net market, and the approximately 90% of American homes that have yet to sign up for an online or Internet service provider. Incorporating enhanced multimedia features such as RealAudio within the PI software is intended to make it easier for new users to get full benefit of what the Internet has to offer, without the typical headaches associated with configuring plug-ins and helper applications.

PI subscribers will be encouraged to access audio and audio-based multimedia content on demand. RealAudio technology will ultimately be used in all content areas, with particular emphasis on delivery of interactive content in PI’s Music sections. Additionally, Prodigy has been granted worldwide distribution rights to the RealAudio player, and will offer the player for free as a pre-installed option to those downloading PI software or installing it from a CD-ROM.

Prodigy Internet The service is available at two prices: The Basic Plan, which costs $9.95 a month and provides ten hours of usage, with additional hours beyond 10 priced at $2.50 each; and the Unlimited Plan, which costs $19.95 a month, and provides unlimited untimed access to both the Internet and PI content. Prodigy Internet software is available (currently for Windows’95 only) at Prodigy’s web site.