Winnipeg Folk Festival launches online music store

The Winnipeg Folk Festival is pleased to announce a new partnership with media distribution developer PassAlong Networks� which adds an on-line music store to the Festival's web presence. The store, located at winnipegfolk.storeblocks.com, is linked from the Festival's popular winnipegfolkfestival.ca site and is powered by PassAlong's StoreBlocks technology. StoreBlocks is a full-service music distribution platform and includes one of the industry's largest music catalogs of more than 3 million songs, including more than 2 million songs in MP3 format. The system allows groups like the Folk Festival to set up their own on-line music stores, selling songs from PassAlong¹s licensed music catalogue, with a portion of the proceeds going to support the partnering group--in this case, the Winnipeg Folk Festival.

The Festival has many operations outside of its flagship second-weekend-in-July event, including concert series, training programs, and a year-round bricks-and-mortar music store, selling CDs in Winnipeg's Exchange District. The addition of an on-line music store is yet another way for the festival to expand its year-round operations.

The Festival's partnership with PassAlong also includes the addition of two widgets to the Festival's web site (widgets can be downloaded by users for their own computers). PassAlong¹s OnTour music widget notifies users when their favourite bands are coming to town. The Rostr widget will allow the festival to feature music playlists on its website, complete with audio and a link directly to the on-line music store for users to purchase the featured songs or albums. In honour of the Festival's 35th anniversary, the Festival will be adding Rostr widgets featuring music from each year of the Festival¹s history between now and the 2008 Fest.

It is particularly appropriate that the Winnipeg Folk Festival should work with PassAlong Networks: PassAlong was co-founded by a Winnipeg native, CEO Dave Jaworski.

"We are excited to partner with the Winnipeg Folk Festival to extend our brands and services into Canada and into the nonprofit market," says Jaworski. "We hope other organizations recognize that what the folk festival has accomplished using our suite of services is a viable model for other festivals, concerts and shows. It¹s a terrific format for nonprofit organizations to economically and effectively showcase their information. Also, as a native of Winnipeg I am thrilled to partner with and support the festival of my hometown!"

Visit winnipegfolkfestival.ca and follow the links to visit the music store and download the OnTour and Rostr widgets.