Fuse Presents Staind Tour With Innovative Partnership and National Contest

October 27, 2003 – Fuse, the only viewer driven, all-music network, has entered an innovative partnership with Staind to present the band's tour and serve as their exclusive media sponsor. The Staind tour kicked off in early October in Asbury Park, New Jersey and wraps up November 24th in Orlando, Florida. The band is touring in support of their critically acclaimed album 14 Shades of Grey (Flip/Elektra). "So Far Away," the second single from 14 Shades of Grey, has spent seven weeks (six of which were consecutive) in the #1 position on the Billboard Modern Rock chart. The song also topped the Active Rock chart (where it was #1 for 12 weeks) and the Mainstream rock chart and is at #28 on the Top 40 mainstream chart.

Fuse will support the tour with on-air programming tie-ins featuring tour promotional spots running through the tour and tour date announcements and live call-ins from the band during episodes of Fuse's daily live show "IMX: Interactive Music Xchange." Staind will be a Fuse featured artist for the duration of the tour, with an airing of Staind's Celebrity Tastemaker special, and as a featured band in Fuse's 4th quarter consumer initiatives, including a national contest and image campaign.

As part of the tour support, "Fuse presents" is included on all tickets, advertising and promotional materials, including local and national print ads, radio spots, local TV sports and tour posters. As the exclusive national media sponsor, Fuse is the sole media partner in the tour deal. Fuse will be involved in each city with prominent signage and presence inside the concert venues, and will sponsor meet-and-greets in select markets.

"The music industry is constantly evolving and the bar is being raised," said Marc Juris, President of Fuse. "Artists are looking for partners who can give them more, and at Fuse we were fortunate to be able to do that for Staind. We are thrilled about this partnership."

"This kind of synergy with Fuse makes perfect sense for Staind because of the channel's commitment to artists and music programming," says Gayle Boulware of The Firm. "Fuse's desire to develop and support a diverse array of artists is completely in line with ours."

The foundation of the Fuse/Staind agreement is to break the traditional rules of branding by creating unique strategic partnerships that support all initiatives of established and emerging bands. Fuse is committed to strengthening its relationships with record labels and management groups like Staind management The Firm and label Flip/Elektra. These relationships allow Fuse to promote their artists, further open the arena of their competitors and ultimately give viewers experiences and opportunities they cannot get anywhere else with exclusive programming, content, contests, tickets and access to their favorite groups.

Fuse is cable's fastest growing digital network, nearly doubling their subscriber base from
18 – 31 million households (Nielsen Universe, April 2003), further establishing them as the new music television destination.

"From a marketing standpoint, this deal is unique in its breadth and scope," explains Mary Corigliano, Vice President of Marketing for Fuse. "Staind will be a huge presence on our network throughout the duration of the tour."

"Fuse is all about the music. This is a simple tenet that sets us apart from our competitors," adds Marc Juris.

Dates are as follows (some dates subject to change):