(EMAILWIRE.COM, November 27, 2000 ) Chicago, IL – The world’s most heavily trafficked site for musicians, HarmonyCentral.com, today announced the sale of its Chicago-based etailing subsidiary, zZounds.com, to Pinebrook Holdings, Inc..

Terms of the sale were not disclosed. The buyer will continue to operate the zZounds website, which sells musical instruments and recording gear. Two Chicago area retail stores will be closed.

Online since 1997, the zZounds websites offers ten of thousands of musical instruments and accessories, including leading brands such as Yamaha, Roland, Fender, Gibson and Korg. Sales have grown in excess of 500 percent annually, with monthly sales exceeding $1 million. It is the largest and most active musical instrument etailer not connected to an existing catalog business.

Harmony Central put zZounds on the market when it decided to forego etailing revenues in favor of a retailer-neutral “CNET for Musicians” strategy.

“This sale frees Harmony Central to focus its time and capital on its core business of building musician communities,” said HarmonyCentral Chairman and CEO Ray Worthy Campbell. “The funds received from this transaction will allow us to continue building Harmony Central as the most active and exciting destination for musicians on the internet.

“The sale allows us to pursue advertising and sponsorship revenues from other retailers, while also allowing us to pursue deep strategic relationships with or sale to companies disinclined to participate in online retail,” Campbell said.

Campbell, zZounds’ founder, will remain with Harmony Central, while other key zZounds employees will remain with zZounds under its new owners.

"Zzounds is the fastest growing retailer of musical gear in any segment and has rapidly established both a strong brand name and a loyal customer following", stated Pete Rubacky, spokesperson for Pinebrook Holdings. "We believe that Zzounds will benefit from Pinebrook's other interests in distribution, logistics and finance in continuing to grow not only rapidly but also quite profitably."


About HarmonyCentral.com
With more than 1.25 million unique visitors each month, HarmonyCentral.com is by far the largest and most active web site that targets musicians. Growing from its beginnings in an MIT dorm room in 1994, HarmonyCentral offers more than 15,000 pages of musician oriented content and benefits from more than 15,000 links in from other sites. Its daily news feed of musician equipment news is the industry standard.

About Pinebrook Holdings
Pinebrook Holdings, Inc is a privately held investment firm focused on
technology-intensive retailing and distribution. For information, please contact Pete Rubacky (prubacky@PinebrookHoldings.com) . Pinebrook Holdings is not accepting business plans at this time.

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For Further Information Contact:
Ray Worthy Campbell
1710 North Sedgwick Street.
Chicago IL 60614
312.907.3341
Ray@zZounds.com

Contact Information:
HarmonyCentral
Ray Campbell
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