hoopla digital Cloud technology is creating new ways for music fans to discover and enjoy music and with record stores closing all over, the public library has become a main source of music discovery for listeners." -Jeff Jankowski, VP of Midwest Tape.

Midwest Tape, LLC. is pleased to announce new licensing agreements with Universal Music Group and Universal Music Canada, Warner Music Inc. and WEA International Inc., The Orchard, and Entertainment One U.S. LP., making more than 250,000 music albums available via its new digital media platform, hoopla digital, to patrons of public libraries in the US and Canada.

Designed from the ground up, hoopla is the newest and easiest to use digital media platform, enabling patrons of participating public libraries to borrow and instantly watch videos and listen to music and audiobooks on multiple platforms, including smartphones, tablets and computers. hoopla launched in “beta” earlier this year with library systems in Seattle (WA) Columbus (OH), Harford County (MD), Charlotte-Mecklenberg County (NC), Toledo (OH), Los Angeles (CA), Orange County (FL), and Hamilton (Ontario, Canada). Additional library systems will be added during the beta period prior to hoopla’s full launch.

“Cloud technology is creating new ways for music fans to discover and enjoy music and with record stores closing all over, the public library has become a main source of music discovery for listeners,” said Jeff Jankowski, Vice President of Midwest Tape. “Because hoopla circulates full albums as opposed to individual tracks, the listener experiences the music as the artist intended, and with nearly all of the music on hoopla being released simultaneously with the retail market, the users don’t have to wait for that experience.”

Through licensing with the aforementioned labels, hoopla will offer more than 250,000 albums representing more than 70% of the current music market share according to Billboard Magazine’s Label Market Share Spring 2013 report.

hoopla is helping continue the digitization of public libraries and their move into offering more e-content. Robin Nesbitt, director of technical services for Columbus Metropolitan Library, in a recent article on Library Journal’s The Digital Shift blog, praised hoopla’s ease-of-use saying, “It really mimics the consumer experience. I see something, boom, I get it”; and Brenda J. Breaux, a public relations specialist at Los Angeles Public Library, recently told SoCal Public Radio, “We are excited about hoopla. It’s an innovative program and it’s one of the few projects that's actually completed. It just expands our current e-programs.”

About Midwest Tape and hoopla digital

Midwest Tape, LLC., a privately held library media distribution company based in Holland, Ohio, is pioneering the newest technology for mobile apps in relation to public libraries. As a long time service provider and distributor to public libraries, MWT is taking physical goods digital with hoopla (http://www.hoopladigital.com), its new digital library platform which enables library patrons to borrow Movies, Television, Music and Audiobooks.

For additional inquiries, please contact:

Kyle Slagley

Phone: 1.800.875.2785 or +1 419.868.9370

Email: kslagley(at)midwesttapes(dot)com

Web: http://www.hoopladigital.com