7DIG.L Regulatory News (7DIG)

16 July 2019

7digital Group plc

("7digital" or "the Company")

Board Changes

Following the publication of its annual accounts for the year ended 31 December 2018, 7digital Group plc (AIM: 7DIG) is pleased to announce the appointments of Tamir Koch as Non-Executive Chair and David Lazarus as Non-Executive Director, with immediate effect. As a result of these changes Mark Foster will cease to act as interim Chair and will continue with his role as a Non-Executive Director.

Tamir Koch is currently President of eMusic.com, Inc., an online music and audiobook store and brand which started trading in 1998 and focuses on discovery and sales of independent music and artists. Most recently Tamir has led the eMusic Blockchain Project, seeking to provide a decentralised approach to music distribution and rights management for the benefit of artists and audiences. Tamir also previously founded several successful startups including Orca Interactive and Dotomi. Orca was sold to Emblaze Systems in 2000, which then floated Orca on AIM. It was subsequently acquired by France Telecom in 2008. Dotomi was acquired by ValueClick in 2011.

David Lazarus is an industrialist and international entrepreneur. David spent six years at Lloyds of London as an accredited Lloyds Broker attending to Insurance and Re-Insurance. David is currently an Executive Director of the RAM Hand-to-Hand Couriers Group, a leader in the Courier, Logistics and Express Parcel Industry in Southern Africa. The RAM Group operates from approximately 40 hubs, with approximately 1,700 vehicles and over 2,800 staff across Southern Africa. David is also a member of the Young Presidents Organisation.

Commenting on the Board Changes, John Aalbers, CEO of 7digital, said: 

"We are very pleased to welcome both Tamir and David to the Board. They each bring valuable experience that will help the company work towards delivering on 7digital's vision and executing our new company strategy."

Tamir Koch, the new Non-executive Chair of 7digital, said:

"I am delighted to join the Board of 7digital as Chair and I thank outgoing interim Chair Mark Foster for his unwavering support and stewardship of the company through this challenging period.

As a tech entrepreneur of 24 years with two successful exits, I have been involved in the music industry for the past 12 years, and have been following 7digital for some time. I always believed in the company's potential to be the leading "business-to-business" provider in the world of streamed music. 7digital's 2018 results show record turnover and revenue growth of 19% despite the setback incurred by the closure of the MediaMarktSaturn streaming service. While this unexpected development had an impact and exposed some dependency risk, the Company continued to win business and has now significantly reduced overhead after consolidating platforms and resources incurred from acquisitions in the last few years. My belief in the future is resolute.

I also came to realise that the company provides the perfect platform with which to partner and build the blockchain technology that we at eMusic have been working on over the past year. I envision blockchain as the way to align metadata within the industry, organise direct royalty payments, and create all-new economic models between fans and artists. I aim for 7digital to be at the forefront of those developments. The company already has a world-beating distribution platform including access to over 70M tracks, with 1M tracks added each month.

Adding this new asset under the 7digital distribution services will give access to the Direct-to-Fan market, which is the fastest growing market in the industry, and enable monetisation of transactions on the blockchain. I further see 7digital's business-to-business customer base as having access to the broadest range of catalogue, including exclusive content from artists who would wish to upload directly to the platform and use blockchain for rights and royalties.

With this vision for 7digital, earlier this year I offered to support the company financially. Now, we are co-ordinating £6.5M funding where my partners and I have already invested £2M by purchasing existing loan notes and subscribing for new shares. I am confident of concluding this raise in the coming weeks and removing any concerns to ongoing company operations.

Our vision is clear: to establish 7digital as a business-to-business leader that will use emerging technologies to allow customers access to the largest catalogue, provide the industry with an efficient tracking and payment system, and give artists worldwide distribution and full control of their music."

The following details in relation to the appointment of Mr Tamir Koch (aged 47) are disclosed in accordance with Schedule 2(g) of the AIM Rules:

Mr Koch has an indirect interest in 424,212,126 ordinary shares of 0.01 pence each ("Ordinary Shares") in the capital of 7digital and does not hold any options over shares in the capital of the Company.

There is no further information to be disclosed in relation to Mr Koch's appointment pursuant to AIM Rule 17 or paragraph (g) of Schedule Two of the AIM Rules for Companies.

The following details in relation to the appointment of Mr David Mark Lazarus (aged 55) are disclosed in accordance with Schedule 2(g) of the AIM Rules:

Mr Lazarus has an indirect interest in 542,836,219 ordinary shares of 0.01 pence each ("Ordinary Shares") in the capital of 7digital and does not hold any options over shares in the capital of the Company.

There is no further information to be disclosed in relation to Mr Lazarus's appointment pursuant to AIM Rule 17 or paragraph (g) of Schedule Two of the AIM Rules for Companies.

Enquiries:

About 7digital (www.7digital.com)

7digital is the global leader in B2B end-to-end digital music solutions. The core of its business is the provision of robust and scalable technical infrastructure and extensive global music rights used to create music streaming and radio services for a diverse range of customers - including consumer brands, mobile carriers, broadcasters, automotive systems, record labels and retailers. 7digital also offers radio production and music curation services, editorial strategy and content management expertise.

7digital fosters industry growth and innovation by simplifying access to music for clients such as Onkyo and TikTok (formerly musical.ly). From years of being the largest independent producer of programming for the BBC and powering services for partners like Global Radio and Fender, 7digital is perfectly positioned to lead innovation at the intersection of digital music and next-generation radio services.