Multi-platinum, Oscar and two-time Grammy Award winning Island Records artist Melissa Etheridge makes a timely summer return to the road for The Revival Tour 2008, her first major headlining North American tour in two years, opening June 15th at Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater, Florida. The 48-city schedule, with several multiple night engagements along the way, works its way across the U.S. and Canada for 12 weeks, wrapping up September 9th at Midland Theatre in Kansas City.

“I love to perform live, and I am on a new journey in my life,” Melissa says. “Put those two things together, and you have my Revival Tour. I’ll be playing the favorites along with album cuts and songs from The Awakening to tell my story. I hope you enjoy it.”

The Revival Tour 2008 marks the 20th anniversary of Melissa Etheridge’s self-titled RIAA multi-platinum debut album on Island in May 1988. One of rock’s most celebrated debuts, it contained her first four chart singles: “Bring Me Some Water,” “Like the Way I Do,” “Similar Features,” and “Chrome Plated Heart.” 19 years later, in September 2007, Melissa released her most recent (ninth) studio album, The Awakening, featuring “Message To Myself.” The concept album was ranked #20 by Rolling Stone magazine on its list of the 50 Top Albums of 2007.

2007 was a landmark year for Melissa Etheridge, beginning at the Academy Awards on February 25th, when “I Need To Wake Up” won the Oscar for Best Original Song, from Al Gore’s Academy Award winning documentary of 2006, An Inconvenient Truth. Three weeks before the Oscars, the song was issued commercially (for the first time) as a closing bonus track on the enhanced version of Greatest Hits: The Road Less Traveled, her 17- (now 18-) song RIAA gold career anthology, originally compiled and released in 2005.

In July 2007, Melissa Etheridge joined the all-star cast of participants at Live Earth, where she introduced Al Gore to the crowd at Giants Stadium in New Jersey. Live Earth's emphasis on the perils of global warming underscored the continuing relevance of “I Need To Wake Up.” Melissa reprised the song at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo, co-starring Earth, Wind & Fire, Annie Lennox, Alicia Keys and others, attended by Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore, and broadcast to over 100 countries.

| 05.09.2008 |

NEW YORK and MILPITAS, Calif., - May 5, 2008 - Vusion, providers of instant-on, full-screen, high quality streaming video, today announced a strategic partnership with Island Def Jam Music Group (IDJ), who will use the Vusion platform to deliver an online video portal where fans can view premium versions of its artists’ videos in DVD quality. The high quality gallery is now available at http://www.islanddefjam.com/hires.

With over 100 top performing artists in its stable, including Kanye West, Rihanna and Mariah Carey, Island Def Jam is well established as one of the premier record label groups in the world. By selecting Vusion’s end-to-end video delivery service, Island Def Jam is able to efficiently deliver a high-quality, customized Web experience to differentiate and improve its artist’s online presence and efficiently monetize video assets.

Vusion’s technology radically improves the user experience for streaming Internet video by eliminating buffering and long loading times. Vusion’s next generation video delivery platform is five times as efficient as previous technologies, enabling users with a standard broadband connection to stream Island Def Jam videos in true 480p DVD quality.

“The drastic shift to digital distribution in the music industry has created enormous opportunities and challenges for record labels and artists to efficiently monetize content,” said Christian Jorg, senior vice president of New Media & Commerce, Island Def Jam. “By implementing new technologies such as the Vusion video delivery platform, Island Def Jam will continue in our tradition as innovators and provide our artists with the best possible tools to generate revenue online.”

“As the online digital media market grows on a massive scale, media companies must provide their customers with a high quality experience in order to compete with television,” said Elie Habib, president and CEO of Vusion. “By providing the best end user experience and ability to reach the widest online audience, Vusion is helping Island Def Jam to ensure its ability to monetize content in a highly competitive industry.”

| 05.09.2008 |