D’Addario Helps Little Kids Rock Bring Music To Kids

Portion of EXP String Sales to be Donated to Little Kids Rock!

July 22nd, 2005— Indianapolis, IN (NAMM Show - booth # 851) - Little Kids Rock (LKR), an innovative non-profit program that provides free instruments and free music classes to children, announced today that J. D’Addario & Company has planned a special product promotion that will support Little Kids Rock. For every EXP coated acoustic, classical, or bass set of D’Addario’s EXP strings sold to domestic dealers from July 1 to December 31, 2005, D’Addario will donate $.25 to Little Kids Rock.

“As more and more school music programs get cut or lose funding, organizations like Little Kids Rock become more and more vital,” says D’Addario Fretted Brand Manager Brian Vance. “They’re stepping in and saying, ‘Music is too important to be allowed to atrophy, and it’s not fair that our children and grandchildren may never have the chance to develop a love for playing music, as many of us did.’ These organizations are helping to keep music education for everyone alive for the future, and that’s something we’re more than happy to support.”

“J. D’Addario & Company has been a long-time supporter of Little Kids Rock, and this donation demonstrates D’Addario’s depth of commitment,” said David Wish, Executive Director of Little Kids Rock. “This exciting initiative will have a significant impact on LKR as it will not only provide funding that will enable us to offer our program to more children but also generate awareness about our work to restore music education.”

For more information on D’Addario products, visit www.daddariostrings.com. More information on Little Kids Rock can be found at www.littlekidsrock.org.

About Little Kids Rock
Little Kids Rock believes that music is a critical component of first-rate education.
Many elementary schools have been stripped of their music programs. These cuts
have had a disproportionately large impact on children from low-income back-
grounds. Little Kids Rock restores music to its rightful place in the academic lives
of kids in our public schools by providing a rich music education program including
instrument instruction, free instruments and trained mentors. Founded by a single
elementary school teacher in 1996, Little Kids Rock is now serving more than 4,000 students in CA, NY, NJ and TN. Bonnie Raitt, Paul Simon, Steve Vai, B.B. King, Jason Newsted, Dave Mason, Rick Springfield, Al Leiter and Les Paul sit on our Honorary Board of Directors and we are supported by friends Carlos Santana, Phish, Bob Weir and others. More information can be found at: www.littlekidsrock.org

About J. D’Addario & Company
J. D’Addario & Company, Inc. designs, manufactures, and markets complete lines of strings for fretted and bowed musical instruments, drumheads, drum practice pads, and guitar and woodwind accessories under the proprietary brand names D’Addario, Evans Drumheads, Planet Waves, Rico, and HQ Percussion. The company also runs the popular Gbase.com online gear source. J. D’Addario products are marketed in approximately 120 countries.

Media Contact:
Allison Neves, PR Director
Little Kids Rock
415-948-1200
allison@littlekidsrock.org