O2 UK, following the footsteps of Vodafone, will now be doing a music play of it’s own with Sony BMG. MyPlay is now added to its O2 Active portal, that offers videos, full-track downloads and realtones in a store. The uniqueness of My Play is that users get to music “simply by clicking on artist microsites as their gateway into the store”.
Sony BMG Music Entertainment UK chair Ged Doherty: “The exciting thing about this service is that its artist micro-sites (bring the artist and consumer closer together).” Track purchases cost £0.99 ($1.93), or videos for £1.50 and tones for £3.50. The store will spotlight new Sony BMG releases.
Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
The CEO of Sony BMG Music Entertainment says that the company is developing an online music subscription service that would give users unlimited access to its music and be compatible with a host of digital music players.
Sony BMG’s artist roster includes newcomers like Leona Lewis, along with stalwarts like Alicia Keys and Celine Dion, as well as country singer Carrie Underwood among others.
In an interview with the newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung published Monday, chief executive Rolf Schmidt-Holtz did not offer a timeline for unveiling the service.
As for costs to subscribers, the newspaper quoted him as saying that the “simplest option would be a flat rate” fee per month of around 6 to 8 euros ($9 to $12) for unlimited access to Sony BMG’s entire music catalog and that the downloads would be compatible with all players, including Apple’s ubiquitous iPod.
He said that it was “even possible that clients could keep some songs indefinitely, that they would own them even after the subscription expired.”
A Bertelsmann spokesman confirmed that the interview was accurate but declined to provide further details.
Schmidt-Holtz was quoted as saying the unit was in talks with other major music distributors but did not disclose with whom and added that it was possible mobile phone operators could be brought on board, with the aim of letting users download their songs to their cell phones.
Besides the book publisher Random House, Bertelsmann’s interests include music business BMG, which is comprised of its 50 percent holding in the Sony BMG Music Entertainment joint venture with Japan’s Sony Corp., and radio and television — including broadcaster RTL, magazines and media services.
Bertelsmann is headquartered in Guetersloh, Germany, but most of its 97,000 employees are scattered over its divisions. The company is controlled by the Mohn family, directly and through a foundation.
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Toronto-based Puretracks, a leading North American digital music provider that partners with Universal, Sony BMG, Warner, EMI, and independent labels worldwide, has developed a new DRM-free mobile music store and service for BlackBerry® smartphones from Research In Motion (RIM).
The Puretracks Mobile Edition music store for BlackBerry, built in conjunction with handset development partner Magnet Mobile Media, will work with all BlackBerry® Pearl™, BlackBerry® Curve™ and BlackBerry® 8800 series smartphones. It is a next-evolution digital music service developed exclusively for wireless handsets using compressed DRM-free AAC/AAC+ file formats. This high-quality digital format is only half the size of MP3 files, significantly reducing the download time and storage capacity required while maintaining CD quality sound. The DRM-free service will make it easy for users to download and play songs on their BlackBerry smartphones.
“When it comes to the wireless world, BlackBerry is at the forefront and we are excited to offer our service on a cutting-edge solution that seamlessly integrates digital music into the wireless space,” notes Andrea Ziegler, Chief Operating Officer of Puretracks. “The Puretracks Mobile music service we have developed for the BlackBerry platform is an innovative mobile music store for North America that employs DRM-free, 64 kb AAC/AAC+ files. For wireless users, this equates to inexpensive airtime costs, smaller storage requirements, and higher music quality.”
A sneak peek of the Puretracks Mobile Edition music service for BlackBerry will be unveiled March 12 at the South By Southwest (SXSW) event in Austin, Texas. A full version of the mobile music service will launch at CTIA Wireless April 1. The new mobile music store, which will debut in the United States with future roll-out plans slated for Canada and other markets, will feature a broad selection of songs from top mainstream and independent artists. Future additions to the Puretracks Mobile Edition music service will include support for Wi-Fi capable handsets, enabling BlackBerry smartphone users to download MP3 files over Wi-Fi connections.
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United Arab Emirates-based operator Etisalat announced an agreement with Sony BMG to offer the label’s ringtones as part of its Greetune premium music service. Greetune already offers tones and audio clips including Islamic content, pop music and poetry in Arabic, English, Hindi & other languages. The Sony BMG ringtone catalog will span genres from rock to country to jazz, and feature artists like Beyonce, Justin Timberlake and Jennifer Lopez. The partnership represents the label’s first mobile content deal in the region. “Etisalat remains committed to enhancing its products and services and to provide its customers in the UAE with the best technology from around the world,” said Khalifa Al Shamsi, Etisalat VP of marketing.
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Mobile music service provider Groove Mobile and Canadian operator MTS Allstream have entered into an alliance. The alliance paves the way for Groove Mobile to bring its mobile music service and music discovery features to MTS customers. The MTS Mobile Music Store, powered by Groove, will provide full-track music downloads direct to mobile handsets, access to multiple charts, downloading album art, shop and play, browsing and previews. The music service will also support dual downloading in which customers purchase music over the air and download a copy of the track to their handset and get a copy delivered to their personal computer. Customers will have the flexibility of playing the track on their laptop or computer, transferring it onto an MP3 player or burning it onto a CD. In addition, the new MTS Mobile Music Store provides music fans with easy access to the IODA Free Track Chart, which consists of four to five tracks that change every week. The MTS Mobile Music Store will come preloaded on the Samsung A920, A900, M500, M610 and LG Fusic handsets with more handsets in future. The Store will feature music tracks from artists on the Sony BMG, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, IODA and The Orchard labels.
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Thanks to a new service called MusicStation, European customers will be able to download an unlimited amount of music to their mobile phones.
MusicStation launched in Sweden on Tuesday, and it will hit major markets in the rest of Europe, as well as Asia and Africa over the next few months. The company says it has agreements with 30 operators and hopes to serve over 100 million phones within the year.
North American plans for the service were not specified at all during the announcement.
The service would be like a Napster of sorts, which instead of charging per song, instead there would be a weekly charge of 2.99 euros for unlimited downloads. Your only limitation is the amount of memory your mobile phone has.
The company also said that eventually the tracks would be able to be transferred to your PC, but that part of the service was not currently available.
“MusicStation’s launch today heralds the beginning of the next generation of mobile music,” Rob Lewis said, CEO of the service’s parent company Omnifone.
Over 1 million tracks would be offered by the service, including music from the “Big 4″, Universal Music, Sony BMG, Warner Music, and EMI.
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When three-time Latin Grammy Award winner Calle 13 hit the stage in New York City this week to introduce their latest SONY BMG album “Residente o Vistitante”, fans enjoyed more than just vibrant Latin hip hop music. Verizon Wireless, a major sponsor of
SONY BMG’s 2007 Latin Album Release Series and a recognized leader for its
commitment to preventing domestic violence, donated $5,000 to Sanctuary for
Families, offering integrated legal, clinical, shelter and economic
stability services exclusively to domestic violence victims in all five
boroughs of New York City.
The $5,000 HopeLine(R) grant was Verizon Wireless’ second in a series
of five earmarked for New York area domestic violence organizations in
conjunction with the SONY BMG Latin Album Series. The first SONY BMG
HopeLine donation came in February, when Mexican-based pop rock band La
Quinta Estacion launched its third album. Other SONY BMG artists in the
series who will join with Verizon Wireless to present HopeLine grants are
Jennifer Lopez in June, Alejandra Guzman in August and Alejandro Fernandez
in September.
“The SONY BMG album release series presents a perfect opportunity to
marry our Latino marketing efforts with our HopeLine community service
program,” said Rob Davis, associate director of marketing for the company’s
New York Metro region. “It is our hope that high profile events like these
will help us remove the shroud of silence surrounding domestic violence,
especially as it impacts the young people who follow these artists.”
Guests invited to each of the release parties are encouraged to bring
old, no-longer used wireless phones, batteries and accessories for donation
to the company’s HopeLine wireless phone recycling program. HopeLine
collects wireless phones and accessories from any wireless service
provider, and then refurbishes the phones or recycles them in an
environmentally sound manner.
Verizon Wireless was the first wireless carrier in the nation to
collect and recycle old cell phones and has done so since January 1999 –
first in New York and then across the U.S. Wireless phone donations
continue to be accepted at all Verizon Wireless Communications Store
locations in New York City, throughout the New York Metro area and across
the country.
Sanctuary for Families, the largest such agency in New York, is
committed to reaching out to the most underserved communities including the
City’s immigrant population. Because a large percentage of clients are
Latina, Sanctuary provides domestic violence victims and their children
with all direct services in Spanish. Spanish-language support groups offer
clients the opportunity to share experiences and gain strength from each
other.
“All of us at Sanctuary are enormously grateful for the commitment that
Verizon Wireless has made to domestic violence victims through its HopeLine
program,” said Laurel W. Eisner, Sanctuary’s Executive Director. “It has
truly been a lifeline for many victims, allowing them to get the help they
need and to feel less alone.”
Verizon Wireless’ HopeLine program has collected more than 3.5 million
wireless phones, and given more than $3 million in cash grants and nearly
40,000 phones to domestic violence prevention organizations. Local HopeLine
grants include $120,000 already donated to the New York City Family Justice
Center Initiative.
“Each of us can have an impact on someone’s life,” Davis said.
“Donating an old, unused cell phone is a simple act but it can help provide
support to victims who all too often suffer in silence.”
In addition to a successful phone recycling program and funding for
non-profit domestic violence organizations, HopeLine includes free wireless
service and voice mailboxes for survivors, community and corporate
awareness initiatives, and a bilingual “Invest in Yourself” program
designed to help survivors re-enter the workforce.
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Mobileyouthreport writes….Music video and ringtones aggregator Global Music International announced a content licensing agreement with Sony BMG Music that gives GMI access to the label’s music and video library for distribution in the Chinese mobile services market. The Sony BMG partnership significantly sweetens GMI’s recent distribution agreement with China Unicom Newspace, the wholly-owned wireless music services subsidiary of Chinese operator China Unicom, adding Sony BMG videos, ringtones and ringbacks to GMI’s existing catalog of independent music content.
“We have been impressed with Global Music International’s established relationships with major telecommunications players in China, and are extremely pleased to be entering into a licensing agreement with them to offer our unique music content for mobile distribution on their partners’ wireless networks,? said Sony BMG Music Entertainment’s executive VP and COO, Asia, Kelvin Wadsworth in a prepared statement. “We see this agreement as an important part of our overall strategy to innovate, find new ways for our artists to connect with their fans, and develop new revenue streams.?
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- January 24th, 2007
- 1:39 pm
FierceMobileContent writes…Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group announced a partnership with ACCESS China Media Solutions to develop software and services for distributing music downloads and related content to mobile devices. The music conglomerates declined to reveal the amount each invested in ACCESS China Media Solutions, a joint venture between Chinese software developer ACCESS Ltd. and U.S.-based digital media firm Melodeo that creates mobile content provisioning software. “It’s a strategic investment,” WMG senior VP of digital strategy and business development Michael Nash told the Associated Press. “We’re definitely going to advise [ACCESS China] with respect to both digital rights management and also the consumer experience on the platform.”
Wireless Mobile Telecom
- January 24th, 2007
- 11:57 am
Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group have partnered with a joint venture operating in China that develops technology for distributing music downloads and other content to mobile phones, the record companies said Tuesday.
The music companies declined to disclose how much each had invested in Access China Media Solutions, a joint venture between Tokyo-based Access and Seattle-based digital media firm Melodeo Inc.
“It’s a strategic investment,” said Michael Nash, senior vice president of digital strategy and business development for Warner Music Group.
Sony BMG Music Entertainment is 50% owned by Bertelsmann and 50% owned by Sony Corp. of America.
Access China Media Solutions was formed early last year as a vehicle for Melodeo to distribute its technology to wireless carriers and handset makers in China and other markets in Asia.
The company makes software through which mobile phone users can dial up digital content such as ringtones, listen to streams of audio like podcasts, or download full-length songs.
“Those are the platforms we’re hoping to launch with some of the operator partners,” said Thomas Hesse, president of global digital business for Sony BMG. “The fact that you’ve got the music companies supporting this, we believe, is going to strengthen the chance of those platforms being successful.”
The music rivals’ investment also gives them some say in how the technology works and, perhaps most importantly, helps protect their recording artists’ music from unauthorized copying.
“We’re definitely going to advise the company with respect to both (digital-rights management) and also the consumer experience on the platform,” Nash said.
Mobile-phone networks are more secure than the Internet. Still, record labels are keen on avoiding the problems piracy poses with CDs and online content through unauthorized file-sharing.
Access’ offerings also include a digital-rights-management system to prevent content distributed over mobile phones from being copied without permission.
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O2 UK launches My Play Music Store With Sony BMG (UK)
