Wireless Federation

JumpTap has launched a mobile search and advertising solution for Telefónica, serving contextual banner ads on the home page and throughout the content verticals on the operator’s movistar emoción portal as well as delivering sponsored search links within the Games, Images and Music channels.

During their first months of collaboration, JumpTap twice sold out Telefónica’s entire display advertising inventory. Big name advertisers such as Sony Ericsson, Warner Music, Gameloft, Vivendi Games Mobile, Coca-Cola, Buongiorno, Terra, Barclays Bank, PrisaCom and BMW are amongst the first advertisers to launch mobile campaigns on this new medium.

“As the leader in the market, it was essential we deployed a search and advertising solution that would enhance the user experience without being intrusive. The mobile screen is too small to make mistakes,” said Susana Rodriguez, Director of Online and M-Commerce at Telefónica.

“This move will undoubtedly be commercially beneficial for advertisers who now have access to a new, young demographic on the most interactive and personal medium we have seen to-date,” said Dan Olschwang, President and CEO of JumpTap.

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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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Warner Music Group unveiled a division that will develop and produce original programming for mobile phones, cable TV, computers and other platforms.

The division, dubbed Den of Thieves, will work with WMG’s record labels to create content for distribution around artists’ releases and special projects. The Los Angeles-based group will also explore original programming and opportunities beyond WMG’s stable of performers in an effort to expand the company’s content portfolio.

Former MTV executive Jesse Ignjatovic and music veteran Evan Prager will head the effort.

“Having worked together for many years as colleagues in the industry, Jesse and I are looking forward to combining our talents to not only develop strategic creative content for Atlantic Records’ and Warner Bros. Records’ artists, but also to build new franchises for WMG,�? Prager said.

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FierceMobileContent writes…Also launching a new mobile music portal is Japanese carrier giant NTT DoCoMo, which announced the debut of Warner Music Group Rhino Mobile, a venture uniting Warner Music Japan with wireless data service provider Catalyst Mobile. In addition to features including recommendation, search and preview, Rhino Mobile promises exclusives including “This Day in Rock History” trivia, the “Songs You Know Ringtone Corner” and weekly columns and reviews from Japanese music critics.

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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.”

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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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Telecompaper writes…Warner Music Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Access, Melodeo, and Access China Media Solutions are working together to develop and distribute systems for delivering mobile music and multimedia entertainment to mobile customers throughout China and Asia. Warner and Sony BMG have each made an investment in mobile music delivery systems developer Access China Media Solutions, a JV by Japanese mobile applications developer Access and digital media distributor Melodeo. With the move, the music companies hope to be able to securely deliver their content throughout Asia without the piracy risk that online music presents. Recently, EMI Music and Chinese search portal Baidu.com have formed a partnership to offer streaming music to Baidu users, a turnaround from a lawsuit music companies launched, and lost, last year against Baidu.

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Mobile-Ent writes…Sony BMG and Warner Music Group have invested in Access China Media, which makes technology for downloading songs to mobile.

The two major labels are keen on mobile in China, partly because there are 460 million subscribers and rising but also because wireless has proved itself far more piracy-proof than CD and online. Access China, a joint venture between the US digital music provider Melodeo  and Japan’s Access Ltd, specialises in full track delivery.

Warner Music already signed a deal in June with China Unicom to sell its music over the wireless network. “Physical piracy in China is an enormous problem that’s created a crisis around investment in repertoire and artists. Mobile’s clearly the future of music in China,” said Michael Nash, senior VP of digital and business development at Warner.

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WirelessdesignAsia writes…Mobile device manufacturer Motorola is teaming up with music company Warner Music Group (WMG) to create music-based products and experiences for the mobile platform. This agreement, in part, lays the foundation for an ongoing collaboration to match Motorola’s global handset marketing initiatives with WMG’s artist promotions.

The companies say that their partnership marks the first time a music company and a handset manufacturer have established a global agreement for the collaboration on the development of digital products, marketing campaigns and strategic planning across multiple devices and featuring a variety of artists.

By aligning with WMG, Motorola hopes to offer consumers exclusive content, including premium products such as pre-loaded and over-the-air delivered full-length songs, ringtones, ringback tones, mobile music videos, wallpapers and more.

One of the first mobile products expected to be offered as part of this agreement is the MOTO Experience Pack, a single file downloaded to the mobile device that contains several-music based products creating a feature-rich multimedia artist experience on the handset. MOTO Experience Packs will be available in the second half of 2007.

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mp3 writes…At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, wireless giant unveils a new music phone and a partnership with Warner Music.

In a week that saw its one-time partner Apple storm onto the mobile music scene with the iPhone, Motorola isn’t sitting on its hands.

The cell phone giant unveiled a new music phone at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas this week. Dubbed the MotoRizer Z6, the phone will include MotoMusic, software that will allow users to drag and drop songs in Windows Media from a computer to the phone.

The phone will become available the first half of this year, the company said. Motorola also announced a deal with Warner Music Group to sell Motorizer phones preloaded with music, as well as sell ringtones, wallpaper, and videos. Warner artists include Green Day, Gnarls Barkley, Josh Groban, Diddy, and My Chemical Romance.

The company recently warned of disappointing sales and earnings from the key holiday selling season, causing concern throughout Wall Street about the company’s future fortunes.

In a keynote speech at CES, Motorola CEO Ed Zander also demonstrated a wireless stereo headset that will play music streamed from the phone using Bluetooth. Controls on the headset, which can work up to 30 feet away from the phone, can also pause songs to take or make calls.

Motorola had been the maker of the Rokr, the first phone that came loaded with Apple’s iTunes. The phone was met with weak reviews, largely because it only stored about 100 songs.

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