Universal Music Group

Cash Money teams with m-Wise for mobile fan club

Jason Ankeny — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 10:43:54 -0400

Mobile content technology provider m-Wise announced an agreement with Universal Motown Records' Cash Money subsidiary to launch a mobile fan club subscription service touting hip-hop acts including the great Lil Wayne, Birdman and Hot Boys. Cash Money Mobile will deliver fans exclusive online and mobile content like ringtones, graphics, video clips, trivia, weekly contests and text alerts--subscribers may also win VIP concert tickets and autographed memorabilia. Cash Money and m-Wise will offer the service via various channels including on-deck operator portals, a web portal and text messages--carriers including AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Sprint, T-Mobile USA and Alltel have already signed on.

For more on Cash Money Mobile:
- read this release

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Thumbplay pimpin' Jay-Z mobile exclusives

Jason Ankeny — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 09:13:23 -0400

Mobile entertainment portal Thumbplay announced an exclusive deal with Universal Music Group to launch ringtones and related mobile content from hip-hop icon Jay-Z. According to Thumbplay, the 10 Jay-Z singles included in the UMG exclusive--among them "Izzo (H.O.V.A.)," "Heart of the City (Ain't No Love)" and "Roc Boys (And the Winner Is)"--are making their first-ever appearance in the mobile marketplace. Thumbplay and Universal first partnered on ringtones in April 2006.

For more on the Thumbplay/UMG deal:
- read this release

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Universal selects BrandXtend for D2C content

Thu, 29 May 2008 06:59:57 -0400

Qualcomm Internet Services just added another feather to its BrandXtend cap, announcing Universal Music Group will expand its lineup of direct-to-consumer mobile content by leveraging the BrandXtend solution. UMG's mobile offering will be available directly to consumers through its artist web and WAP sites, CD packaging and its GetMusic.com portal.

By leveraging BrandXtend, UMG will be able to offer an array of direct-to-consumer mobile products, including ringtones, video ringtones, wallpapers and artist updates from thousands of UMG artists. BrandXtend will allow UMG to manage their D2C content through content delivery mechanisms, campaign management and merchandising tools that include recommendations, bundles, text campaigns and more.

This is the second major brand that has selected Qualcomm's BrandXtend platform: Major League Baseball is also a BrandXtend customer. Qualcomm currently works with MLB to deliver any content across any network to any device. -Sue

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Nokia adds Sony BMG catalog to Comes With Music

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 06:59:58 -0400

Nokia announced that Sony BMG Music Entertainment has officially joined the handset giant's Comes With Music initiative. Comes With Music enables consumers to purchase a year of unlimited music downloads via mobile handsets bundled with Nokia's Ovi web services platform--Nokia announced a partnership with Universal Music Group International upon unveiling the service late last year, and in recent weeks the company has also confirmed negotiations with Warner Music Group, adding it is confident deals will be in place with all four major labels prior to Comes With Music's late 2008 launch.

"This initiative represents a critical new way of gaining access to music, through which fans will be able to explore Sony BMG's vast catalog of recordings for an entire year," said the label's president of global digital business and U.S. sales Thomas Hesse in a prepared statement. "We think this business model will encourage users to sample a wide range of material, expand their musical tastes and listen to more music than ever before. In the process, we think it will provide new opportunities to artists from every genre of music, and increase demand for music overall."

For more on the Nokia/Sony BMG deal:
- read this release

Nokia: Comes With Music deals close

Jason Ankeny — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 20:05:30 -0400

Calling Nokia's forthcoming Comes With Music service "a disruptive model that expands the current music business to a new level," the handset giant's executive vice president of entertainment and communities Tero Ojanpera said Monday that the effort is part of a larger initiative to create an entirely new business for the company. Speaking at the Mobile Entertainment Live! event in Las Vegas, Ojanpera said Comes With Music as well as fledgling Nokia services like the Ovi web platform and the N-Gage gaming effort herald a radical makeover for the Finnish firm: "This is as big a transformation for the company as in 1990, when Nokia was making rubber boots, tires and toilet paper--we saw future was in handsets, and shed our other businesses."

According to Ojanpera, Nokia is making progress in convincing other labels to join Universal Music Group in Comes to Music, which offers consumers a year of unlimited music downloads via Ov-bundled mobile handsets. "We knew we needed a game-changer, because consumers want as easy access to as large a content pool as possible," Ojanpera said. "[Comes With Music] is not about the device or Nokia--it's about great content and how consumers get content." He said the firm is still exploring whether a similar all-you-can-eat approach might apply to other mobile content formats and services.

A sour note on Sony BMG's digital future

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 08:00:00 -0400

The crowded digital music marketplace grew still more claustrophobic this week when Sony BMG Music Entertainment announced it's planning a new digital subscription service, promising consumers unlimited access to the label's catalog across a wide variety of portable media devices, including Apple's iPod. In an interview with German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Sony BMG Music CEO Rolf Schmidt-Holtz declined to speculate on when the service might launch, but said the label is currently mulling pricing schemes and leaning towards a flat-rate subscription offer that would charge consumers around $9 to $12 per month in exchange for unlimited access to its complete music archive. Schmidt-Holtz said it is "even possible that clients could keep some songs indefinitely--that they would own them even after the subscription expired." He added Sony BMG is in talks with other major labels as well as mobile operators, but declined to divulge specifics.

In light of how little concrete information Schmidt-Holtz actually gives up to Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, it's impossible to guess whether Sony BMG would continue its existing licensing relationships with digital music service providers like Apple and Amazon, or if it would instead restrict distribution of its catalog to its own branded site. And while Schmidt-Holtz may be in talks with the other majors, it seems highly unlikely a rival label is going to license its catalog for sale on a Sony BMG-owned retail storefront, effectively limiting the site's available catalog to Sony BMG acts--a roster that includes artists including bestsellers ranging from Elvis Presley to Simon & Garfunkel to Celine Dion, of course, but that's nevertheless missing countless superstars from the EMI Music, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group holdings.

To get a rough sense of what a Sony BMG-branded mobile service might offer in terms of content availability, I checked out the website of its nearest antecedent: The BMG Music Service, the mail-order subscription service that supplanted the venerable Columbia House Music Club in mid-2005. Following a series of searches for some perennial favorites, it appears BMG Music Service offers only one CD by Bob Dylan (a recent hits compilation), four CDs by the Rolling Stones (albeit their best albums, like Let It Bleed and Sticky Fingers), just two CDs by Bruce Springsteen (a hits collection and the lackluster Magic) and five CDs by Miles Davis (including the landmark Birth of the Cool, but not Kind of Blue, Sketches of Spain or Bitches Brew). It's a spotty inventory at best, especially considering BMG Music Service faces no real competition from other traditional record subscription services. Compare it to iTunes, which boasts virtually complete back catalogs from all four above-mentioned artists--there's really no contest.

But the biggest argument against a branded Sony BMG digital service is that consumers don't purchase music the way they do automobiles or soda--except for diehard fans that collect everything a small independent puts out, labels don't engender brand loyalty, or even brand awareness. Most listeners don't know and don't care which label signed their favorite new artist--they just want the music, and with so many popular acts of the past and present nowhere to be found in the Sony BMG catalog, customer dissatisfaction would run rampant. Sony BMG may wish to assert control over its own digital destiny, but like the Stones once sang, "You can't always get what you want"--and until that song and the rest of the band's recorded output is in the label's content portfolio, Sony BMG has no business taking on Apple, Amazon or anyone else. - Jason

P.S. Check back all next week for live coverage of CTIA Wireless 2008 in Las Vegas. And if you're heading to Vegas for the show, be sure to join me and my colleagues Sue Marek, Brian Dolan and Lynnette Luna at the annual FierceWireless bash, taking place April 1 at The Palms. Click here to RSVP.

AT&T debuts customized ringtone service

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 07:59:59 -0400

AT&T announced an agreement with mobile music solutions provider mSpot to launch a pair of new music applications, Make-UR-Tones and Remix--in addition, the operator said it plans to significantly expand its Napster Mobile over-the-air download effort. According to AT&T, Make-UR-Tones enables subscribers to customize ringtones via mobile device, creating one- to 30-second ringers from more than 250,000 titles from labels including EMI Music, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group. The mSpot Make-UR-Tones service is available for a monthly subscription of $6.99 for three ringtones--additional ringtones may be purchased a la carte for $2.99 each.

The Remix application promises subscribers direct access to PC-based music collections and playlists from their phones, offering immediate playback while simultaneously downloading the track to the handset's memory card. mSpot Remix is available for a monthly subscription of $9.99, which allows users to download 75 songs a month. A Remix booster pack will offer an additional 10 songs for $2.99.

Meanwhile, AT&T said it will make its Napster Mobile music service available to more than 12 million subscribers beginning this summer. Launched in November 2007 on the Samsung SLM device, Napster Mobile will soon spread to a host of AT&T devices, offering consumers a catalog of more than 5 million songs and 30-second previews.

For more on AT&T's new music services:
- read this release

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Nokia, labels deep into Comes With Music talks

Thu, 27 Mar 2008 07:59:58 -0400

A week after EMI Music said it is in negotiations with Nokia to join the handset giant's all-you-can-eat Comes With Music mobile service, Nokia confirmed it is also in talks with rival labels Sony BMG and Warner Music Group, adding it is confident deals will be in place with all four major labels prior to the service's late-2008 launch. Nokia announced Universal Music Group International's participation in the Comes With Music effort late last year; now Nokia executive vice president of marketing Anssi Vanjoki tells The Financial Times, "We have negotiations and discussions ongoing with all the majors and a number of indies as well. I am hopeful at the time of launch, technically we are able to deliver other labels. Certainly our target is to have other labels on board."

According to Vanjoki, the label talks include discussions of revenue-sharing agreements, and he added Nokia would consider similar deals with mobile operators, emphasizing the revenue potential of ancillary products like T-shirts spotlighting popular artists. Vanjoki also said Nokia is mulling additional acquisitions to bolster its mobile services strategy.

For more on the Comes With Music negotiations:
- read this Financial Times article

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EMI in talks to join Nokia's Comes With Music

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 07:59:58 -0400

Major label EMI expressed its eagerness to join Nokia's all-you-can-eat Comes With Music mobile service, indicating negotiations with the handset giant are already underway. "We want to be part of it," said EMI Finland head Wemppa Koivumaki during a Wednesday news conference. "I believe strongly that when it launches we will be there, with a full offering." Nokia plans to launch the Comes With Music program in the second half of 2008--the initiative will enable consumers to not only purchase a year of unlimited music downloads via mobile handsets bundled with its Ovi web services platform but keep all the music they download even if they choose against continuing their premium subscription. At present, Universal Music Group is the only major record label officially signed to provide Comes With Music content.

For more on the Nokia/EMI talks:
- read this Electronista article

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LiveWire Mobile acquires Groove Mobile for $14.5M

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 07:59:59 -0400

Managed mobile personalization services provider LiveWire Mobile announced it will acquire mobile music solutions provider Groove Mobile for $14.5 million. According to LiveWire Mobile, the acquisition will enable the firm to meet its operator partners' demands for managed services including ringtones, ringbacks, full-track music and video downloads. Groove Mobile brings with it a dozen global mobile operator customers including Sprint, 3 UK and Bell Mobility as well as relationships with major labels EMI, Sony BMG, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group--with the acquisition, LiveWire now boasts service deployments with 42 international operators, with 15 million active subscribers.

"LiveWire Mobile now delivers the industry's most complete suite of personalization services, spanning the traditional service silos that exist today," said LiveWire president Joel Hughes in a prepared statement. "Through our fully managed and integrated service offering, we can empower operators to cross sell and up sell personalization services while delivering a better mobile experience, resulting in higher levels of service adoption, usage and operator profits."

For more on the LiveWire/Groove deal:
- read this release

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Facebook in talks to launch music service

Thu, 06 Mar 2008 06:59:59 -0500

Social networking giant Facebook is reportedly in preliminary negotiations with major record labels to launch a music service. Citing sources familiar with the matter, The Financial Times says the Facebook service would likely focus on premium, device-agnostic MP3 downloads as well as advertiser-supported streaming content. Facebook has only approached the majors in the last week, although the site is no stranger to music services--in November, it introduced Facebook Pages, a resource enabling artists to create their own home pages, and also offers applications from digital music firms including iLike, Last.FM and Pandora. While several developers have integrated Apple's iTunes music retail service into their Facebook applications, Facebook does not enjoy a formal agreement with Apple.

The Facebook talks follow on the heels of rival MySpace's reported negotiations with Universal Music, Sony BMG, Warner Music and EMI, although official confirmation of the the so-called MySpace Music service is still forthcoming.

For more on Facebook's music plans:
- read this Financial Times article

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Can MySpace become a music mogul?

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 07:00:00 -0500

Not so long ago in this space I posed a question--"Can anyone dethrone iTunes?"--and concluded, at least at that time, the answer is "No." But the challengers keep coming, each with a different and intriguing spin on the digital music retail model. This week, The Wall Street Journal reported that News Corp.-owned social networking site MySpace is in talks with the major record labels to launch a digital music service that would offer both premium MP3 downloads as well as free streaming content. The tentatively-named MySpace Music would be structured as a joint venture between MySpace and content provider partners like Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, EMI Group and Sony BMG Music; proposals are still in the discussion stage, but MySpace is weighing a premium platform featuring downloads compatible with virtually any portable device, including Apple's iPod, as well as ad-supported streaming content. A music merchandise service is also under consideration, as is a paid subscription service optimized for certain portable devices.

What's interesting about MySpace Music is its tacit acknowledgment that the future of the music business likely lies in selling merchandise, not content. With so few consumers paying for music anyway, an ad-supported streaming service that markets new artists and promotes sales of more viable premium commodities like concert tickets, t-shirts and ringtones makes a fair amount of sense. Of course, this isn't the first time MySpace has attempted to establish itself as a music retailer--in the fall of 2006, the site inked a deal with digital licensing and copyright management services provider Snocap to enable independent artists and labels to sell MP3s directly from their profile pages. The big challenge this time around isn't that MySpace is negotiating with the majors, it's that the site no longer dominates the social networking landscape the way it did 18 months ago. Much as MySpace knocked off Friendster, so now has Facebook usurped MySpace … and it seems likely there are other insurgents to follow. If nothing else, pop music and social networking have this much in common: No one stays on top for very long.

What about the other new digital music services? We're still waiting on the MTV/RealNetworks/Verizon Wireless joint venture Rhapsody America--at this point, Guns N' Roses' Chinese Democracy might actually beat it to market. Nokia Music Store is still smarting from the absence of Warner Music Group content: The label continues to boycott the Nokia service, citing concerns over the handset giant's social networking site Mosh. Amazon.com is now offering millions of DRM-free downloads from all four major labels, often at prices cheaper than iTunes, but without an accompanying must-have device a la the iPod, the e-tailer can't match Apple for consumer cachet. And Sony Ericsson's PlayNow music service is still a few months away from launch. So while it's too soon to dismiss any of them as mere pretenders, it's also a bit early to call them serious contenders, either--for now, at least, the only constants remain death, taxes and iTunes. - Jason

Thumbplay inks content deal with Sony BMG

Thu, 21 Feb 2008 06:59:59 -0500

Mobile entertainment portal Thumbplay announced a new digital distribution agreement with Sony BMG Music to add more than 7,000 pieces of content including ringtones, music videos, wallpapers, voice clips and mobile games. Sony BMG's artist roster includes Justin Timberlake, Christina Aguilera and Beyoncé--Thumbplay will also issue an exclusive ringtone celebrating the 25th anniversary of the label's flagship catalog title, Michael Jackson's landmark Thriller. "The popular artists signed with Sony BMG's labels are a compelling addition to the Thumbplay catalog," said Thumbplay CEO and founder Are Traasdahl in a prepared statement. Thumbplay now boasts licensing and distribution deals with three of the four major international labels, adding Sony BMG alongside partnerships with EMI and Universal Music Group.

For more on the Thumbplay/Sony BMG deal:
- read this release

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MySpace mulling digital music service

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 06:59:59 -0500

News Corp.-owned social networking site MySpace is reportedly in talks with major record labels to launch a digital music service that would offer both premium MP3 downloads as well as free streaming content. According to The Wall Street Journal, the tentatively-named MySpace Music would be structured as a joint venture between MySpace and its content provider partners, with the possibility of outside investors lending financial assistance. So far, MySpace has approached Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, EMI Group and Sony BMG Music; proposals are still in the discussion stage, but MySpace is weighing a premium platform featuring downloads compatible with virtually portable device, including Apple's iPod, as well as ad-supported streaming content. A music merchandise service is also under consideration, as is a paid subscription service optimized for certain portable devices. MySpace declined comment.

For more on MySpace Music:
- read this Wall Street Journal article

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ALSO NOTED: Universal Music Group teams with modu for mobile 'music jackets;' Gracenote and Ikivo partner for turnkey mobile mu

Thu, 07 Feb 2008 06:59:53 -0500

> Universal Music Group teams with modu for mobile "music jackets." Release

> Gracenote and Ikivo partner for turnkey mobile music solution. Release

> The Grammy Awards go mobile via Medeo. Release

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Mozes acquiring Hurricane Interactive

Tue, 05 Feb 2008 06:59:56 -0500

Mobile marketing services provider Mozes announced its acquisition of Nashville-based live concert mobile phone promotions firm Hurricane Interactive Promotions. Financial terms were not disclosed. Hurricane's client roster includes Universal Music Group Nashville, Universal South, Spalding Entertainment and Midas Records. The firm has delivered promotions for country stars including Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson, Brooks & Dunn, Wynonna Judd and Rascal Flatts, and in 2007 powered interactive text-to-venue screen solutions, live contests and music content sales for over 200 live events. "Hurricane brings Mozes incredible expertise with live concert mobile experiences for some of the biggest names in music," said Mozes CEO Dorrian Porter in a prepared statement. "That expertise combined with our platform further enables Mozes to tie the web, the cell phone and live events together in a way that is meaningful to music fans and connects them to what they love."

For more on the Mozes/Hurricane deal:
- read this release

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DRM is dead: Amazon MP3 adds Sony BMG content

Fri, 11 Jan 2008 06:59:59 -0500

Sony BMG announced an agreement with Amazon.com to become the fourth and final major label selling its back catalog via the online retailer's MP3 store, effectively heralding the end of digital rights management software in the U.S. market. The move also positions Amazon's digital music store as a legitimate threat to Apple's iTunes storefront, the longtime market leader. "This is such an exciting day for us and our customers," said Amazon vice president for digital music Bill Carr in an interview with The New York Times. "All four major labels will be part of our service. It means our customers will really have access to all the biggest artists in the world."

Launched in September 2007, Amazon MP3 features over 3.1 million songs from more than 270,000 artists--Universal Music Group and EMI Group joined the store at launch, followed in December by Warner Music Group. Beyond the four major labels, the site also features catalogs from over 33,000 independent imprints. While most iTunes downloads are 99 cents and compatible solely with Apple devices, Amazon tracks range from 89 cents to more than a dollar, and may be played on any portable music device.

For more on the Amazon/Sony BMG deal:
- read this release

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ALSO NOTED: SendMe Mobile inks content deal with Universal Music Group; Nokia adds Answers.com information service; and much mo

Tue, 08 Jan 2008 06:59:53 -0500

> SendMe Mobile inks content deal with Universal Music Group. Release

> Nokia adds Answers.com information service. Release

> Motorola licenses Veveo's vTap mobile video solution. Release

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Motorola acquires music service provider Soundbuzz

Mon, 07 Jan 2008 06:59:58 -0500

Motorola announced a definitive agreement to acquire privately held pan-Asian music provider Soundbuzz, enabling the handset maker to expand its MOTOMUSIC service beyond China into the India, Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand markets. Financial terms of the deal, which expected to close in the first quarter, were not disclosed. Singapore-based Soundbuzz's end-to-end, multi-region music delivery platform enables sales and distribution of digital content via over-the-air and broadband connections, complete with subscriber management and content management tools as well as payment, client software and media delivery technologies. Soundbuzz content partners include Sony BMG, EMI, Warner Music International and Universal Music Group alongside more than 45 independent record labels in Asia, the U.S. and Europe. Soundbuzz also boasts operator deals with Hutchison 3, Airtel, SingTel and Telstra.

For more on the Motorola/Soundbuzz deal:
- read this release

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Universal, imeem team on music and video

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 06:59:58 -0500

Universal Music Group announced an agreement with social media network imeem to provide community members with on-demand, interactive streaming content from Universal's digital music and video catalog. According to imeem, it now offers its 19 million users full-length, streaming access to the music and video catalogs of all four major music companies on an ad-supported basis. "Universal Music Group is committed to exploring new ways for consumers to discover and enjoy our artists' music online," said UMG chairman and CEO Doug Morris in a prepared statement. "imeem has developed an innovative way to make our artists' music a central part of the social networking experience. More importantly, they've done so the right way--by working with UMG to provide an exciting musical experience for consumers, while ensuring that our artists are fairly compensated for the use of their works."

For more on the UMG/imeem deal:

- read this release

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