MusicStation unlimited mobile music revolution goes live with Vodafone UK
MusicStation launches on Vodafone UK with Phones 4u, giving millions of Vodafone customers unlimited mobile music downloads
- "Girls Aloud" launch the revolutionary MusicStation service, making the first ever unlimited mobile music download in the UK
- The MusicStation service, available exclusively on Vodafone, goes live today, with handsets available in-store at Phones 4U's 428 retail outlets and Vodafone's 345 retail outlets nationwide
- UK consumers get the freedom to download, share and play unlimited amounts of music, wherever they are, direct to a very wide range of Vodafone handsets, for a fixed weekly fee of £1.99 per week
- Revolutionary Monthly Price Plans revealed which offer Vodafone consumers unlimited music downloads along with free text and talk deals*
- Access to over 1.2 million tracks from Universal Music Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, EMI Music, Warner Music Group and independent labels
- MusicStation immediately available on 13 Vodafone UK handsets with many more to follow, including BlackBerry® smartphones
- MusicStation Touch Screen Edition offers unlimited music downloads on touch-screen phones for the first time globally
- Vodafone consumers with wide range of compatible handsets can download MusicStation to their existing phones free of charge
- Vodafone UK consumers offered a completely free week's trial on MusicStation
- Omnifone welcomes today's historic OCC Plays Charts announcement
- Simultaneous announcement that Vodacom (23.6 million subscribers) will launch MusicStation in South Africa
London, 1 November 2007 – UK based mobile music company Omnifone, announces the launch today of the revolutionary unlimited music download service MusicStation, widely seen as Britain's primary contender in the global mobile music market, in time for the highly competitive Christmas season. From today, Vodafone's UK consumers will become the first mobile users in the UK to have the freedom to download, play and share unlimited amounts of music, direct to their phone.
Girls Aloud stars Kimberley Walsh, Cheryl Cole, Sarah Harding, Nicola Roberts and Nadine Coyle made history by making the first ever unlimited mobile music downloads at a Phones4u press conference at Paper in London's Café Royale from 9am (GMT) today. Photographs are available.
"To date, mobile consumers have had to buy music, track by track. MusicStation's launch on Vodafone brings the next generation of affordable digital music to the masses," said Rob Lewis, CEO of Omnifone. "On a very wide range of handsets, UK consumers now have the freedom to download, share and play unlimited amounts of music, direct to their phone, whenever they want."
Lewis added, "We believe consumers will relish the opportunity to have unlimited access to music, even when they are out and about. Although there are many mobile music services out there where music can be purchased track by track, or purchased from a PC, this is the first time consumers have been offered unlimited access to music as part of a price plan, or for just £1.99 per week. It is worth bearing in mind consumers have traditionally expected to part with around £800 for 1,000 music tracks. Now, for the first time, consumers can experience unlimited downloads, from a catalogue of more than one million tracks, direct to their phone and do this whilst sharing their playlists and music recommendations legally with their friends."
Consumer Interest
Phones 4u has 428 stores nationwide, and is growing rapidly. It offers consumers a wide choice of handsets from the major brands and all the major networks. It is renowned for catering for the needs of young, sociable, technology literate consumers, and delivers valuable high spending customers to the networks.
Phones 4u Marketing Director Jim Slater commented, "MusicStation is a blistering application. We are constantly talking to consumers about their mobile phone needs, and it is clear that there is a lot of interest in a mobile-based music service which works on a wide range of handsets, offers a large choice of tracks, downloads without wires and - importantly - is available at a sensible price. This is a very exciting time for the mobile industry."
Next Generation Music Experience
Customers can discover and download any new music risk-free at any time, enabling legitimate and effective music discovery. MusicStation also features live charts, a personalised music news service and a music based social network community capability which enables users to make friends, build and share playlists and music recommendations with other MusicStation users on Vodafone's 2.5G/3G/HSDPA mobile networks.
Vodafone UK's Al Russell, Head of Mobile Internet and Content Services said, "MusicStation represents a quantum leap in digital music technology and delivery. With unlimited access to digital music through their mobiles, Vodafone consumers have ultimate music freedom, including the ability to download as much music as they want, even when they are out and about."
Russell added, "On 3G devices Vodafone consumers will be able to download a full music track in twenty to thirty seconds. On newer HSDPA devices, an entire album can be downloaded in about a minute."
Compelling MusicStation Price Plans
Leading independent mobile retailer Phones 4u will launch a range of highly-competitive Music Meal Deals from just £43.62 per month* where MusicStation is bundled within Vodafone tariffs creating a range of all-inclusive unlimited music download tariffs for consumers.
Wide range of handsets including touch-screens
MusicStation will be available on 13 Vodafone UK handsets* from today.
Over the coming weeks, MusicStation will be made available on an even wider range of Vodafone UK handsets, including a number of touch-screen devices. This will ensure consumers have the freedom to experience unlimited music downloads on the widest possible range of devices, whatever manufacturer or style of handset they want to buy.
The MusicStation Touch Screen Edition represents the first time globally touch-screen mobile phone users have had the opportunity to experience unlimited music downloads.
Omnifone also announces MusicStation will shortly be made available to consumers using BlackBerry® smartphones on Vodafone UK.
Major benefits over other services
MusicStation leapfrogs current digital music services by offering automatic server based back-ups of the consumer's user experience.
A consumer's playlists, tastes, friends and other social networking functions are protected on the server, meaning the consumer never loses their music, friends and playlists, even if they lose or break their phone. Unlike all other mobile music services, consumers can switch manufacturer when they upgrade, lose or replace their phone and automatically regain their music experience which is restored over the mobile phone data network. This also prevents consumers being "locked" into a particular handset manufacturer as they have the freedom to change manufacturer when replacing a handset and still retain their music experience, playlists and social networking functions.
1.2 million MusicStation tracks available from all major and independent labels
MusicStation consumers, via an all-inclusive music price plan or subscribed at £1.99 per week, have unlimited music download access to over 1.2 million tracks from launch from all the major record labels, Universal Music Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, EMI Music and Warner Music Group, as well as leading independents.
Rob Wells, Senior Vice President, Digital, Universal Music Group International says, "MusicStation is one of the most compelling music experiences on mobile today. Rolling out a mobile music service with Vodafone that works on almost any phone and gives users unlimited access to our and other labels' catalogues, all for £1.99 a week, creates the UK's first digital music experience on mobile that has true mass market appeal."
Try unlimited music downloads for free
Vodafone consumers with compatible handsets can download MusicStation to their existing phone free of charge from today and to celebrate the launch, Vodafone's UK consumers will be offered a completely free week's trial on MusicStation.
Official Charts Company announcement
Omnifone notes and welcomes the Official Charts Company's announcement today of a Plays Chart to be made available shortly in the UK, recognising the importance of the new unlimited music download model.
Rob Lewis said, "The fact that the Official Charts Company is bringing in a Plays Chart shows their recognition of the importance of the unlimited music download model. For the first time, we will be able to see what consumers nationwide are playing every week, not just what they are buying. MusicStation has agreed to provide its data for this exciting new chart."
Vodacom launch
Omnifone announces South Africa's Vodacom (23.6 million subscribers) will be the next Mobile Network Operator to launch MusicStation. The South African edition of MusicStation will go live in early December.
Analyst perspectives
Robin Bloor, international IT analyst with Bloor Research said, "The commercial launch of MusicStation in the UK will be seen as a defining moment for digital music. Consumers are being given a choice. On one side we have a sexy but expensive new phone from Apple available exclusively on O2 which demands a consumer buys music track by track using iTunes with a credit card. The alternative is MusicStation, a compelling service which works on a wide range of existing devices and offers unlimited music downloads and sharing straight to the phone over 2.5G, 3G and HSDPA for a fixed weekly fee. Whilst some will buy iPhone, I contend many consumers will find the convenience and affordability of the MusicStation proposition really compelling. What's more these consumers will know they are not getting themselves tied into a specific manufacturer's music service and will therefore retain the freedom to change manufacturer in the future."
Rob Lewis said, "Analysts and press have widely positioned MusicStation as Britain's primary player in mobile digital music space. It is great to be bringing MusicStation to our home market now, the UK, with Vodafone. By the end of the year, networks with 45 million customers will be offering unlimited music downloads through MusicStation and this will continue to grow rapidly."
In addition to the Vodafone UK launch, MusicStation is live on Telenor in Sweden and 3 in Hong Kong. MusicStation also goes live in early December with Vodacom in South Africa. Omnifone has established partnerships with 26 other MNO MusicStation rollout partners in Australia, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland and Turkey.
*Details included in notes to editors
Ends
Notes to editors
Phones 4u MusicStation Meal Deals
Special Launch promotion: Six months free subscription to MusicStation on all £48.62 and £53.62 tariffs
Standard Meal Deals 18m tariffs:
- 500 minutes + 1000 texts and unlimited music
Monthly cost: £43.62 - 750 minutes + unlimited texts and unlimited music
Monthly cost: £48.62 - 750 minutes + 250 texts + unlimited landline calls and unlimited Music
Monthly cost: £48.62 - 750 minutes + Unlimited texts + unlimited Mobile Internet and unlimited Music
Monthly cost: £53.62 - 750 minutes + 250 texts + unlimited landline calls + unlimited Mobile Internet and unlimited Music
Monthly cost: £53.62
Vodafone Christmas Price Plans will be announced in due course.
About Vodafone UK
Vodafone UK has 17.4 million customers and is part of the world's leading international mobile telecommunications Group, offering a wide range of voice and data communications. The company is committed to providing mobile solutions that allow both consumer and business customers to make the most of now. In addition, Vodafone connects customers across the globe with roaming agreements worldwide. It provides 3G roaming in 29 countries and offers great roaming value with Vodafone Passport. On June 6 2007 Vodafone launched Vodafone Internet On Your Mobile which was rated number 1 mobile internet service in the UK in a review by Mobile magazine*. For more information, please visit
www.vodafone.co.uk.
*August 2007
About Omnifone
Based on the legendary Island Records Studios in London, award winning mobile music company Omnifone was founded in 2003 by leading technology entrepreneurs Rob Lewis, Phil Sant and Mark Knight. The founders established Omnifone with the aim of bringing legal and affordable digital music to the mass market over the only digital medium that is ubiquitous globally; mobile handsets. Omnifone's next generation music service MusicStation is a low cost all-you-can-eat subscription-based mobile music service that is pre-installed on participating partner operator handsets and delivers the world's music to most mobile handsets for a small weekly fee. Omnifone has gained global support for MusicStation from the music and mobile industries winning the prestigious Music Service Award Meffy, at Mobile Entertainment Market (MEM) 2007 in Monte Carlo on 5 June 2007 and also the Red Herring 100 award. The company has an established network of 30 partner networks, reaching across 40 European, UK and African countries. Omnifone's founders sold the successful internet software development company Cromwell Media for £850m in March 2000 and subsequently sold Silicon.com and associated European assets they founded, to major online publishers, including NASDAQ-listed CNET Networks. Omnifone has offices in London, Scotland, Sweden, Hong Kong and South Africa. For further information, please visit
www.omnifone.com.
About MusicStation
MusicStation will run on virtually all 2.5G/3G/HSDPA music compatible mobiles. MusicStation's user interface and functionality are virtually identical across all manufacturer handset models, providing the same intuitive user experience on every handset. Built-in networked functions, including the ability to share playlists with other users, mean that MusicStation delivers a truly compelling music experience on the mobile for the first time in the UK. MusicStation customers will be able to build a music-based social network, where they can create a profile and message their friends with track and playlist recommendations. MusicStation uses 'collaborative filtering' and 'nearest neighbour technology' to identify and recommend new tracks, artists and playlists that users are likely to be interested in.
Downloaded MusicStation tracks and user playlists are stored centrally so that if a Vodafone customer's mobile is stolen, lost or upgraded, the replacement handset will automatically restore the customer's music, playlists, friends and preferences the first time MusicStation is switched on.
MusicStation automatically stores a customer's favourite tracks on the phone's internal or removable memory. Whilst some phones can store thousands of tracks, others store less than one hundred. MusicStation maximises the capabilities of any mobile phone using unlimited downloads from the network to provide access to any of the catalogue at any time. MusicStation's technology also ensures that the memory allocated on the phone is always used to store the customer's favourite and about-to-be-played music. This means that users can listen to their favourite tracks when in Flight Safe mode and have unlimited access to the full catalogue when connected to a 2.5G/3G/HSDPA network.
About Phones 4u
Phones 4u is an independent mobile retailer, offering all networks and handset manufacturers' products. It is part of the Staffordshire-based 4u Group, and the Group CEO is Tim Whiting.
Leading the way in the mobile industry through its excellent customer service, award-winning advertising and differentiated in-store experience, Phones 4u has 428 stores and is still rapidly growing.
Phones 4u recognises that buying a new phone can be a complex and confusing affair. Phones 4u cuts through this confusion with its unique consumer consultation process, resulting in accurate, impartial advice and a package that is right for each customer. As a result it sells more new contracts than anyone else on the High Street.
The contract customers provided to the UK networks by Phones 4u are young, high-spending and technologically aware.
Media contacts:
Omnifone
Tim Hadley
PR director
Omnifone
Tel: +44 (0)7976 410001
thadley@omnifone.com
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