October 22, 2007 SAN ANTONIO - Make that song running through your head run instantly through your
wireless phone. AT&T Inc. today announced that wireless
customers will soon be able to
download more than 5 million full-track
songs over the air from Napster, the industry’s
leading digital music subscription service.
Beginning in mid-November, the Napster Mobile™
service will enable AT&T wireless customers to easily search a music
catalog with more than 5 million songs, preview samples of each song and
conveniently purchase and download their favorite music from their
wireless handsets in less than a minute. Customers will have the ability
to download five tracks a month with the Napster Mobile Five-Track Pack
option for a discounted price of $7.49 or purchase songs a la carte for
just $1.99. As a special offer, customers who select the Napster Mobile
Five-Track Pack from their phone will receive the first five songs free.
Ideal for on-the-go music enthusiasts, Napster Mobile will also feature
joint delivery, sending a track to the user’s
wireless handset while making a duplicate copy available for download to
the user’s PC at no additional charge. An
e-mail notice will be sent to the user’s PC
and will provide a link to download the new song.
“AT&T is the nationwide leader in mobile
music and offers the largest catalog of songs, the most digital music
choices and the best user experience in the industry,”
said Mark Collins, vice president of Consumer Data for AT&T’s
wireless unit. “We are pleased to expand our
relationship with Napster, an innovator in the digital music revolution,
to connect our customers to more of the music they want in the moment
that they want it. This relationship reinforces AT&T’s
leadership in providing the industry’s
largest mobile music platform.”
“We are pleased to be partnering with AT&T
to provide its more than 63 million wireless customers with the best
digital music offering available,” said Brad
Duea, president of Napster. “Together,
Napster and AT&T will deliver 5 million songs to customers’
handsets, along with the best discovery tools and download capabilities
to the palms of customers’ hands. We are
equally excited to further extend our partnership with Ericsson for
Napster Mobile which is based on Ericsson’s
Service Delivery Platform, SDP Media, tailored for media delivery.”
Recording artists are realizing the potential of mobile distribution as
an important way to reach their fans in a rapidly changing environment.
AT&T will kick off its new Napster Mobile music download service by
featuring music content from Matchbox Twenty and the band’s
new album, “Exile on Mainstream,”
within the AT&T Mobile Music platform on wireless phones. This will
include exclusive content from live concert performances on MobiTV and
the company’s forthcoming MobiVJ service;
corresponding live tracks on Napster Mobile; and ringtone features.
Matchbox Twenty’s performance of some of the
band’s biggest and best-loved hits, the
current single “How Far We’ve
Come,” and band interviews are also
available online at the AT&T blue room.
“The mobile platform is important for the
music industry, and it’s an essential part
of any artist’s distribution channels,”
said Rob Thomas, lead singer from Matchbox Twenty. “AT&T’s
new partnership with Napster provides another seamless opportunity for
music fans to connect to their favorite artists instantly.”
With Napster Mobile via AT&T Mobile Music, customers will be able to:
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Discover Music. Browse from a catalog of more than 5 million
songs, including content from all major labels, in a few easy steps
and preview 30-second samples before purchasing.
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Listen to Music. Download full-track songs over the air and
listen to the music that you want to hear in less than a minute.
-
Manage Music. Instantly receive copies of purchased tracks on
both your wireless phone and your PC. Knowing that the PC is the hub
for managing music, AT&T makes it as simple and convenient as possible
for customers to have the same music on their computers as they do on
their wireless phones.
In addition to Napster Mobile, AT&T is also announcing two new music
applications: MobiVJ, a streaming video service, and VIP Access, a
mobile fan club and discovery service. These two new services further
expand AT&T’s mobile music portfolio.
MobiVJ is easily accessible now by pressing the Music Note key and
selecting Shop Applications on the company’s
portfolio of music phones, and VIP Access will be available in early
November.
With MobiVJ, AT&T’s wireless customers
will be able to stream MobiTV music video channels, from up to eight
genres, directly to wireless handsets for only $6.99 a month.
Additionally, users will also be able to purchase full-track songs,
matching ringtones and wallpaper from their favorite music videos. With
VIP Access, customers will be able to search artist biographies and
discographies, sample new music, participate in polls and receive
breaking alerts via text messaging services for only $2.99 a month. The
option to purchase related content will also be available.
These new services complement AT&T’s
existing Mobile Music experience. AT&T Mobile Music enables
customers to choose how they want to discover and listen to music —
whether via instantaneous downloading or via sideloading from popular
music subscription services such as Napster and eMusic. Other AT&T
Mobile Music offerings include satellite radio with XM Radio, a
song-recognition service called MusicID and a vast ringtone library.
Customers can find AT&T’s Mobile Music
offerings by clicking on the Music Note key on their music phones.
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