Sprint tunes in to mobile melody
Sprint, labels pact
July 1, 2003
Sprint announced two partnership deals Monday that illustrate the next phase of the union between music content and mobile technology.
Under a pact with the Warner Music Group, Sprint will deliver full-length streamed songs to handsets, among other features. And by partnering with Sony Music Entertainment, Sprint will make it possible to replace ring tones with actual song clips.
This entertainment content will be offered as part of a new service called the PCS Vision Music Channel, which launches later in the month. This marks the first time such capabilities have been available to consumers in the United States, although similar advances have taken place in other countries.
The WMG alliance expands on its existing relationship with Sprint, entered into in January, which allowed for 30-second music clip previews. The PCS Vision Music Channel will now include full-length streamed tracks by artists from WMG's labels, including Atlantic, Elektra, Warner Bros., Maverick, Lava, Word and Rhino. In addition, PCS Vision customers will be able to purchase animated, voice and joke ring tones from WMG's Rhino Records.
"The popularity of ring tones has greatly surpassed our expectations," said Michael Nash, senior vp Internet strategy and business development at WMG. With Sprint's latest technology enabling the labels to stream full-length compressed audio tracks, he added, "it becomes clear that the wireless handset market will soon be one of the music industry's most important platforms for delivering music."
Sony Music Entertainment will offer Sprint PCS users a variety of ring tones created by the Sony Music Mobile Products Group, including animated polyphonic tones, actual clips from songs, artist-related multimedia and specialized sound and voice recordings in English and Spanish.
Sony Music Digital Services senior vp Thomas Gewecke said this was the first service through a U.S. carrier that offered ring tones of licensed clips from actual recorded songs.
"We know that mobile phone users want as many personalization opportunities as possible, and with Sprint we can provide them with a wide variety of new and exciting choices," Gewecke said. "The Sony Music Mobile Products Group is committed to bringing compelling and innovative mobile entertainment to the music fan, and these new offerings serve as a dramatic example of this focus on quality and leadership in mobile content."
The partnership was "an opportunity to enable an entirely new dimension of mobile music experience for our customers," Gewecke added.
Chip Novick, vp consumer marketing for Sprint's PCS Division, said the new content offerings enabled the labels to "effectively promote their artists and enables Sprint to build its library of unique and differentiated music content that our customers crave."
Sprint boasted 1.3 million PCS Vision customers through the end of the first quarter. The PCS Vision Premium Pack costs $15 a month and includes Web browsing capabilities, games, unlimited text messaging and $10 per month in such premium applications as games, ringers and screen savers.
Under a pact with the Warner Music Group, Sprint will deliver full-length streamed songs to handsets, among other features. And by partnering with Sony Music Entertainment, Sprint will make it possible to replace ring tones with actual song clips.
This entertainment content will be offered as part of a new service called the PCS Vision Music Channel, which launches later in the month. This marks the first time such capabilities have been available to consumers in the United States, although similar advances have taken place in other countries.
The WMG alliance expands on its existing relationship with Sprint, entered into in January, which allowed for 30-second music clip previews. The PCS Vision Music Channel will now include full-length streamed tracks by artists from WMG's labels, including Atlantic, Elektra, Warner Bros., Maverick, Lava, Word and Rhino. In addition, PCS Vision customers will be able to purchase animated, voice and joke ring tones from WMG's Rhino Records.
"The popularity of ring tones has greatly surpassed our expectations," said Michael Nash, senior vp Internet strategy and business development at WMG. With Sprint's latest technology enabling the labels to stream full-length compressed audio tracks, he added, "it becomes clear that the wireless handset market will soon be one of the music industry's most important platforms for delivering music."
Sony Music Entertainment will offer Sprint PCS users a variety of ring tones created by the Sony Music Mobile Products Group, including animated polyphonic tones, actual clips from songs, artist-related multimedia and specialized sound and voice recordings in English and Spanish.
Sony Music Digital Services senior vp Thomas Gewecke said this was the first service through a U.S. carrier that offered ring tones of licensed clips from actual recorded songs.
"We know that mobile phone users want as many personalization opportunities as possible, and with Sprint we can provide them with a wide variety of new and exciting choices," Gewecke said. "The Sony Music Mobile Products Group is committed to bringing compelling and innovative mobile entertainment to the music fan, and these new offerings serve as a dramatic example of this focus on quality and leadership in mobile content."
The partnership was "an opportunity to enable an entirely new dimension of mobile music experience for our customers," Gewecke added.
Chip Novick, vp consumer marketing for Sprint's PCS Division, said the new content offerings enabled the labels to "effectively promote their artists and enables Sprint to build its library of unique and differentiated music content that our customers crave."
Sprint boasted 1.3 million PCS Vision customers through the end of the first quarter. The PCS Vision Premium Pack costs $15 a month and includes Web browsing capabilities, games, unlimited text messaging and $10 per month in such premium applications as games, ringers and screen savers.
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