Sony Ericsson to compet with iTunes

Sony Ericsson expands PlayNow™ arena with 5 million new tracks.

Cannes, France – 27th January – Sony Ericsson today unveiled the next stage in the evolution of PlayNow™ arena, its popular over-the-air (OTA) download service. At the MIDEM conference in Cannes, Sony Ericsson announced deals with 10 major record labels, adding over 5 million new tracks to its extensive catalogue. Sony Ericsson also unveiled the design and URL for PlayNow™ arena and launched PlayNow™ Uncut, (formerly M-Buzz™) a music promotional space for new, unsigned and developing artists.

Record label partnerships

Today Sony Ericsson announced partnerships with 10 of the largest international and regional music labels including: Sony BMG, Warner Music Group, EMI, The Orchard, IODA, The PocketGroup, Hungama, X5 Music, Bonnier Amigo and VidZone, adding over 5 million new tracks to PlayNow™ arena. Sony Ericsson is currently negotiating further deals with a host of regional labels to further broaden the variety of music available and bring a wealth of localised content direct to the consumer.

Sony Ericsson introduced PlayNow™ in February 2004 as the easiest way to pre-listen and then purchase polyphonic ringtones directly to your phone. The service has proved a hit with consumers and is now available in 32 countries around the world, with annual free and premium downloads through both PlayNow and Fun & Downloads having reached more than 200 million. Since launch, the scope of the service has expanded to mirror the functionality of Sony Ericsson’s phones to include mastertones (MP3 ringtones), games, full music tracks, themes and wallpapers. 

In November 2007 Sony Ericsson announced its intention to further develop its PlayNow™ service with PlayNow™ arena, offering access to a greatly expanded range of content and combining the power of the PlayNow™ catalogue with unique applications like TrackID™, which identifies songs and allows them to be downloaded directly to your phone or PC.

Speaking at the Sony Ericsson event at MIDEM in Cannes, Sony Ericsson’s Executive Vice President, Anders Runevad, presented the enhanced PlayNow™ arena service and emphasised the importance of industry partnerships delivering digital content and an unparalleled multimedia experience:

"We are delighted to announce deals with such high calibre record labels. This will help realise our vision for PlayNow™ arena as a service that will be developed in collaboration with our partners. Our commitment is to work with the industry to ensure we are building an experience-based and intuitive content delivery platform, enabling the development of an ecosystem that provides a unique experience for the consumer and a business model where everybody prospers."

With mobile games remaining a key focus, Sony Ericsson has also added 250 new games through existing deals with leading games manufactures such as EA Games, Gameloft, THQ, Glu, Digital Chocolate and I-Play. Sony Ericsson users download more games to their phones than users of any other mobile phone brand*. These deals take another step in cementing its number one position in the mobile games market.

Source: Sony Ericsson Press Release