South Africa: Vodacom Launches Music Downloads Service - AllAfrica.com

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Mobile music company Omnifone, announced today, Thursday, 1 November 2007, that its limitless music downloads service MusicStation will establish commercially in South Africa through Vodafone-affiliate web Vodacom by 1 December.

Consumers will have got entree to over a million paths from Universal Joint Music Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, EMI Music and Charles Dudley Warner Music Group and independent labels on new and existent Nokia and Sony Ericsson handsets.

"Partnering with the biggest and most advanced mobile web operator in South Africa intends we can convey low-cost digital music to billions of South Africans for the first clip in history. With no iTunes store, low degrees of computing machine ownership and limited broadband penetration, accessing legal digital music have been almost impossible in South Africa. MusicStation enables consumers in South Africa who subscribe to have got got the freedom to download and drama whatever music they want, wherever they are, direct to their cellphone and all for a fixed fee," said Robert Penn Warren Carley, commercial manager of Omnifone.

Rob Wells, SVP, digital, Universal Joint Music Group International, added, "South Africa have the chance to leapfrog many European states in digital music statistical distribution by unleashing what is the most compelling music experience on mobile today to people who have had no manner to buy digital music apart from on CD. Millions of people across South Africa will have got got the chance to entree all the music they could ever want, not from a computer, which they may not have entree to, but from their cellphone that is already in their pocket every day."

Download, drama and share

MusicStation users can download, drama and share music recommendations without the demand for a PC, recognition card or broadband connexion as all downloads are carried out directly to their compatible cellphone. Customers can detect and download any new music risk-free at any time, enabling legitimate and effectual music find during the clip period of their subscription.

Downloaded MusicStation tracks and user playlists are stored centrally so that if a Vodacom customer's mobile is stolen, lost or upgraded, the substitution French telephone will automatically reconstruct the customer's music, playlists, friends and penchants the first clip MusicStation is switched on.

MusicStation also have unrecorded charts, a personalised music news service and a music-based societal web community capableness which enables users to do friends, construct and share playlists and music recommendations with other MusicStation users.

MusicStation will supply users limitless access, when subscribed, to a huge catalogue of music from all the major record labels. Universal Joint Music Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, EMI Music and Charles Dudley Charles Dudley Warner Music Group, as well as leading independents, volition do their international and local digital music catalogs available to MusicStation users in Sturmarbeiteilung as portion of international licensing understandings with Omnifone.

Barney Wragg, planetary caput of digital for EMI Music, said: "This is an of import phase in the digital development of the part and we trust this will turn out very attractive to consumers."

Pete Downton, VP, concern development and strategical partnerships, Warner Music International, said, "The possible for mobile music in South Africa is extremely exciting, as it supplies many people with the first meaningful option to buying CDs. MusicStation will be putting our content within the range of billions of new consumers that have got never had legal entree to it before."

Local column team

MusicStation will be supported by a local Omnifone column squad based in Sturmarbeiteilung providing full column support for localised music news and content, a cardinal feature of every MusicStation rollout.

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Robin Bloor, international IT analyst with Bloor Research said, "The digital music marketplace in South Africa is largely undeveloped; with no iTunes shop in South Africa, iPod users have got no legal method of accessing digital music other than by sideloading copied music. By international criteria broadband incursion and computing machine ownership rates are very low across the region. The lone digital device virtually all South Africans usage every twenty-four hours is a mobile phone. Introducing MusicStation will make a completely new transmission channel for legal music distribution, find and ingestion across the region. This volition make new gross watercourses for the music and mobile industries and a mass marketplace digital music service for consumers."

MusicStation is already dwell on the Telenor web in Kingdom Of Sweden and the 3 web in Hong Kong. Vodafone recently announced that MusicStation would travel unrecorded in the United Kingdom during November 2007.

Omnifone have established partnerships with 26 other mobile telephone web spouses in states that include: Australia, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Swiss Confederation and Turkey.