Sony Ericsson adds five million music tracks to PlayNow arena content download service

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January 29, 2008

Sony Ericsson adds five million music tracks to PlayNow arena content download service

On January 27, 2008 at the MIDEM conference in Cannes, France, Sony Ericsson revealed the next stage in the evolution of PlayNow

arena. Deals with 10 major record labels were announced, adding over five million new, and mostly DRM-free, tracks to the PlayNow arena catalog. In addition to broadening the music offering to end-users, Sony Ericsson is also adding 250 new mobile games through deals with existing partners. Also launched were new website URLs for the PlayNow arena and PlayNow

Uncut (formally M-Buzz), a music promotional space for new and developing artists.

About PlayNow arena

PlayNow arena is more than a store; it's a unique multimedia experience. The PlayNow arena will allow end-users to access a greatly expanded range of content via their mobile phone or computer including games, ringtones, themes, wallpapers and full-track music, enabling over-the-air (OTA) downloads to the phone or side-loading from a computer using Sony Ericsson's Media Manager content transfer software. Announced at MIDEM, the URL for the PlayNow arena website is www.playnow-arena.com.

Record label partnerships

Adding over five million new tracks to PlayNow arena, 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
VidZone

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 localized content direct to the end-user. The majority of the content is DRM free.

Mobile games, key focus

Games are a major component of the PlayNow arena experience and Sony Ericsson has 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.

PlayNow Uncut

PlayNow™ Uncut (previously known as M-BUZZ) is a promotional space for breaking new and emerging artists via Sony Ericsson's product, content and marketing channels. PlayNow Uncut showcases selected, previously unreleased tracks, videos, artwork, interviews, tour dates and other artist information on Sony Ericsson mobile phones and the web at www.playnow-uncut.com.

The PlayNow arena will launch in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland in May 2008 with more European markets following by the end of Q2 2008 and further expansion in Europe, Americas and Asia during Q3 and Q4. Sony Ericsson predicts that the PlayNow arena will be active in close to 30 markets by the end of 2008.

Content for the PlayNow arena is supplied by Sony Ericsson's partners and is by invitation only.

* M.metrics data for EU5 markets shows Sony Ericsson phone owners are over twice as likely to play a mobile game on their handset (either pre-loaded, downloaded or via a browser) than owners of other brands of handset. And, owners of Sony Ericsson phones are over twice as likely to download a mobile game to their phone compared with other handset owners.