EMI Music UK Makes Robbie, Kylie and Blue available as pre-pay realtone packs

EMI Music UK has agreed a deal with The Carphone Warehouse to provide the greatest hits albums of Robbie Williams, Kylie and Blue, as realtone downloads, using edits of the audio masters as mobile tones. The compilations, ‘Now Dance', ‘Legends' and ‘Best of Urban' will also be available, which feature a huge selection of chart topping tunes and legendary artists from Tina Turner, David Bowie and Queen to Joss Stone, Kelis and N*E*R*D. From this week, consumers will be able to buy each album as a pack that lists all the album's tracks through The Carphone Warehouse's 600 UK stores, under the retailer's new mobile content brand Play MobileTM.



Each pack includes a unique code that gives buyers 2 realtone or polyphonic credits in the WAP store for each title.



EMI Music UK is at the forefront of the convergence between mobile and music to deliver music content straight into the hands of consumers.



Danny Van Emden, Digital Media Director at EMI Music UK, explains, "Mobile is now a key delivery channel for EMI and, as the technology becomes more sophisticated, consumers are demanding better, more official and a wider choice of music. Our artists too, want to ensure that each realtone accurately reflects their songs and that they have control over the quality and the timing of the music offered to fans - in fact, many of our artists are now working with us to create their own reals and polys. The beauty of the pre-pay format for us is that we can now work with great high street brands, such as The Carphone Warehouse, to increase awareness of the new formats on offer and grow the market for official, high quality mobile music, which can now be bought as gifts without the buyer having to know the recipient's handset or network details.'



Danny continues, "Each of our real tones are developed with the artist and we carefully select the clips, ensuring sound and quality are perfect. This not only makes them ‘official', but preserves the integrity of the artist's music.'



The Carphone Warehouse's Director of Group Business Development Kevin Gillan explains: "These artist endorsed real tones are the next generation in ring tone product. In tying up with official content, we are offering our customers superior real tones and, in doing so, providing them with a quality service.'



Artists on the ‘Now Dance' compilation include Shapeshifters and 3 of a Kind. Artists on the ‘Legends' compilation include Queen and Diana Ross, while Jamelia, Kelis and Joss Stone feature on ‘Best of Urban'.



The tracks for each real tone were created with individual artists by New Visions for EMI Music UK.

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Editor's notes



About EMI Music – Digital Media Division


EMI Music was the first major record company to establish a dedicated Digital Media division in 1998. The division, headed up by Danny Van Emden, the Digital Media Director, is responsible for the digital activity of EMI Music UK and Ireland and its individual music labels. In addition, each of EMI Music's record labels - EMI Records, Innocent, Parlophone, Virgin and the catalogue division - has a Digital Media Manager responsible for developing artist specific new media opportunities, promotions and web presence.



The Digital Media division develops many of the company's digital cross-marketing and artist promotions; providing exclusive content; managing data capture and eCRM systems; and monetising EMI Music's assets across the digital media. The division is also responsible for the EMI Music aggregate site, www.the-raft.com, which has been running for 11 years and won multiple awards.



With in house skills in journalism, programming, photography, SEO and design, the team are able to generate the right mix of copywriting and creativity to exploit a range of commercial opportunities. Working with EMI's Commercial Digital team, Digital Media has worked with retail, brand, online and mobile organisations. This year alone, the division has agreed a number of crucial deals with high profile partners including OD2, i-Tunes, mycokemusic, Napster, Orange and Vodafone Live.



Websites developed for well-known artists include Kylie.com, Kelis.co.uk, thethrills.com, nerduk.com, thedivinecomedy.com, doves.net and jamelia.com. The team is also responsible for creating artists' web shops, selling physical products and exclusive merchandise, as well as developing mobile shops and download platforms.



EMI Music UK is part of The EMI Group, one of the largest music companies in the world and listed on the London Stock Exchange.



www.emimusic.co.uk





Contact:

Anna Vickerstaff

immediate future Ltd.

0845 408 2031

anna.vickerstaff@immediatefuture.co.uk