April 2, 2005
STREAMED, FULL MUSIC TRACKS OFFERED IN STEREO SOUND
TO U.S. MOBILE PHONE SUBSCRIBERS
Press Release
LOS ANGELES and LA JOLLA, CA, March 2, 2005 – U.S. performing rights organization BMI and La Jolla, Calif.-based wireless media company mobZilla, LLC, today announced an agreement covering the performing rights for BMI musical works for mobZilla’s mobile phone streaming music service. MobZilla also announced its first major U.S. launch of streaming music to cell phones and other wireless mobile devices. The subscription service, which gives users unlimited access to commercial-free music, is now available online and for download to select mobile phones across most major U.S. carriers.
With one monthly subscription, mobZilla subscribers nationwide can listen to a mix of music personalized from over 30 content genres, whether at work, at home, or on-the-go. Through its licensing agreement with BMI, mobZilla is able to legally stream the more than 4.5 million works that are represented by BMI.
For less than $5 per month, mobZilla provides users with commercial-free, unlimited access to streaming music from their mobile phone and PC. Subscribers get access to the most popular music available today including urban, pop, Latin, blues and rock. Additional categories including comedy, sports, and news are currently being planned and will be released in the near future. The service, launched under the mobZilla brand, can be accessed at http://www.mobzilla.com.
“MobZilla represents the next frontier in mobile music: bringing streaming FM radio quality music programming to the phone,” said BMI’s Richard Conlon, Vice President, Business Development and Marketing, Media Licensing. “Consumers are increasingly adopting using their mobile phone or device to listen to music, watch streaming video as well as download games. This logical next step – listening to music on your mobile device clearly, seamlessly – will help to expand the market for mobile entertainment. This is a great opportunity to reach listeners who might not be able to listen to traditional or satellite radio while creating a new revenue stream for songwriters, composers and publishers.”
MobZilla’s service allows users to choose dynamically-created streams of music across multiple formats. By checking a box next to the genre or genres they wish to listen to, the listener enables mobZilla’s systems to do all the programming work for them.
“With online music subscription services taking hold and with the increase in mobile Internet connectivity, streaming music to mobile phones is a natural extension of today’s technology,” said Mike Pinto, CEO of mobZilla. “MobZilla has taken the logical step of providing a single subscription service that gives users unlimited access to streaming music anywhere, anytime.”
At the end of 2004, there were more than 160 million mobile subscribers nationwide. With the deployment of faster 2.5G and 3G networks, streaming music is quickly becoming a next-generation service that is possible today. For users who want to connect to the Internet and use e-mail from their phone, streaming music and other audio is an exciting new application.
BMI has serviced the mobile entertainment space since 2001 and has processed more than 200,000,000 ringtone transactions to clear public performance rights on behalf of songwriters, composers and music publishers. BMI currently pegs the wireless music market in excess of $500 million in retail sales for calendar year 2005.
MobZilla will be showcasing its service at CTIA in New Orleans this March, giving carriers, handsets manufacturers and mobile brands an opportunity to demo the service.
About BMI:
BMI, founded in 1939, is an American performing rights organization that represents more than 300,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers in all genres of music. Through its music performance and reciprocal agreements, it grants businesses and media access to its repertoire of approximately 4.5 million musical works from around the world.
About mobZilla:
MobZilla, LLC is a leading wireless media company developing solutions for the delivery of personalized, on-demand entertainment to the mobile phone. From text messaging to mobile streaming, mobZilla powers its partners and delivers entertainment directly to consumers at http://www.mobzilla.com. MobZilla is the developer of a multiplatform streaming audio solution that delivers audio to PC’s and mobile phones. The mobZilla service allows subscribers to listen to a personalized mix from over 30 content genres, including urban, pop, club, rock, Latin and comedy.
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Hanna Pantle
BMI
310-289-6328
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Dan Blackwell
mobZilla, LLC
858-551-9748 (office)
858-349-9377 (mobile)
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