Thumbplay News

Labels: press

posted by Heather Fink at 8:41 AM

NEW YORK & WASHINGTON, DC ? December 20, 2007 ? Qloud (www.qloud.com), a social music service that allows users to listen to music inside of social networks, and Thumbplay® (www.thumbplay.com), the largest and fastest growing mobile entertainment content destination in the U.S. (Nielsen Mobile, Q3 2007), today announced a partnership to contextually feature Thumbplay's ringtones throughout each deployment of Qloud's My Music application. This deal will allow users across a range of social networks to discover, purchase and download ringtones to more than 2,000 supported and compatible mobile phones.

The Qloud My Music application is a revolutionary music service that delivers online music to users how they want it – unlimited, on-demand and linked to their personal music libraries – and where they want it – inside social networks where they can share music with and discover it through their friends. Through its agreement with Thumbplay, the Qloud My Music application will soon feature “Buy this ringtone” links alongside links to iTunes® and YouTube on song, artist, album and playlist pages. As a result, users can personalize their cell phones with their favorite ringtones and reflect their unique tastes in music.

“We selected Thumbplay as our first mobile entertainment content provider, as it delivers a broad and deep catalog of content that will enable Qloud My Music users to extend their enthusiasm about the social music experience to their cell phones,” said Mike Lewis, co-founder of Qloud. “Thumbplay’s ability to offer ringtones regardless of users’ wireless carrier or mobile phone is consistent with our commitment to connecting consumers with music wherever they want it.”

“Qloud’s My Music application has successfully captured a significant slice of the social music experience, making them a key partner in our efforts to connect users of social networks with mobile entertainment content,” said Are Traasdahl, Thumbplay’s CEO and co-founder. “Qloud’s efficiency in recreating the My Music experience across a range of social networks provides us with a unique platform for promoting ringtones and other mobile entertainment content.”

With more than 75,000 pieces of mobile entertainment content under license, including ringtones, wallpapers, games, videos, voice tones and text-based services, Thumbplay has built a strong consumer following and gained broad recognition as a leader in the direct-to-consumer mobile content space.

By simply installing the Qloud My Music application, consumers can immediately see and play entire songs and videos from their complete iTunes libraries inside of a range of social networks. My Music also allows users to see and play online the iTunes libraries of their friends, view and exchange playlists with their friends, browse and play the most popular songs among their friends and social groups, and add their friends’ songs to their own online libraries. Over two million registered users across several social networks have recorded 300 million plays in the last four months.

About Qloud
Qloud delivers the music experience that consumers want – unlimited, on-demand content – where consumers want it – inside their social networks where they can discover and share music with their friends. Over two million registered users across three social networks have recorded 300 million plays in the last four months. The company’s investors and directors include Revolution Chairman and CEO Steve Case and former AOL, Yahoo!, Warner Music Group, EMI Music, and Island Records music executives. For more information visit www.qloud.com.

About Thumbplay
Thumbplay, Inc. is defining the mobile entertainment experience for U.S. consumers. As the largest and fastest growing mobile entertainment content destination, Thumbplay gives consumers access to the broadest and deepest catalog in the industry, spanning audio, video and gaming content from the leading music labels and artists, game publishers and media companies. Its innovative delivery and marketing platform makes it easy for users to discover, manage, store and share mobile content online and on their wireless devices.

Headquartered in New York City, Thumbplay was founded in September 2004 by Are Traasdahl and Evan Schwartz. It is backed by Bain Capital Ventures, SoftBank Capital, i-Hatch Ventures, Redwood Partners, New Enterprise Associates and Meritech. More information can be found at www.thumbplay.com.

Labels: press-release

posted by Thumbplay at 4:50 PM

Labels: press

posted by Heather Fink at 8:38 AM

Labels: press

posted by Heather Fink at 8:36 AM

NEW YORK, December 6, 2007 – Thumbplay® (www.thumbplay.com), the largest and fastest growing mobile entertainment content destination in the U.S. (Nielsen Mobile, Q3 2007), today announced an exclusive partnership with iLike (www.ilike.com), the Web’s leading social music discovery service. Thumbplay’s ringtones are now contextually featured throughout iLike.com and the iLike application on Facebook® Platform (www.facebook.com), allowing users to discover, purchase and download ringtones to more than 2,000 supported and compatible mobile phones. iLike plans to extend its contextual integration of Thumbplay’s catalog into additional social platforms that have announced support for Google OpenSocial, such as Bebo, hi5, MySpace, orkut and Ning.

Across iLike, “Get ringtone” links to Thumbplay are now featured alongside links to iTunes® in every relevant song module on artist, album and song pages, as well as users’ shared playlists. Similar links are incorporated into the iLike Challenge, so users can discover and purchase ringtones of songs played in the game.

With its soaring popularity among Facebook users, iLike is the Web’s fastest-growing music service, with more than 15 million users worldwide and adding millions more each month. Additional sites that have committed to supporting OpenSocial represent an audience of 200 million users globally that may be exposed to Thumbplay’s mobile entertainment content as iLike expands into these new platforms.

“With the addition of Thumbplay ringtone links, iLike has just expanded our music discovery features to include also a fantastic ringtone-discovery experience,” said Ali Partovi, CEO of iLike. “As the mobile entertainment content industry leader, Thumbplay delivers the broadest and deepest catalog of content to our 15 million registered users, so they can now take their music with them as ringtones regardless of which carrier or phone they’re using.“

“It is clear from iLike’s rapid growth that consumers love discovering and sharing new music with their friends,” said Are Traasdahl, Thumbplay’s CEO and founder. “By pairing with iLike, we’re enabling their consumers to extend the social music experience to their mobile phones.”

With more than 75,000 pieces of mobile entertainment content under license, including ringtones, wallpapers, games, videos, voice tones and text-based services, Thumbplay has built a strong consumer following and gained broad recognition as a leader in the direct-to-consumer mobile content space.

About iLike, inc
iLike is the Web's leading social music discovery service and the dominant music application on the Facebook Platform. With more than 15 million registered users, iLike helps people share music recommendations, playlists, and personalized concert alerts. The iLike Sidebar for iTunes and Windows Media Player suggests new music, creates automatic playlists, and connects people through music. iLike offers musicians and labels a Universal Artist Dashboard from which to reach fans and manage their presence across multiple channels: Facebook, iLike.com, Ask.com, iLike Sidebar plugins for iTunes and Windows Media Player (and soon, through adoption of Google OpenSocial, also Myspace, Bebo, orkut, hi5, Ning, and other leading social networking sites). By leveraging iLike's "artist-fan graph," a vast database of connections between consumers and their favorite artists, iLike helps artists reach their fans and cultivate the viral spread of their music. iLike, inc also runs indie music site GarageBand.com.

About Thumbplay
Thumbplay, Inc. is defining the mobile entertainment experience for U.S. consumers. As the largest and fastest growing mobile entertainment content destination, Thumbplay gives consumers access to the broadest and deepest catalog in the industry, spanning audio, video and gaming content from the leading music labels and artists, game publishers and media companies. Its innovative delivery and marketing platform makes it easy for users to discover, manage, store and share mobile content online and on their wireless devices.

Headquartered in New York City, Thumbplay was founded in September 2004 by Are Traasdahl and Evan Schwartz. It is backed by Bain Capital Ventures, SoftBank Capital, i-Hatch Ventures, Redwood Partners, New Enterprise Associates and Meritech. More information can be found at www.thumbplay.com.

Facebook® is a registered trademark of Facebook Inc. iTunes® is a registered trademark of Apple Inc. Windows Media Player® is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corp. Google, orkut, and OpenSocial are trademarks of Google Inc.

Labels: press-release

posted by Thumbplay at 4:48 PM

Labels: press

posted by Heather Fink at 1:55 PM

Labels: press

posted by Heather Fink at 1:46 PM

Labels: press

posted by Heather Fink at 1:44 PM

Labels: press

posted by Heather Fink at 1:40 PM

Labels: press

posted by Heather Fink at 1:25 PM

NEW YORK, December 10, 2007 - Thumbplay® (www.thumbplay.com), the largest and fastest growing mobile entertainment content destination in the U.S. (Nielsen Mobile, Q3 2007), today announced it will provide ringtones, wallpaper, games and video clips to MSN Mobile, the mobile portal of the MSN online network (msn.com), which is visited by more than 120 million unique monthly visitors in the U.S. (comScore Media Metrix, October 2007).

Thumbplay's premium mobile content will be integrated within the MSN Mobile (mobile.msn.com) web and WAP portals. Through Thumbplay's contextual integration on these sites, visitors can easily purchase and download relevant ringtones, wallpapers, games and video clips over-the-air to over 2,000 supported handsets, including 16 unique Windows Mobile-based devices.

"Our alliance with Thumbplay allows MSN Mobile to quickly increase our content offering to a rapidly growing mobile customer base," said Sam Klepper, general manager at MSN. "Thumbplay's extensive catalogue of mobile entertainment content fits well with our customers' interests."

"We think this relationship allows Thumbplay to innovate and grow as a mobile entertainment content industry leader across the platforms that deliver the best mobile experiences to the world's savviest online users," said Are Traasdahl, Thumbplay's CEO and founder. "We're happy to offer MSN Mobile users access to more than 50,000 pieces of mobile entertainment content including ringtones, wallpapers, games, videos, voice tones and text-based services."

Thumbplay and MSN Mobile worked in tandem to help ensure the maximum amount of content and purchasing options are available to users across the most carriers and handsets. Thumbplay ensures that Alltel, AT&T Wireless, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless subscribers can purchase content across their wireless networks, while navigation provides MSN co-branding and easy access back to the MSN Mobile portal.

About Thumbplay Thumbplay, Inc. is defining the mobile entertainment experience for U.S. consumers. As the largest and fastest growing mobile entertainment content destination, Thumbplay gives consumers access to the broadest and deepest catalog in the industry, spanning audio, video and gaming content from the leading music labels and artists, game publishers and media companies. Its innovative delivery and marketing platform makes it easy for users to discover, manage, store and share mobile content online and on their wireless devices.

Headquartered in New York City, Thumbplay was founded in 2005 by Are Traasdahl and Evan Schwartz. It is backed by Bain Capital Ventures, SoftBank Capital, i-Hatch Ventures, Redwood Partners, New Enterprise Associates and Meritech. More information can be found at www.thumbplay.com.

Labels: press-release

posted by Thumbplay at 4:42 PM

51. Are Traasdahl
Are Traasdahl
CEO/Founder, Thumbplay

Are's two-year-old company has quietly become one of the leaders in the ringtone business, and is generating revenue of an estimated $100 million a year. Previously, Are worked at Carrot Communications and co-founded Telenor Mobile Interactive.

Labels: press

posted by Heather Fink at 9:04 AM