tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53889943645638504192024-03-13T00:11:24.809-07:00Thumbplay NewsSteve Augellohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17989738333422951299noreply@blogger.comBlogger128125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5388994364563850419.post-41775289955015807012010-06-01T08:26:00.000-07:002010-06-01T08:27:47.590-07:00THUMBPLAY MUSIC LAUNCHES ON iPHONE: BECOMES FIRST ON-DEMAND MUSIC SERVICE ON ALL 3 MAJOR SMARTPHONE PLATFORMS IN U.S<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; text-align:center;line-height:normal"><i><span style=" Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;">Thumbplay Music Now The Most Widely-Available Service in the U.S. with Apps on iPhone, Android and BlackBerry Smartphones as well as PCs/Macs</span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align: left;margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: 150%; "><b><span style="Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";">NEW YORK – 1 JUNE 2010 –</span></b><span style="Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";"> Thumbplay<sup><span style="color:black;">®</span></sup><span style="color:black;">,</span> the leading provider of mobile entertainment in the U.S., has launched <b>Thumbplay<sup>®</sup> Music™</b> (</span><a href="http://www.thumbplaymusic.com/"><span style="Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";">www.thumbplaymusic.com</span></a><span style="Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";">) in the Apple App Store, becoming the first and only on-demand, subscription music service available across the three major platforms in the U.S. — iPhone<sup>®</sup>, Android</span><i><sup><span style="line-height:150%;Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;">™</span></sup></i><i><span style="line-height:150%;Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;"> </span></i><span style="Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";">and BlackBerry</span><i><sup><span style="line-height:150%;Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;">® </span></sup></i><span style="Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";">smartphones. This adds the Apple <span style="color:black;">iPhone® and the iPod Touch® to the growing list of devices supported by Thumbplay Music </span>(complete list below).</span><span style="line-height:150%;Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;"> </span><span style="Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";">Thumbplay Music is also available as a companion app on PCs/Macs</span><sup><span style="line-height: 150%;Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";font-size:9.0pt;">®</span></sup><span style="Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";">. </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: 150%"><span style="Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";"> With this announcement, Thumbplay Music is the most widely available cloud-based music service available in the U.S. According to the NPD Group, as of the first quarter of 2010, RIM (BlackBerry), Google (Android) and Apple (iPhone) collectively address 85% of smartphone users in the U.S.* <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: .5in;line-height:150%"><span style="Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";">Thumbplay Music has just under 9 million tracks under license from all major labels and more than 35,000 independent labels. Thumbplay Music is a next generation music service, built by experts in mobile content delivery to serve the rapidly growing market of U.S. smartphone users which is forecasted to grow to 160 million people by 2013.** <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: 150%"><span style="Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";"> Said <b>Evan Schwartz, CEO</b> and<b> Co-Founder of Thumbplay</b>,<b> </b><span style="color:black;">“For the first time, iPhone, Android and BlackBerry fans ALL have unlimited, on demand access to millions of songs. We are certainly proud to be the first to deliver a service across all three platforms, but it’s even more gratifying to have delivered a feature-rich, reliable service that customers in ever-increasing numbers are saying they love.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: 150%"><span style="Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";"> Thumbplay Music includes its own in-app media player and boasts several compelling features, including: <o:p></o:p></span></p> <ul style="margin-top:0in" type="disc"> <li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: 150%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><b><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-Times New Roman"font-family:";">Unlimited, on-demand access</span></b><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-fareast-Times New Roman"font-family:";"> to any artist or album; millions of songs to choose from<o:p></o:p></span></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: 150%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><b><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-Times New Roman"font-family:";">Build a personal music collection</span></b><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-Times New Roman"font-family:";"> with <b>Favorites</b> and <b>effortless Playlist creation</b>; auto-sync between smartphone and PC/Mac<o:p></o:p></span></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: 150%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><b><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-Times New Roman"font-family:";">Online and offline access</span></b><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-fareast-Times New Roman"font-family:";">: No connection? No problem! Listen to music on the subway or in-flight. Available anytime, anywhere. <i>(Offline access currently only available on BlackBerry devices; coming soon for Android and iPhone.)<o:p></o:p></i></span></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: 150%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><b><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-Times New Roman"font-family:";">Genie for music discovery</span></b><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-fareast-Times New Roman"font-family:";">: Instantly generate customized recommendations from favorite songs<o:p></o:p></span></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: 150%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><b><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-Times New Roman"font-family:";">Search</span></b><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-fareast-Times New Roman"font-family:";">: Find music by artist, song, album or genre; includes free previews of all songs<o:p></o:p></span></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: 150%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><b><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-Times New Roman"font-family:";">Import existing iTunes</span></b><b><sup><span style="line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-Times New Roman"font-family:";font-size:10.0pt;">®</span></sup></b><b><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-fareast-Times New Roman"font-family:";"> playlists</span></b><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-Times New Roman"font-family:";"> within Thumbplay Music’s companion desktop app. With a few clicks, recreate iTunes playlists and have them available on smartphone and PC/Mac.<o:p></o:p></span></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: 150%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><b><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-Times New Roman";font-family:";color:black;">Free, “no strings attached” three-day trial</span></b><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-Times New Roman";font-family:";color:black;">; subscriptions are then available for </span><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-Times New Roman"font-family:";">$9.99/month.<o:p></o:p></span></li> </ul> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: 7.25pt;line-height:200%;text-autospace:none"><span style="Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";"> <span style="color:black;">Thumbplay, which enjoys sustained profitability, has built an award-winning service centered on delivering millions of pieces of mobile content to 95 percent of U.S. devices among every major carrier. Thumbplay is leveraging its existing network of more than 8,000 distribution partners to promote Thumbplay Music.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: 7.25pt;line-height:200%;text-autospace:none"><span style="Arial","sans-serif"; font-family:";color:black;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:-.25in;margin-bottom: 0in;margin-left:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:200%;text-autospace:none"><span style="line-height:200%;Arial","sans-serif"; font-family:";font-size:10.0pt;color:black;">*</span><span style="line-height:200%;Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";font-size:10.0pt;"> </span><a href="http://www.npd.com/press/releases/press_100510.html"><span style="line-height:200%;Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";font-size:10.0pt;">NPD’s wireless market research</span></a><span style="line-height: 200%;Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";font-size:10.0pt;"> of smartphone unit sales to consumers: RIM 36%, Android 28 % and Apple 21%. (Q12010)<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><span style="Arial","sans-serif"; font-family:";font-size:10.0pt;color:black;">** Yankee Group (2009)<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:-.25in;margin-bottom: 0in;margin-left:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:200%;text-autospace:none"><span style="line-height:200%;Arial","sans-serif"; font-family:";font-size:10.0pt;color:black;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><b><span style="Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";"># # #<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><b><span style="Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";font-size:10.0pt;">ABOUT THUMBPLAY<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:27.0pt;margin-bottom: 0in;margin-left:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";font-size:10.0pt;">Thumbplay, Inc. is the leading mobile entertainment provider in the U.S. </span><a href="http://thumbplaymusic.com/"><span style="Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";font-size:10.0pt;">Thumbplay Music</span></a><span style=" Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";font-size:10.0pt;">, the company’s cloud-based, streaming music service for smartphones and PCs/Macs, was launched in January 2010 with more than 8 million songs under license. Thumbplay.com features licensed music, video and games from some of the world’s largest entertainment companies, including: EMI, Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group, as well as several independent labels and artists and video game companies. Headquartered in New York City, Thumbplay was founded in September 2004. Investors include Bain Capital Ventures, SoftBank Capital, i-Hatch Ventures, Redwood Partners, New Enterprise Associates, Meritech, Brookside Capital Partners and Cross Creek Capital. More information can be found at </span><a href="http://www.thumbplay.com/"><span style="Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";font-size:10.0pt;">www.thumbplay.com</span></a><span style=" Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";font-size:10.0pt;"> or at m.thumbplay.com from a mobile phone.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:27.0pt;margin-bottom: 0in;margin-left:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";font-size:10.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="line-height:115%; Arial","sans-serif";font-family:";font-size:10.0pt;color:black;">Thumbplay Music is available on the Apple iPhone</span></b><span style="line-height:115%; Arial","sans-serif";font-family:";font-size:10.0pt;color:black;">® <b>and the iPod Touch</b>®<b> </b>with an Operating System of 3 or higher.<b> <o:p></o:p></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="line-height:115%; Arial","sans-serif";font-family:";font-size:10.0pt;color:black;">Thumbplay Music is available on the following smartphones using the</span></b><span style=" line-height:115%;Arial","sans-serif";font-family:";font-size:10.0pt;color:black;"> <b>Android</b>™ mobile technology platform with an Operating System of 1.6 or higher: DROID Incredible by HTC™, DROID Eris by HTC™, (Motorola™) Droid™, HTC Nexus One™, HTC® G1™ and the HTC® myTouch™ 3G. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:27.0pt;margin-bottom: 0in;margin-left:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal"><b><span style="Arial","sans-serif";font-family:";font-size:10.0pt;color:black;">Thumbplay Music is currently available on the following</span></b><span style="Arial","sans-serif";font-family:";font-size:10.0pt;color:black;"> <b>BlackBerry<sup>®</sup> smartphones</b>: BlackBerry<sup>®</sup> Tour™ 2 - Bold™ 9650, BlackBerry<sup>®</sup> Bold™ 9000, BlackBerry<sup>®</sup> Bold™ 9700, BlackBerry<sup>®</sup> Curve™ 8900, BlackBerry<sup>®</sup> Tour™ 9630, BlackBerry<sup>®</sup> Storm™ 9530, BlackBerry<sup>®</sup> Storm™ 2 9550, BlackBerry<sup>®</sup> Curve™ 8520 and the BlackBerry<sup>®</sup> Curve™ 8530.</span><span style="Times New Roman","serif";font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:27.0pt;margin-bottom: 0in;margin-left:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="Arial","sans-serif";font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;color:black;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:27.0pt;margin-bottom: 0in;margin-left:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="Arial","sans-serif";font-family:";font-size:10.0pt;color:black;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height:115%;Arial","sans-serif";font-family:";font-size:10.0pt;color:black;">All trademarks property of their respective owners. No partnerships implied. The BlackBerry and RIM families of related marks, images and symbols are the exclusive properties and trademarks of Research In Motion Limited<b>.<o:p></o:p></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><span style="Arial","sans-serif"; font-family:";font-size:10.0pt;color:black;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Arial, sans-serif;font-size:13px;"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%"><span style="Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5388994364563850419.post-24522225816649302772010-05-24T08:48:00.000-07:002010-05-24T08:51:42.850-07:00THUMBPLAY AND CELLULAR SOUTH FORGE DEAL: CELLULAR SOUTH CUSTOMERS FIRST TO HAVE DIRECT ACCESS TO THUMBPLAY MUSIC<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center;text-indent:.5in"><i><span style="font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif"">New Cloud-Based, On Demand Music Service to be Featured on Carrier Portal: <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; "><i><span style="font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif"">Customers to Have Direct, Unlimited Access to Millions of Songs<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; "><i><span style="font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></i></span></span></i></span></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-right:-9.0pt;mso-add-space:auto"><b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif";color:black">NEW YORK (24 May 2010)</span></b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; color:black"> – Thumbplay<sup>®</sup>, the leading provider of mobile entertainment in the U.S. today, and Cellular South<sup>®</sup>, the nation’s largest privately owned wireless communications provider, have forged a deal that will give Cellular South customers direct access to the new cloud-based Thumbplay<sup>®</sup> Music<sup>™</sup> (<a href="http://www.thumbplaymusic.com/">www.thumbplaymusic.com</a>) service.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; color:black"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; "><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; color:black">As a result of the partnership, Cellular South customers can get unlimited, on-demand access to millions of songs directly from their wireless handsets and they will be able to download the Thumbplay Music application</span><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"> </span><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; color:black">directly from Cellular South’s</span><span style="font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"> </span><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif";color:black">Discover Center website. The service will be rolled out soon on Android<sup>™</sup> and BlackBerry<sup>®</sup> smartphones. </span></span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; color:black"><o:p>Thumbplay Music, a next generation music service built by experts in mobile content delivery, has more than 8 million tracks under license from all major labels and more than 35,000 independent labels and comes with a free, three-day trial. Subscriptions are available for $9.99 a month.</o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; color:black"><o:p>“We’re thrilled to be the first to offer Thumbplay Music directly to our customers,” said Jim Richmond, director of Corporate Communications for Cellular South. “Thumbplay Music literally transforms the smartphone into the ultimate, portable music player – it’s loaded with features and an extensive catalog of music that will inspire music fans of all ages and tastes.”</o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; color:black"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; "><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; color:black">Richmond said recent industry research shows that more consumers than ever are using their mobile devices to download and listen to music. A recent comScore study* revealed that listening to music is the third fastest growing use of mobile phones in the U.S.</span><span style="color:#1F497D"> </span><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif";color:black"> Richmond added, “Downloading and listening to music is clearly one of the fastest growing and most popular ways that consumers are using their mobile devices.”</span></span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; color:black"><o:p>Evan Schwartz, CEO and co-founder of Thumbplay, said he expects Cellular South customers to quickly embrace the new service. “They have an extremely engaged, loyal customer base that will fully appreciate having a rich, on-demand music service always at their fingertips,” he added.</o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; color:black"><o:p>Thumbplay Music includes its own in-app media player and boasts several compelling features, including:</o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; color:black"><o:p> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; "><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family:Symbol"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"">Unlimited, on-demand access</span></b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif""> to any artist or album; millions of songs to choose from.</span></span></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; color:black"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; "><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; "><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family:Symbol"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"">Build a personal music collection</span></b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif""> with <b>Favorites</b> and <b>Playlist creation</b>; auto-sync between smartphone and PC/Mac.</span></span></span></span></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; color:black"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; "><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; "><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; "><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family:Symbol"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"">Online and offline access</span></b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif"">: No connection? No problem! Listen to music on the subway or in-flight. Available anytime, anywhere.</span></span></span></span></span></span></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; color:black"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; "><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; "><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; "><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; "><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family:Symbol"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"">Genie for music discovery</span></b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif"">: Instantly generate customized recommendations from favorite songs.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; color:black"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; "><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; "><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; "><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; "><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; "><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family:Symbol"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"">Search</span></b><span style="font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif"">: Find music by artist, song, album or genre; includes free previews of all songs.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; color:black"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; "><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; "><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; "><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; "><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; "><span style="font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; "><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family:Symbol"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif"">Import existing iTunes<sup>®</sup> playlists</span></b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif""> within Thumbplay Music’s companion desktop app. With a few clicks, recreate iTunes playlists and have them available on smartphone and PC/Mac. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; color:black">Thumbplay, which enjoys sustained profitability, has built an award-winning service centered on delivering mobile entertainment content to 95 percent of U.S. devices on every major wireless carrier. Thumbplay will leverage its existing network of more than 8,000 distribution partners to promote Thumbplay Music.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; color:black"><o:p> ###</o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif"; color:black"><o:p> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; ">* The study by comScore MobiLens, a mobile marketing research firm, covered the three-month period ending in March 2010. The study reviewed the most popular activities and mobile content accessed by the nation’s 234 million wireless phone users age 13 and order. </span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle"><b><u><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family: "Arial Narrow","sans-serif""><o:p><span style="text-decoration:none"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-weight: normal; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; font-size: 16px; "><b><u><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif"">About Thumbplay</span></u></b></span></span></o:p></span></u></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right:27.0pt"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif"">Thumbplay, Inc. is the leading mobile entertainment provider in the U.S. <a href="http://thumbplaymusic.com/">Thumbplay Music</a>, the company’s cloud-based, streaming music service for smartphones and PCs/Macs, was launched in January 2010 with more than 8 million songs under license. Thumbplay.com features licensed music, video and games from some of the world’s largest entertainment companies, including: EMI, Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group, as well as several independent labels and artists and video game companies. Headquartered in New York City, Thumbplay was founded in September 2004. Investors include Bain Capital Ventures, SoftBank Capital, i-Hatch Ventures, Redwood Partners, New Enterprise Associates, Meritech, Brookside Capital Partners and Cross Creek Capital. More information can be found at <a href="http://www.thumbplay.com/">www.thumbplay.com</a> or at <a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/slietz/Local%20Settings/Local%20Settings/Local%20Settings/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.Outlook/RE162O9R/m.thumbplay.com">m.thumbplay.com</a> from a mobile phone.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 10.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif";mso-ansi-language:EN"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 10.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif";mso-ansi-language:EN"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><u><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif"">About Cellular South<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif"">Cellular South is a privately-owned diversified mobile communications company passionately committed to helping customers get the most out of their wireless devices and services. The nation’s largest privately owned wireless communications carrier accomplishes this goal by providing the most reliable and advanced 3G nationwide wireless voice and data network, offering industry-leading smartphone devices and accessible flat rate plans, and through its online and in-store Discover Centers, which give customers easy, simple and convenient tools, tips, advice and information to get the most out of their mobile phone. For more information about Cellular South and its products and services, as well as its ground-breaking Cellular South Original user generated programming, visit <a href="http://www.cellularsouth.com/">www.cellularsouth.com</a>. This news release and other announcements are available at <a href="http://www.cellularsouth.com/news/">http://www.cellularsouth.com/news/</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:6.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:6.0pt; margin-left:0in"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial Narrow","sans-serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5388994364563850419.post-72795629172581295042010-05-10T09:16:00.000-07:002010-05-10T09:22:46.672-07:00THUMBPLAY MUSIC JOINS GOOGLE I/O 2010’S DEVELOPER SANDBOX<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8X4wQtGIRDAB1pcO4otBWwAmnXHTCFlik4mKXLcMUuQa0E8GMmnDloeZOvw_DwD4_xzcGpuSK6czHSKVEy-8JPYVSFbpXOaRpd-PowFnG0dmEn_oR8TIsBK35EbrYmqDoEWriKcwOjgQ/s1600/Press-Tablet_Landscape+(3).JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 248px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8X4wQtGIRDAB1pcO4otBWwAmnXHTCFlik4mKXLcMUuQa0E8GMmnDloeZOvw_DwD4_xzcGpuSK6czHSKVEy-8JPYVSFbpXOaRpd-PowFnG0dmEn_oR8TIsBK35EbrYmqDoEWriKcwOjgQ/s320/Press-Tablet_Landscape+(3).JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5469677504396412466" /></a><br /><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="Arial","sans-serif"; text-transform:uppercasefont-family:";color:#C70513;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-weight: normal; text-transform: none; font-family:Georgia, serif;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"><span style="Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";">Company to Provide Early Glimpse of Cloud-Based Music Service App Using HTML5 on Google Chrome OS</span></i></span></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: 150%"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"><span style=" line-height:150%;Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-style: normal; font-family:Georgia, serif;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";">NEW YORK </span></b><span style="Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";">– 10 MAY 2010 – <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">Thumbplay</b><sup><span style="color:black;">®</span></sup><span style="color:black;">,</span> the leading provider of mobile entertainment in the U.S., announced today that it has been selected to demo its cloud-based <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">Thumbplay<sup>®</sup> Music<sup>™</sup></b> (<a href="http://www.thumbplaymusic.com/"><span style="mso-bidi-;font-family:Arial;">www.thumbplaymusic.</span><span style="Calibri","sans-serif"font-family:";">com</span></a>) service at the 2010 Google</span><sup><span style="line-height: 150%;Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";font-size:8.0pt;">TM</span></sup><span style="Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";"> I/O Conference, being held May 19-20 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>The company will reveal an early release of the Thumbplay Music app running on Google Chrome</span><sup><span style="line-height:150%;Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";font-size:8.0pt;">TM</span></sup><span style="Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";">, which also supports Google’s Chrome operating system and utilizes HTML5 and CSS3. </span><span style="line-height:150%;Arial","sans-serif"; font-family:";font-size:10.0pt;color:navy;"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></span><span style="Arial","sans-serif";font-family:";color:black;">Thumbplay is one of 10 third-party apps to be showcased in the Chrome Pod of</span><span style="Arial","sans-serif";font-family:";color:navy;"> </span><span style="Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";">the <a href="http://code.google.com/events/io/2010/sandbox.html"><span style="mso-bidi-;font-family:Arial;">Google I/O Developer Sandbox</span></a>.</span></span></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: 150%"><span style="Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </span>Thumbplay Music is an on-demand, subscription music service currently available on both the fastest-growing and largest smartphone platforms in the U.S., Android</span><sup><span style=" line-height:150%;Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";font-size:8.0pt;">TM</span></sup><span style="Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";"> and BlackBerry<sup>®</sup> smartphones,<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">* </b>respectively.<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></b>(Complete list of devices below.) The service is also currently available as a companion app on PCs/Macs</span><sup><span style="line-height:150%;Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";font-size:9.0pt;">® </span></sup><span style="Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";">and is coming soon on iPhone</span><sup><span style="line-height:150%;Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";font-size:9.0pt;">®</span></sup><span style="Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";">.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Thumbplay Music has more than eight million tracks under license from all major labels and more than 25,000 independent labels.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6.0pt;text-indent:.5in;line-height: 150%"><span style="Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";">“To be invited to the Developer Sandbox at Google I/O this year is a credit to our ongoing relationship with Google,” said <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">Evan Schwartz</b>, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">CEO</b> and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">Co-Founder of Thumbplay</b>. <span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>“With Google’s innovation, our team was able to create a feature-rich app that works beautifully <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">and </i>leverages the ease and simplicity of a browser.”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6.0pt;text-indent:.5in;line-height: 150%"><span style="Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";">The Thumbplay Music application for Chrome OS was developed in accordance with the latest HTML5 and CSS3 web standards and will provide future Chrome OS users with unlimited, anytime/anywhere access to millions of songs.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>In addition, there will be a series of unique, web-based interactive features specific to Thumbplay Music for Chrome OS, such as offline playback and instant synching.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6.0pt;text-indent:.5in;line-height: 150%"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span><span style="Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";">The Google I/O Conference is Google’s largest annual developer event, hosting thousands of leading developers and designers who have created and cultivated applications specific to Google and open web technology.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>The Developer Sandbox, introduced at the 2009 Google I/O Conference, serves as a select venue for developers to exchange detailed information regarding their services while presenting them to those in attendance at Google I/O.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Developers and partners interested in meeting with Thumbplay during Google I/O can request a demo time here: <a href="http://developer.thumbplay.com/"><span style="mso-bidi-;font-family:Arial;">http://developer.thumbplay.com</span></a>.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%"><span style="Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";"><o:p> Thumbplay Music includes its own in-app media player and boasts several compelling features, including:</o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom: 0in;margin-left:.75in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-add-space:auto;text-indent: -.25in;line-height:150%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><span style="font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family:Symbol;"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><b><span style="Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";">Unlimited, on-demand access</span></b><span style="Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";"> to any artist or album; millions of songs to choose from;</span> </p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom: 0in;margin-left:.75in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-add-space:auto;text-indent: -.25in;line-height:150%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><span style="font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family:Symbol;"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><b><span style="Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";">Build a personal music collection</span></b><span style="Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";"> with <b>Favorites</b> and <b>effortless Playlist creation</b>; auto-sync between smartphone and PC/Mac</span>;</p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom: 0in;margin-left:.75in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-add-space:auto;text-indent: -.25in;line-height:150%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><span style="font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family:Symbol;"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><b><span style="Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";">Online and offline access</span></b><span style="Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";">: No connection? No problem! Listen to music on the subway or in-flight. Available anytime, anywhere. <i>(Offline access currently only available on BlackBerry devices; coming soon for Android</i></span>);</p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom: 0in;margin-left:.75in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-add-space:auto;text-indent: -.25in;line-height:150%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><span style="font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family:Symbol;"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><b><span style="Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";">Playlist Genie for music discovery</span></b><span style="Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";">: Instantly generate customized recommendations from favorite songs</span>;</p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom: 0in;margin-left:.75in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-add-space:auto;text-indent: -.25in;line-height:150%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><span style="font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family:Symbol;"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><b><span style="Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";">Search</span></b><span style="Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";">: Find music by artist, song, album or genre; includes free previews of all songs;</span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom: 0in;margin-left:.75in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-add-space:auto;text-indent: -.25in;line-height:150%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><span style="font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family:Symbol;"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><b><span style="Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";">Import existing iTunes<sup>®</sup> playlists</span></b><span style="Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";"> within Thumbplay Music’s companion desktop app. With a few clicks, recreate iTunes playlists and have them available on smartphone and PC/Mac;</span></p> <p class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom: 0in;margin-left:.75in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;mso-add-space:auto;text-indent: -.25in;line-height:150%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><span style="font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family:Symbol;"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><b><span style="Arial","sans-serif"; font-family:";color:black;">Free, “no strings attached” three-day trial</span></b><span style="Arial","sans-serif";font-family:";color:black;">; subscriptions are then available for </span><span style="Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";">$9.99/month.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%"><span style="Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";"><o:p> Thumbplay, which enjoys sustained profitability, has built an award-winning service centered on delivering mobile entertainment content to 95 percent of U.S. devices on every major carrier. Thumbplay will leverage its existing network of more than 8,000 distribution partners to promote Thumbplay Music.</o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";">#<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>#<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>#<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style=" Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";font-size:10.0pt;">ABOUT THUMBPLAY<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:27.0pt;margin-bottom: 0in;margin-left:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";font-size:10.0pt;">Thumbplay, Inc. is the leading mobile entertainment provider in the U.S.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span><a href="http://thumbplaymusic.com/"><span style="mso-bidi-;font-family:Arial;">Thumbplay Music</span></a>, the company’s cloud-based, streaming music service for smartphones and PCs/Macs, was launched in January 2010 with more than 8 million songs under license. Thumbplay.com features licensed music, video and games from some of the world’s largest entertainment companies, including: EMI, Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group, as well as several independent labels and artists and video game companies. Headquartered in New York City, Thumbplay was founded in September 2004. Investors include Bain Capital Ventures, SoftBank Capital, i-Hatch Ventures, Redwood Partners, New Enterprise Associates, Meritech, Brookside Capital Partners and Cross Creek Capital. More information can be found at </span><a href="http://www.thumbplay.com/"><span style="Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";font-size:10.0pt;">www.thumbplay.com</span></a><span style="Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";font-size:10.0pt;"> or at <a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/slietz/Local%20Settings/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.Outlook/RE162O9R/m.thumbplay.com"><span style="mso-bidi-;font-family:Arial;">m.thumbplay.com</span></a> from a mobile phone.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style=" Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";font-size:10.0pt;"><o:p> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; "> </span></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><span style="Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";font-size:10.0pt;"><o:p> *According to comScore (April 2010), <span class="apple-style-span"><span style="Arial","sans-serif";font-family:";color:black;">RIM is the leading mobile smartphone platform in the U.S.</span></span> and Google’s<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="Arial","sans-serif";font-family:";color:black;"> Android</span></span><span style="color:black;">™<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";"> platform is the fastest-growing.</span></span></span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style=" Arial","sans-serif";font-family:";font-size:10.0pt;color:black;"><o:p> <span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-weight: normal; font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:16px;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style=" Arial","sans-serif";font-family:";font-size:10.0pt;color:black;">Thumbplay Music is available on the following smartphones using the</span></b><span style=" Arial","sans-serif";font-family:";font-size:10.0pt;color:black;"> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">Android</b>™ mobile technology platform with an Operating System of 1.6 or higher: (Motorola™) Droid™, Nexus One™, HTC<sup>®</sup> G1™ and the HTC<sup>®</sup> myTouch™ 3G</span></span></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style=" Arial","sans-serif";font-family:";font-size:10.0pt;color:black;"><o:p> <span class="Apple-style-span" style=" font-weight: normal; font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:16px;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style=" Arial","sans-serif";font-family:";font-size:10.0pt;color:black;">Thumbplay Music is currently available on the following</span></b><span style="Arial","sans-serif";font-family:";font-size:10.0pt;color:black;"> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">BlackBerry<sup>®</sup> smartphones</b>: BlackBerry<sup>®</sup> Bold 9000, BlackBerry<sup>®</sup> Bold™ 9700, BlackBerry<sup>®</sup> Curve™ 8900, BlackBerry<sup>®</sup> Tour™ 9630, BlackBerry<sup>®</sup> Storm™ 9530 and the BlackBerry<sup>®</sup> Storm™ 2 9550</span></span></o:p></span></b></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5388994364563850419.post-35949418205810511122010-05-03T08:14:00.000-07:002010-05-03T08:16:20.630-07:00THUMBPLAY MUSIC LAUNCHES ON ANDROID<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; text-align:center;line-height:normal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Premier, Cloud-Based Music Service is the First-of- its-Kind</span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; text-align:center;line-height:normal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">on Both Android</span></i><sup><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">TM</span></sup><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family: "Arial","sans-serif""> and BlackBerry</span></i><sup><span style="font-size: 9.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">® </span></sup><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Smartphones</span></i><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align: left;margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: 150%; "><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">NEW YORK </span></b><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">– 3 MAY 2010 – Thumbplay<sup><span style="color:black">®</span></sup><span style="color:black">,</span> the leading provider of mobile entertainment in the U.S., has launched its cloud-based <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">Thumbplay® Music™</b> (</span><a href="http://www.thumbplaymusic.com/"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">www.thumbplaymusic.com</span></a><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">) service in Android</span><sup><span style="font-size:9.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">TM </span></sup><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Market, providing the Android fan-base with unlimited, anytime/anywhere access to millions of songs. <span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Thumbplay Music is the only on-demand, subscription music service currently available on both the fastest-growing and largest smartphone platforms in the U.S., Android and BlackBerry</span><sup><span style="font-size:9.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">® </span></sup><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">smartphones,<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">* </b>respectively.<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></b>(Complete list of devices below.) The service is also available as a companion app on PCs/Macs</span><sup><span style="font-size:9.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">® </span></sup><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">and it is coming soon on iPhone</span><sup><span style="font-size:9.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">®</span></sup><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: 150%"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><span style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </span>Thumbplay Music has more than eight million tracks under license from all major labels and more than 25,000 independent labels.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Thumbplay Music is a next generation music service, built by experts in mobile content delivery to serve the rapidly growing market of U.S. smartphone users which is forecasted to grow to 160 million people by 2013.**<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: 150%"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><span style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Said <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">Evan Schwartz, CEO</b> and<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"> Co-Founder of Thumbplay, </b><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span><span style="color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">“With Thumbplay Music now live on Android <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">and</i> BlackBerry smartphones, we’re giving tens of millions of people <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">truly </i>portable, anytime, anywhere access to all the music they want.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>We’ve been getting rave reviews from our Android users in Beta, especially when they employ the companion app on PC and see the power of having their complete music collections and playlists in-sync.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>We’re thrilled to deliver a music service worthy of discerning Android fans.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: 150%"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><span style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span><span style="color:black"> </span>Thumbplay Music includes its own in-app media player and boasts several compelling features, including: <o:p></o:p></span></p> <ul style="margin-top:0in" type="disc"> <li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: 150%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Unlimited, on-demand access</span></b><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> to any artist or album; millions of songs to choose from<o:p></o:p></span></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: 150%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Build a personal music collection</span></b><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> with <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">Favorites</b> and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">effortless Playlist creation</b>; auto-sync between smartphone and PC/Mac<o:p></o:p></span></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: 150%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Online and offline access</span></b><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">: No connection? No problem! Listen to music on the subway or in-flight. Available anytime, anywhere. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">(Offline access currently only available on BlackBerry devices; coming soon for Android.)<o:p></o:p></i></span></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: 150%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Playlist Genie for music discovery</span></b><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">: Instantly generate customized recommendations from favorite songs<o:p></o:p></span></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: 150%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Search</span></b><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">: Find music by artist, song, album or genre; includes free previews of all songs<o:p></o:p></span></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: 150%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Import existing iTunes</span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><sup><span style="font-size:10.0pt; line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">®</span></sup></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> playlists</span></b><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> within Thumbplay Music’s companion desktop app. With a few clicks, recreate iTunes playlists and have them available on smartphone and PC/Mac.<o:p></o:p></span></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: 150%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black">Free, “no strings attached” three-day trial</span></b><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; color:black">; subscriptions are then available for </span><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">$9.99/month.<o:p></o:p></span></li> </ul> <p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align: left;margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.1in; line-height: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 32px; "><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span><span style="color:black">Thumbplay, which enjoys sustained profitability, has built an award-winning service centered on delivering millions of pieces of mobile content to 95 percent of U.S. devices among every major carrier. Thumbplay is leveraging its existing network of more than 8,000 distribution partners to promote Thumbplay Music.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: 7.25pt;line-height:200%;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">#<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>#<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>#<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">ABOUT THUMBPLAY<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right:27.0pt"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Thumbplay, Inc. is defining the mobile entertainment experience for U.S. consumers.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Thumbplay.com features licensed music, video and games from some of the world’s largest entertainment companies, including: EMI, Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group, as well as several independent labels and artists and video game companies. Headquartered in New York City, Thumbplay was founded in September 2004 by Are Traasdahl and Evan Schwartz. Investors include Bain Capital Ventures, SoftBank Capital, i-Hatch Ventures, Redwood Partners, New Enterprise Associates, Meritech, Brookside Capital Partners and Cross Creek Capital. More information can be found at </span><a href="http://www.thumbplay.com/"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">www.thumbplay.com</span></a><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> or at m.thumbplay.com from a mobile phone.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:27.0pt;margin-bottom: 0in;margin-left:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"">*According to comScore (April 2010), <span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">RIM is the leading mobile smartphone platform in the U.S.</span></span> and Google’s<span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color:black;mso-themecolor:text1"> Android platform is the fastest-growing. </span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">Thumbplay Music is available on the following smartphones using the</span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black;mso-themecolor:text1"> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">Android</b>™ mobile technology platform with an Operating System of 1.6 or higher: (Motorola™) Droid™, Nexus One™, HTC® G1™ and the HTC® myTouch™ 3G. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:27.0pt;margin-bottom: 0in;margin-left:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">Thumbplay Music is currently available on the following</span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black;mso-themecolor:text1"> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">BlackBerry® smartphones</b>: BlackBerry<sup>®</sup> Bold 9000, BlackBerry<sup>®</sup> Bold™ 9700, BlackBerry<sup>®</sup> Curve™ 8520, BlackBerry<sup>®</sup> Curve™ 8530, BlackBerry<sup>®</sup> Curve™ 8900, BlackBerry<sup>®</sup> Tour™ 9630, BlackBerry<sup>®</sup> Storm™ 9530 and the BlackBerry<sup>®</sup> Storm™ 2 9550. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:27.0pt;margin-bottom: 0in;margin-left:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; color:black">**Yankee Group (2009)<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:27.0pt; margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center; line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; color:black"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">All trademarks property of their respective owners. No partnerships implied. The BlackBerry and RIM families of related marks, images and symbols are the exclusive properties and trademarks of Research In Motion Limited.<span style="color: black"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5388994364563850419.post-77419997414901034942010-04-26T10:48:00.000-07:002010-04-26T10:54:51.815-07:00OTHER CLOUD-BASED MUSIC SERVICES PLAY CATCH-UP TO THUMBPLAY MUSIC<span style="font-weight: bold;">NEW YORK</span> – 26 APRIL 2010 – Thumbplay® MusicTM, which launched its cloud-based music service in January 2010 at CES as a featured partner of RIM®, was also the <span style="font-weight: bold;">first to launch in the U.S. with such features as offline playback</span>. Thumbplay Music is currently featured on numerous BlackBerry® smartphones; BlackBerry is the definitive U.S. smartphone leader with more than 42% marketshare.* Thumbplay Music is also available as a companion app on PCs/Macs® and it is coming soon on AndroidTM and iPhone®.<br /><br />Since launch, Thumbplay Music reports that such features as offline playback (also known as caching), and Playlist Genie, its music discovery tool, have been among the most-used features of the service. <br /><br />Thumbplay Music includes its own in-app media player and boasts several compelling features, including:<br /><br />• <span style="font-weight: bold;">Unlimited, on-demand access </span>to any artist or album; millions of songs to choose from<br />• <span style="font-weight: bold;">Build a personal music collection with Favorites and effortless Playlist creation</span>; auto-sync between smartphone and PC/Mac<br />• <span style="font-weight: bold;">Online and offline access:</span> No connection? No problem! Listen to music on the subway or in-flight. Available anytime, anywhere.<br />• <span style="font-weight: bold;">Playlist Genie for music discovery: </span>Instantly generate customized recommendations from favorite songs<br />• <span style="font-weight: bold;"> Search</span>: Find music by artist, song, album or genre; includes free previews of all songs<br />• <span style="font-weight: bold;">Import existing iTunes® playlists</span> within Thumbplay Music’s companion desktop app. With a few clicks, recreate iTunes playlists and have them available on smartphone and PC/Mac.<br />• <span style="font-weight: bold;">Free, “no strings attached” three-day trial </span><br /><br />Thumbplay Music has more than eight million tracks under license from all major labels and more than 25,000 independent labels. Thumbplay Music is a next generation music service, built by experts in mobile content delivery to serve the rapidly growing market of U.S. smartphone users which is forecasted to grow to 160 million people by 2013.** <br /><br />Thumbplay, which enjoys sustained profitability, has built an award-winning service centered on delivering millions of pieces of mobile content to 95 percent of U.S. devices among every major carrier. Thumbplay is leveraging its existing network of more than 8,000 distribution partners to promote Thumbplay Music.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;"># # #<br /></div><span style="font-weight: bold;">ABOUT THUMBPLAY</span><br />Thumbplay, Inc. is defining the mobile entertainment experience for U.S. consumers. Thumbplay.com features licensed music, video and games from some of the world’s largest entertainment companies, including: EMI, Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group, as well as several independent labels and artists and video game companies. Headquartered in New York City, Thumbplay was founded in September 2004 by Are Traasdahl and Evan Schwartz. Investors include Bain Capital Ventures, SoftBank Capital, i-Hatch Ventures, Redwood Partners, New Enterprise Associates, Meritech, Brookside Capital Partners and Cross Creek Capital. More information can be found at www.thumbplay.com or at m.thumbplay.com from a mobile phone.<br /><br />*According to comScore (April 2010)<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Thumbplay Music is currently available on the following BlackBerry® smartphones: </span>BlackBerry® Bold 9000, BlackBerry® Bold™ 9700, BlackBerry® Curve™ 8520, BlackBerry® Curve™ 8530, BlackBerry® Curve™ 8900, BlackBerry® Tour™ 9630, BlackBerry® Storm™ 9530 and the BlackBerry® Storm™ 2 9550.<br /><br />**Yankee Group (2009)<br /><br /> All trademarks property of their respective owners. No partnerships implied. The BlackBerry and RIM families of related marks, images and symbols are the exclusive properties and trademarks of Research In Motion Limited.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5388994364563850419.post-53736504149148688732010-04-21T08:31:00.001-07:002010-04-21T08:32:54.801-07:00This blog has moved<br /> This blog is now located at http://news.thumbplay.com/.<br /> You will be automatically redirected in 30 seconds, or you may click <a href='http://news.thumbplay.com/'>here</a>.<br /><br /> For feed subscribers, please update your feed subscriptions to<br /> http://news.thumbplay.com/feeds/posts/default.<br /> Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5388994364563850419.post-82540868149012201222010-04-16T11:44:00.000-07:002010-04-16T13:15:51.370-07:00'Cloud' Music Plans No Longer Just Pie In The SkyRYAN NAKASHIMA<br /><br />The Associated Press<br /><br />(AP) — LOS ANGELES - There's no more need to own songs before being able to listen to them at your convenience.<br /><br />No more stacking your CDs on shelves or buying music to download onto computers and mobile devices. Virtually the whole world of recorded music is at your fingertips at any time, for a subscription, over the Internet.<br /><br />Services that make this scenario possible haven't proven very popular yet. But now price cuts and advances in technology could finally drive the idea to the mainstream.<br /><br />For instance, Rhapsody International Inc. and Thumbplay Inc. now offer the ability to pick almost any song or album and play it instantly on a mobile device that connects to the Internet over cell phone networks. The services are $10 a month.<br /><br />Justin Darcy, a 32-year-old sales director at a resort company in San Francisco, says he consumes so much music it would cost him $10,000 a year if he didn't have a Rhapsody plan. He calls it "one of the greatest values in consumer goods I've ever come across."<br /><br />Given the obvious benefit of being able to listen to millions of songs as if they were in your personal stash, why haven't services like these gotten more use?<br /><br />Partly because of poor marketing, previously clunky execution and the fact that people are more familiar with compact discs and downloading songs from Apple Inc.'s iTunes music store. People who spend less than $120 a year on music also wouldn't see the subscription plans as such a great deal.<br /><br />But the music providers hope they can get more customers by making the services easier to use, taking advantage of increasingly robust cell phone networks to deliver the music. And in general, consumers are getting more comfortable using many kinds of services that rely on files stored on distant computers and accessed remotely, a concept known as "cloud computing."<br /><br />The subscription services have come down in price-they generally were $15 a month until recently-and broader adoption could push prices lower still. One big boost could come if Apple begins offering such a service. In December it bought an online music retailer called Lala.com that offers access to songs that users can store in a digital locker. Apple declined to comment on its plans.<br /><br />The subscription services funnel royalties to recording companies, which are eager for new revenue streams to replace CD sales. That once-lucrative business has been declining for years as consumers have shifted to buying individual tracks or pirating music altogether.<br /><br />"We are very bullish on the prospects of subscriptions over time," says Michael Nash, executive vice president of digital strategy for Warner Music Group Corp.<br /><br />One problem is finding the right price for the service and having as many people as possible sign up. If only hard-core music fans subscribe because it lets them reduce their spending, the music industry might end up cannibalizing its other sales.<br /><br />Right now the median U.S. music buyer spends about $80 a year-not enough to make these new services a revolutionary deal, according to Sonal Gandhi, a Forrester Research media analyst. More than half of consumers don't spend anything at all.<br /><br />She predicts the number of U.S. subscribers for such plans will rise from 2.1 million now to 5 million by 2014. Why not more? Among other things, "not everyone wants to be tied to a monthly bill," she says. One solution could be for wireless carriers to bundle a music subscription with their monthly services. Nearly 450,000 Vodafone customers in Europe signed up for unlimited access to 2 million songs last year when the plan was added to a wireless data package for 3 euros ($4) a month.<br /><br />Previous music subscription plans had another problem: They made consumers download songs to their computers and transfer them to approved mobile devices-and none included the iPhone or iPod.<br /><br />That's changing. A $10 monthly plan from MOG Inc. will let people stream music instantly on iPhones and devices that run Google Inc.'s Android software, beginning in May.<br /><br />Users can make unlimited downloads to the device so they have access to music on a plane or in other settings without wireless coverage. MOG's service also has an intelligent shuffle function that lets people control whether randomly selected songs come from just one artist or many similar sounding ones.<br /><br />MOG's CEO and founder, David Hyman, predicts such services will prove so popular that they'll replace CDs and downloads eventually.<br /><br />"If you're the kind of consumer that spends $6 to $10 a month on music, this just blows everything else away," Hyman says.<br /><br />Another new service, Thumbplay, works on several BlackBerry models, and there are plans to launch it on Android devices and iPhones soon, also for $10 a month. To ease iTunes users into the service, the application can copy iTunes playlists immediately over the air, saving potential converts the trouble of remaking them.<br /><br />"The first thing that we want to do is just accept that probably 100 million people out there are using iTunes and make it easy for them to make the transition," says CEO Evan Schwartz.<br /><br />Each of these services has a huge catalog that includes songs from all the major recording companies and many independents. MOG has 7 million tracks. Thumbplay boasts 8 million and Rhapsody claims 9.5 million. None, however, has access to bands that have chosen to remain away from digital outlets, such as the Beatles.<br /><br />There are other ways to listen to music from the cloud, of course. But subscription plans are needed if you want to pick exact songs or albums.<br /><br />For instance, free services like Pandora's Internet radio allow you to select tunes by genre or theme and hear them on portable devices, but you can't choose the precise song or artist you want. Online music services such as MySpace Music allow you to select specific songs or albums-for free, with the site supported by advertising-but you can listen to the tracks only on a computer.<br /><br />No distributor has been able to combine the elements of Pandora and MySpace Music and launch a free, on-demand, mobile music service. Advertisers aren't yet willing to pay enough to cover the higher royalties that recording companies charge for mobile song streams.<br /><br />That leaves many people in the music business hoping that the marriage of subscription plans to better mobility will be the spark that helps reverse the industry's decline.<br /><br />"The Holy Grail is going to be cross-platform, meaning that one subscription lets me hear it on my connected device, on my home computer, on my stereo, in my car," says Donald Passman, a music business lawyer in Los Angeles and author of "All You Need to Know About the Music Business."<br /><br />That multi-device capability was the appeal Rhapsody's service held for Alex Barberis, a 27-year-old software engineer in Miami.<br /><br />Barberis got a Rhapsody subscription as a Christmas present from his brother, but he was about to cancel the plan because the Web site was slow and he didn't have an approved device on which to transfer downloads. However, Barberis changed his mind after Rhapsody released an iPhone application that allows unlimited streaming of 9.5 million songs for $9.99 a month on iPhones and Android devices and works with home stereo systems and in cars.<br /><br />Barberis says the service isn't perfect. It hiccups if he loses cell phone reception in his car. But Rhapsody says it will fix that problem soon by allowing songs to be stored on devices for playback outside of cell phone coverage.<br /><br />"I think overall I'm probably going to try it out for a little while more," Barberis says.<br /><br />http://www.oregonlive.com/newsflash/index.ssf?/base/business-66/1271371858265660.xml&storylist=business&thispage=1Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5388994364563850419.post-58353504213774969122010-04-06T14:04:00.000-07:002010-04-06T14:09:19.269-07:00THUMBPLAY’S JEFF CARR UPPED TO EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, MARKETING<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><i><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black">Carr Driving Subscriber Growth, Includes New Thumbplay Music Service <o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; ">NEW YORK –April 5, 2010–Thumbplay, the leading mobile entertainment company in the U.S., has promoted Jeff Carr to Executive Vice President, Marketing. Carr joined Thumbplay in 2007, most recently serving as Senior Vice President. He has oversight of all marketing initiatives and reports directly to Evan Schwartz, CEO and Co-Founder.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; color:black">Carr drives the company’s subscriber growth, including that of the recently launched Thumbplay Music (</span><a href="http://www.thumbplaymusic.com/"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">www.thumbplaymusic.com</span></a><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black">). Thumbplay Music is an unlimited, on-demand, cloud-based music service available for smartphones and PCs/Macs. Carr also oversees relationships with Thumbplay’s carrier partners. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; color:black">“Jeff is without equal when it comes to developing new member acquisition and retention strategies,” said Schwartz. “He is creative, diligent and has an exceptional understanding of how to match customers with the services and products they want. His experience and talents make him perfectly suited to lead our integrated marketing efforts and to further the deep, collaborative relationships we have with our partners, particularly as we roll out the Thumbplay Music service. This promotion was much-deserved.”</span><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif""><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; color:black"> With more than 12 years in entertainment, direct marketing and social media, Carr is an expert in mobile advertising, online marketing and community development. In the last eight years alone, he has been responsible for the acquisition of more than 10 million online subscribers. Prior to joining Thumbplay, Carr was Vice President of Marketing for Community Connect, a niche community social networking platform. Before that, he was the Senior Director of Online Marketing at Columbia House, where he helped transition the company into an online business. He began his career developing retention programs for CDNOW, one of the first online music retailers. Carr earned a B.A. from The George Washington University.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal; "><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">ABOUT THUMBPLAY</span></b></span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right:27.0pt"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Thumbplay, Inc. is defining the mobile entertainment experience for U.S. consumers. Thumbplay.com features licensed music, video and games from some of the world’s largest entertainment companies, including: EMI, Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group, as well as several independent labels and artists and video game companies. Headquartered in New York City, Thumbplay was founded in September 2004 by Are Traasdahl and Evan Schwartz. Investors include Bain Capital Ventures, SoftBank Capital, i-Hatch Ventures, Redwood Partners, New Enterprise Associates, Meritech, Brookside Capital Partners and Cross Creek Capital. More information can be found at</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt"> </span><a href="http://www.thumbplay.com/"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">www.thumbplay.com</span></a><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> or at m.thumbplay.com from a mobile phone.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right:27.0pt"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> </span><span style="font-size:11.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"">#<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>#<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>#</span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5388994364563850419.post-64199662820124643872010-04-02T13:03:00.000-07:002010-04-02T13:25:08.727-07:00THUMBPLAY MUSIC: What They're Saying...<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">NY Times/GigaOM (Paul Bonanos) </span></span></b><span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">3/4/10 </span></b><a href="http://nyti.ms/bQJbDk"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">http://nyti.ms/bQJbDk</span></span></a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><a href="http://nyti.ms/bQJbDk"></a>“The company’s </span></b></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">deep mobile experience is one key differentiator that sets it apart.”</span></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">“…given its large installed base and understanding of mobile behavior, don’t count Thumbplay out</span></b><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">.”</span></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span><b><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">GigaOM </span></span></b><span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">(Paul Bonanos) 3/17/10</span></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span><span><b><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">“Existing mobile business, install base provide unique advantages.”</span></span></b></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> </span><b><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Time Magazine’s Techland (Peter Ha) </span></span></b><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">2/23/10</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></span><a href="http://bit.ly/a3DNRM"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">http://bit.ly/a3DNRM</span></span></span></a></span></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span><o:p><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><a href="http://bit.ly/a3DNRM"></a>“I was pleasantly surprised. Primarily because the app syncs with the desktop portal and caches your playlists so you can still listen to them even when your device isn't connected. </span></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Neat, right? It is. Trust me</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">.”</span></span></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Wall Street Journal’s All Things D (Peter Kafka) </span></span></b><span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">3/1/2010 </span></b><a href="http://bit.ly/9CaiLS"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">http://bit.ly/9CaiLS</span></span></a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">“The service passes the subway/airplane/”OMG I hate my wireless company” test.”</span></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">“The main difference between Thumbplay and everyone else is that it’s kicking off its launch by targeting Research in Motion’s BlackBerry users, who have pretty much been ignored by music services to date.”</span></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Salon.com (Paul Bonanos) </span></span></b><span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">3/17/10 </span></b><span style="text-decoration:none;text-underline:none"><a href="http://bit.ly/9X7iit"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">http://bit.ly/9X7iit</span></span></a></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span><span style="text-decoration:none;text-underline:none"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><a href="http://bit.ly/9X7iit"></a></span></b></span><span class="dateline"><span><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> </span></b></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">“</span></b></span></span><span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">But why is</span></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> </span></b></span><a href="http://gigaom.com/2010/01/26/how-mog-eventually-found-its-mojo/" target="_blank"><span style="border:none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt:none windowtext 0in;padding:0in"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">MOG</span></b></span></span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> </span></b></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">missing the</span></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> </span></b></span><a href="http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:j9frxqr5ldhe" target="_blank"><span style="border:none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt:none windowtext 0in;padding:0in"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">first</span></b></span></span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> </span></b></span><a href="http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:09frxqr5ldhe" target="_blank"><span style="border:none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt:none windowtext 0in;padding:0in"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">two</span></b></span></span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> </span></b></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Tom Petty albums, while</span></b><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> </span></b></span><a href="http://gigaom.com/2010/03/04/thumbplay%E2%80%99s-mobile-music-service-goes-live/" target="_blank"><span style="border:none windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-alt:none windowtext 0in;padding:0in"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Thumbplay</span></b></span></span></a><span class="apple-converted-space"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> </span></b></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">has them all?"</span></b></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">CNET (Matt Rosoff) </span></span></b><span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">3/4/10 </span></b><a href="http://bit.ly/d8G6tk"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">http://bit.ly/d8G6tk</span></span></a></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">“Sound quality was very good, and I didn't notice any audible differences when testing it over AT&T's 3G service versus my home Wi-Fi network”</span></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">“I was also impressed with the speed of sync between the desktop and BlackBerry versions of the app. </span></b><span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> </span></b></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Whenever I created or updated a playlist in one place, it was almost immediately updated in the other. This is one of the greatest benefits of using a cloud-based music service, and it's nice to see it working so well here.”</span></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">“There's also a nifty "save offline" feature, which lets you cache playlists on the phone so you can play them when you're away from a wireless connection--great for subway commutes or plane trips.”</span></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> </span><b><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Digital Music News (Paul Resnikoff)</span></span></b><span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> 3/2/10<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></span></b><a href="http://bit.ly/cFHnmJ"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">http://bit.ly/cFHnmJ</span></span></a></span></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span><o:p><span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">“In dead zones, one simple solution is to jump into a cached selection, which </span><span class="highlightedsearchterm"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Thumbplay</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> Music makes easy. Even auto-playlists can be saved ahead-of-time for later access, and </span></b><span class="highlightedsearchterm"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Thumbplay</span></b></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> performed quite solidly on a coast-to-coast plane ride.”</span></b></span></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span><o:p><span><b><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Blackberry Insight </span></span></b><span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">1/14/10 </span></b><a href="http://bit.ly/b9mvxo"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">http://bit.ly/b9mvxo</span></span></a></span></span></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span><o:p><span><span><b><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">“The application truly has the potential to completely revolutionize the experience of listening to music.”</span></span></b></span></span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> </span><b><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Crenk (Steven Finch) </span></span></b><span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">1/14/10<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></span></b><a href="http://bit.ly/4r5VaI"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">http://bit.ly/4r5VaI</span></span></a></span></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span><o:p><span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">“The desktop version is currently running on Adobe Air and I must admit it looks very slick!”</span></b></span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> </span><b><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">BerryReview (Ronen Halevy)</span></span></b><span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> 1/14/10 </span></b><a href="http://bit.ly/14j9af"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">http://bit.ly/14j9af</span></span></a></span></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span><o:p><span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">“I got a preview of the upcoming Thumbplay music store that really impressed me. It let you download music OTA to your device with great quality. It worked like a charm on my Bold and let me listen to snippets of each song. It also had great search capabilities like searching by artist or album and drill down options.”</span></b></span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> </span><b><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Mobiletor </span></span></b><span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">1/13/10 </span></b><a href="http://bit.ly/7IVchK"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">http://bit.ly/7IVchK</span></span></a></span></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span><o:p><span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">“Music enthusiasts may be seen pleased as punch on hearing this bit of news.”</span></b></span></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span><o:p><span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">“The Thumbplay Music app offers music fiends a quick, intuitive way to build a personal music collection that automatically synchronizes between smartphones and the desktop app.”</span></b></span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> </span><b><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Crackberry (Kevin Michaluk) </span></span></b><span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">1/11/10 </span></b><a href="http://bit.ly/df8Pn9"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">http://bit.ly/df8Pn9</span></span></a></span></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span><o:p><span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">“</span></b><span class="content"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Looks like a pretty compelling offer for music lovers.”</span></b></span></span></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span><o:p><span><span class="content"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">“One of the most complete in terms of what you get - basically every song you can possibly want to listen to, on demand.”</span></b></span></span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> </span><b><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">MobileApptitude (Will Easton) </span></span></b><span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">9/25/09<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></span></b><a href="http://bit.ly/cuWNCc"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">http://bit.ly/cuWNCc</span></span></a></span></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span><o:p><span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">“So far, I’m pretty impressed.”</span></b></span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> </span><b><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">I4U (Robert Evans) </span></span></b><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">9/2/09 </span><a href="http://bit.ly/ZLEPb"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;">http://bit.ly/ZLEPb</span></span></span></a></span></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span><o:p><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">“If you're using a </span><a href="http://www.i4u.com/article26714.html" target="_blank"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">BlackBerry</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"> or an Android phone and want a place to fill your hard drive up with tunes at a fair price, </span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">Thumbplay offers an excellent service</span></b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">.”</span></span></o:p></span></b></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5388994364563850419.post-24315392108655239752010-03-25T07:14:00.000-07:002010-03-25T07:16:48.482-07:00THUMBPLAY TO FEATURE AMAZON PAYMENTS OPTION IN NEW, CLOUD-BASED THUMBPLAY MUSIC SERVICE<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: 150%"><b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%">LAS VEGAS </span></b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%;mso-bidi-font-weight:bold">– 24 March 2010 </span><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%">– <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="color:black">Thumbplay</span></b><span style="color:black"> has announced that it will leverage Amazon Mobile Payments Service in its new cloud-based Thumbplay Music service. The new payment option for Thumbplay Music customers will be available on smartphones and PCs/Macs within the first half of 2010. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: 150%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%;color:black"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>By utilizing Amazon Payments technology, Thumbplay now offers anyone with an Amazon.com account a convenient, secure way to pay for Thumbplay Music using the login credentials and payment information stored in their Amazon.com accounts. <span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Customers can upgrade their Thumbplay Music accounts and purchase music a la carte (starting at 69 cents).<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6.0pt;line-height:150%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%;color:black"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </span>Said <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">Evan Schwartz, CEO and Co-Founder of Thumbplay</b>: “Our top priority is delivering a great customer experience and that includes everything from making our apps intuitive to delivering a deep catalog of on-demand music to giving consumers effortless payment options that they trust. We are excited to leverage Amazon Payments to make it simple for anyone with an Amazon.com account to subscribe to Thumbplay Music and get access to 8 million tracks on demand from Thumbplay.” <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: 150%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%;color:black"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">Mark Stabingas, GM, Amazon Payments</b>, said: <span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>“We are pleased that Thumbplay is leveraging Amazon Payments to offer a quick, convenient way for Thumbplay customers to pay through their mobile devices and on their computers.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Amazon Payments’ goal is to provide a great customer experience for Amazon.com account holders as they check out and pay for a wide variety of products and services, including digital goods such as music.”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="Default" style="line-height:200%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; line-height:200%"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>Thumbplay Music includes its own in-app media player and boasts several compelling features, including: <o:p></o:p></span></p> <ul style="margin-top:0in" type="disc"> <li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: 150%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%">Unlimited, on-demand access</span></b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%"> to any artist or album; millions of songs to choose from<o:p></o:p></span></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: 150%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%">Online and offline access</span></b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%">. No connection? No problem! Listen to music on the subway or in-flight. Available anytime, anywhere. <o:p></o:p></span></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: 150%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%">Effortless playlist creation</span></b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%">; auto-syncs between smartphone and PC/Mac<o:p></o:p></span></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: 150%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%">Playlist Genie for music discovery</span></b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%">: instantly generate customized recommendations from favorite songs<o:p></o:p></span></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: 150%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%">Build a personal music collection</span></b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%"> with Favorites; auto-sync between smartphone and PC/Mac<o:p></o:p></span></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: 150%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%">Search</span></b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%">: Find music by artist, song, album or genre; includes free previews of all songs<o:p></o:p></span></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: 150%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%">Import existing iTunes<sup>®</sup> playlists</span></b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%"> within Thumbplay Music’s companion desktop app. With a few clicks, recreate iTunes playlists and have them available on smartphone and PC/Mac.<o:p></o:p></span></li> </ul> <p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align: left;margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.1in; line-height: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 30px; "><span style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </span>The Thumbplay Music service includes a free, three-day trial of its unlimited, on-demand service. Thumbplay, which enjoys sustained profitability, has built an award-winning service centered on delivering millions of pieces of mobile content to 95 percent of U.S. devices among every major carrier. Thumbplay will leverage its existing network of more than 8,000 distribution partners to promote Thumbplay Music.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size: 9.0pt;color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><b><span style="font-size:9.0pt;color:black">ABOUT THUMBPLAY </span></b><span style="font-size:9.0pt;color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size: 9.0pt;color:black">Thumbplay, Inc. is defining the mobile entertainment experience for U.S. consumers. Thumbplay.com features licensed music, video and games from some of the world’s largest entertainment companies, including: EMI, Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group, as well as several independent labels and artists and video game companies. Headquartered in New York City, Thumbplay was founded in September 2004 by Are Traasdahl and Evan Schwartz. Investors include Bain Capital Ventures, SoftBank Capital, i-Hatch Ventures, Redwood Partners, New Enterprise Associates, Meritech, Brookside Capital Partners and Cross Creek Capital. More information can be found at <u>www.thumbplay.com </u>or at m.thumbplay.com from a mobile phone. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;color:black"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Forward Looking Statement<br /></span></b><span style="font-size:9.0pt">This announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Actual results may differ significantly from management's expectations. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that include, among others, risks related to competition, management of growth, new products, services and technologies, potential fluctuations in operating results, international expansion, outcomes of legal proceedings and claims, fulfillment center optimization, seasonality, commercial agreements, acquisitions and strategic transactions, foreign exchange rates, system interruption, inventory, government regulation and taxation, payments and fraud. More information about factors that potentially could affect Amazon.com's financial results is included in Amazon.com's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent filings. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size: 9.0pt;color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; text-align:center;line-height:normal;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace: none"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:black"># <span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span># <span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span># <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; text-align:center;line-height:normal;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace: none"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;color:black">All trademarks property of their respective owners. No partnerships implied. The BlackBerry and RIM families of related marks, images and symbols are the exclusive properties and trademarks of Research In Motion Limited. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:black">Contact: </span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;color:black">Susan Lietz, Thumbplay<span style="mso-tab-count:6"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><u><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:black"><a href="mailto:Susan.Lietz@thumbplay.com">Susan.Lietz@thumbplay.com</a> </span></u><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;color:black">(+1) 917.499.5053 <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p align="center" style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center; line-height:18.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black">#<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>#<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>#<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5388994364563850419.post-70323336557331155992010-03-25T07:10:00.000-07:002010-03-25T07:14:42.681-07:00THUMBPLAY MUSIC IS NOW IN PUBLIC BETA; LAUNCHES ON BLACKBERRY APP WORLD™<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; text-align:center;line-height:normal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">-- New Cloud-Based, On-Demand Music Service for Smartphones and PC/Macs</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt; text-align:center;line-height:normal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""></span></i><sup><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; "><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">to be Showcased at CTIA on the BlackBerry</span></i><sup><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">®</span></sup><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> Booth</span></i></span></span></sup></p> <p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align: left;margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: 150%; "><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">NEW YORK </span></b><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">– 18 March 2010 – <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">Thumbplay </b>(</span><a href="http://www.thumbplay.com/"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">www.thumbplay.com</span></a><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">)<span style="color:black">,</span> the leading provider of mobile entertainment in the U.S., today announced that the cloud-based <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">Thumbplay Music</b> service is now available in Public Beta.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>The service was previously available by invitation-only.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>In addition, the free application is now on <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">BlackBerry App World</b></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><sup><span style="font-size:8.0pt; line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">™</span></sup></b><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">, providing BlackBerry</span><sup><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">®</span></sup><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> smartphone users in the U.S. unlimited, on-demand access to millions of songs. Thumbplay Music (www.thumbplaymusic.com) is a next generation music service, built by experts in mobile content delivery to serve the rapidly growing market of U.S. smartphone users which is forecasted to grow to 160 million people by 2013.*</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: 150%"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><span style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </span>At the upcoming CTIA Wireless conference in <st1:city st="on">Las Vegas</st1:city> (March 23-25, 2010), Thumbplay Music will be demonstrated at the BlackBerry booth (Booth #3506 – Central Hall). <span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>The service is currently available on select BlackBerry</span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="font-size: 8.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> </span></b><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">smartphones** and PCs/Macs<sup>®</sup>. Just weeks after its initial launch, Thumbplay has added support for three additional BlackBerry smartphones to the service, including the popular <span style="color:black">BlackBerry<sup>®</sup> Bold</span></span><sup><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; color:black">™</span></sup><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; color:black"> 9700, the BlackBerry</span><sup><span style="font-size:10.0pt; line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black">® </span></sup><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black">Storm</span><sup><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; color:black">™</span></sup><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; color:black"> 9530 and the BlackBerry</span><sup><span style="font-size:10.0pt; line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black">®</span></sup><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"> Storm2</span><sup><span style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";color:black">™</span></sup><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; color:black"> 9550 smartphones.</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height: 150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </span></span><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: 150%"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><span style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Said Evan Schwartz, CEO and Co-Founder of Thumbplay: <span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span><span style="color:black;mso-themecolor:text1">“We’re pleased to be building on our great relationship with RIM, particularly </span>as we embark on our public launch.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Our Private Beta customers gave us extremely positive feedback, and countless smartphone users have requested access to the service, enabling us to now ‘push play’ and make Thumbplay Music widely available.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Our experience in this space has proven to be a tremendous advantage -- I don’t believe there is another company in the U.S. today that can offer a service built with mobile as its centerpiece that is this feature-rich, and with a catalog this deep. We are off to a great start.<span style="color:black">”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: 150%"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><span style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span><span style="color:black"> </span>Thumbplay Music includes its own in-app media player and boasts several compelling features, including: <o:p></o:p></span></p> <ul style="margin-top:0in" type="disc"> <li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: 150%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Unlimited, on-demand access</span></b><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> to any artist or album; millions of songs to choose from<o:p></o:p></span></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: 150%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Build a personal music collection</span></b><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> with Favorites; auto-sync between smartphone and PC/Mac<o:p></o:p></span></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: 150%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Online and offline access</span></b><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">. No connection? No problem! Listen to music on the subway or in-flight. Available anytime, anywhere. <o:p></o:p></span></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: 150%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Effortless playlist creation</span></b><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">; auto-sync’s between smartphone and PC/Mac<o:p></o:p></span></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: 150%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Playlist Genie for music discovery</span></b><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">: Instantly generate customized recommendations from favorite songs<o:p></o:p></span></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: 150%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Search</span></b><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> – Find music by artist, song, album or genre; includes free previews of all songs<o:p></o:p></span></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: 150%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Import existing iTunes</span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><sup><span style="font-size:10.0pt; line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">®</span></sup></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> playlists</span></b><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> within Thumbplay Music’s companion desktop app. With a few clicks, recreate iTunes playlists and have them available on smartphone and PC/Mac.<o:p></o:p></span></li> </ul> <p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align: left;margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0.1in; line-height: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 32px; "><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </span></span><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Thumbplay Music has more than eight million tracks under license from all major labels and more than 25,000 independent labels. <span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span><span style="color:black">The unlimited, on-demand service includes a free, three-day trial and subscriptions are then available for </span>$9.99/month.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: 7.25pt;line-height:200%;mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span><span style="color:black">Thumbplay, which enjoys sustained profitability, has built an award-winning service centered on delivering millions of pieces of mobile content to 95 percent of U.S. devices among every major carrier. Thumbplay will leverage its existing network of more than 8,000 distribution partners to promote Thumbplay Music. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align: left;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">#<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>#<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>#<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"">ABOUT THUMBPLAY<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right:27.0pt"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"">Thumbplay, Inc. is defining the mobile entertainment experience for <st1:city st="on">U.S.</st1:city> consumers. <span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Thumbplay.com features licensed music, video and games from some of the world’s largest entertainment companies, including: EMI, Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group, as well as several independent labels and artists and video game companies. Headquartered in <st1:city st="on">New York City</st1:city>, Thumbplay was founded in September 2004 by Are Traasdahl and Evan Schwartz. Investors include Bain Capital Ventures, SoftBank Capital, i-Hatch Ventures, Redwood Partners, New Enterprise Associates, Meritech, Brookside Capital Partners and Cross Creek Capital. More information can be found at</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%"> </span><a href="http://www.thumbplay.com/"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"">www.thumbplay.com</span></a><span style="font-size:10.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman""> or at m.thumbplay.com from a mobile phone.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 27pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; "><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"">#<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>#<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>#<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 27pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; "><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; color:black">*Yankee Group (2009)<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align: left;margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 27pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; "><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; color:black">**Thumbplay Music supports the following BlackBerry smartphones: BlackBerry<sup>®</sup> Tour™, BlackBerry<sup>®</sup> Bold<sup>™</sup> 9000, BlackBerry<sup>®</sup> Bold<sup>™</sup> 9700, BlackBerry<sup>®</sup> Storm<sup>™</sup> 9530 and the BlackBerry<sup>®</sup> Storm2<sup>™</sup> 9550, and BlackBerry<sup>®</sup> Curve<sup>™</sup> 8900.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Support for additional devices coming soon. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; color:black"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt">All trademarks property of their respective owners. No partnerships implied. The BlackBerry and RIM families of related marks, images and symbols are the exclusive properties and trademarks of Research In Motion Limited.</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Contact: <o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Susan Lietz<span style="mso-tab-count:3"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><a href="mailto:Susan.Lietz@thumplay.com"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Susan.Lietz@thumplay.com</span></a><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> <span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">917.499.5053<span style="mso-tab-count:3"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5388994364563850419.post-10338185816976124612010-03-01T07:28:00.000-08:002010-03-01T07:36:30.916-08:00EXEC DEPARTS APPLE TO LEAD TECH FOR NEW CLOUD-BASED MUSIC SERVICE, THUMBPLAY MUSIC<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in; margin-bottom:0in;margin-left:.75in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:center; line-height:normal"><i><span style="font-family:Arial;"><b>-- Pablo Calamera Named Chief Technology Officer at Thumbplay -- </b><o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align: left;margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px; "><b><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">NEW YORK</span></span></span></b><span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> – 1 March 2010– Pablo Calamera has been appointed to the newly-created role of Chief Technology Officer for Thumbplay, the leading mobile entertainment company in the U.S. Calamera joins Thumbplay from Apple</span></span></b><sup><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">®</span></span></b></sup><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> Inc where he oversaw technology development for MobileMe</span></span></b></span><sup><span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">SM</span></span></b></span></sup><span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">, a pioneering, cloud-based data-syncing product for iPhones</span></span></b></span><sup><span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">®</span></span></b></span></sup><span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">, PCs and Macs</span></span></b></span><sup><span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">®</span></span></b></span></sup><span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">.</span></span></b><span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></b></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">As of March 8, 2010, </span></span></b></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Calamera will be based in New York, reporting</span></span></b><span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> to Evan Schwartz, Thumbplay CEO and Co-Founder.</span></span></b></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: 150%"><span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></b><span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></b></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> Calamera brings with him more than 25 years experience in PC, Mobile, set-top box and cloud-computing–this includes a total of 10 years at Apple, six years at Danger (acquired by Microsoft) and two with WebTV (also acquired by Microsoft).</span></span></b><span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></b></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Calamera will have oversight of all technology initiatives for the company, including its recently launched Thumbplay Music. Thumbplay Music is a cloud-based service that </span></span></b></span><span class="apple-style-span"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">provides unlimited, on-demand access to millions of songs and is now offered in the U.S. in Private Beta by invitation-only (</span></span></b></span><a href="http://music.thumbplay.com/"><span class="Hyperlink1"><span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">http://music.thumbplay.com</span></span></span></b></span></span></a><span class="apple-style-span"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">). </span></span></b></span><span class="apple-style-span"><span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></b></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: 150%"><span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> Commented Schwartz: “We are thrilled to have Pablo join our team. He has unique experience with Apple, Danger and WebTV in delivering and syncing content across multiple platforms for a scaled customer base. He has also managed major integrations with U.S. and international carriers; an area of ongoing strategic importance for us. Over the course of his career, he has done an extraordinary job of building state-of-the-art consumer products and services from </span></span></b></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">concept to completion. </span></span></b><span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Technological innovation is paramount to Thumbplay, and Pablo’s talent, experience and commitment to excellence will play a vital role in keeping us at the forefront of mobile entertainment offerings.” </span></span></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: 150%"><span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></b></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Remarked Calamera: “Thumbplay has an incredible talent pool, and they have done a remarkable job in building robust, feature-rich services that deliver beautifully across multiple platforms. This is a very difficult thing to do, and I have been consistently impressed with the energy, smarts and creativity on display. I am greatly looking forward to working with Evan and the entire Thumbplay team to deliver against our very ambitious goals for the future.”</span></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align: left;margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: 150%; "><span><span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></b></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> Calamera most recently served as Director of Apple’s MobileMe, </span></span></b></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">a mass scale premium consumer service providing client/server solutions that are integrated into devices, operating systems and desktop applications. MobileMe supports millions of worldwide active users on a daily basis. Prior to Apple, from 2001–2006, he was the Senior Director of Service Engineering and Support for Danger Inc., where he lead the service engineering team for the </span></span></b><span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">first real consumer smartphone - the Sidekick. Before that, he was at </span></span></b></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">NotifyMe Networks as CTO and Vice President of Engineering for a trailblazing voice alerting application service provider (ASP) which, for the first time, brought the dynamic/interactive power of the Internet to every telephone. He has also served in critical roles at AT&T Labs, WebTV Networks and also held previous positions at Apple early in his career.</span></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent: .5in;line-height:150%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Thumbplay’s latest offering, Thumbplay Music, is currently available on select BlackBerry</span></span></b><sup><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">®</span></span></b></sup><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> smartphones and its companion app for PCs/Macs is available through a downloadable Adobe</span></span></b><sup><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">®</span></span></b></sup><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">AIR</span></span></b><sup><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">®</span></span></b></sup><span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></b></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">version. </span></span></b><span class="apple-style-span"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Thumbplay Music </span></span></b></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">is a next generation service, built by experts in mobile content delivery and will be a</span></span></b><span class="apple-style-span"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">vailable for BlackBerry, Android</span></span></b></span><span class="apple-style-span"><sup><span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">™</span></span></b></span></sup><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> and iPhone smartphones within the first quarter of 2010. Today, the service has more than 8 million tracks under license from</span></span></b></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> EMI, Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group</span></span></b><span class="apple-style-span"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> and more than 25,000 independent labels.<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: 150%"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> Thumbplay Inc., which enjoys sustained profitability, has an award-winning service centered on delivering millions of pieces of mobile content to 95 percent of U.S. devices among every major carrier. Thumbplay will leverage its existing network of more than 8,000 distribution partners to promote Thumbplay Music. </span></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><span><o:p><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></b></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">ABOUT THUMBPLAY<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Thumbplay, Inc. is defining the mobile entertainment experience for U.S. consumers. Headquartered in New York City, Thumbplay was founded in September 2004 by Are Traasdahl and Evan Schwartz. Investors include Bain Capital Ventures, SoftBank Capital, i-Hatch Ventures, Redwood Partners, New Enterprise Associates, Meritech, Brookside Capital Partners and Cross Creek Capital. More information can be found at </span></span></b></span><a href="http://www.thumbplay.com/"><span class="Hyperlink1"><span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">www.thumbplay.com</span></span></span></b></span></span></a><span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> or at m.thumbplay.com from a mobile phone.</span></span></b><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5388994364563850419.post-45568364802239696892010-02-10T15:09:00.000-08:002010-02-10T15:10:33.069-08:00THUMBPLAY’S CHRIS PHENNER JOINS DIGITAL MUSIC FORUM EAST PANEL TO DISCUSS THE FUTURE OF MOBILE APPS AND MUSIC<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Phenner’s Participation Comes on the Heels of the Launch of Thumbplay Music <o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; color:navy"><o:p> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; "><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">NEW YORK</span></b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> – February 9, 2010 – Chris Phenner, EVP of Business Development for Thumbplay<sup>®</sup>, will speak on the future of mobile music at Digital Music Forum East (</span><a href="http://www.digitalmusicforum.com/east/"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">www.digitalmusicforum.com/east/</span></a><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">) on February 24<sup>th</sup>, 2010 in New York City. Thumbplay, the leading mobile entertainment company in the U.S., recently launched Thumbplay Music<sup><span style="color:black">TM</span></sup>, a cloud-based music service that <span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color:black">provides unlimited, on-demand access to millions of songs and is now offered in Beta by invitation-only (request at </span></span></span><a href="http://music.thumbplay.com/"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; color:black">http://music.thumbplay.com</span></a><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; color:black">). </span></span><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Thumbplay Music is a next generation music service, built by experts in mobile content delivery to serve the rapidly growing market of U.S. smartphone users which is forecasted to grow to 160 million people by 2013.**<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></span></span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 16px; "><b><span style="font-size:11.0pt; line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black">PANEL TOPIC - MOBILE APPS: What's Next?</span></b></span></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; color:black">Music apps for smart phones and social networks are the hot new way for artists to keep fans updated with new information, exclusive videos, chat rooms, and Twitter-style news feeds. This panel will discuss the opportunities around music apps with a focus on how artists and labels and using apps to promote and even distribute music. How is Apple's App Store evolving? What can we expect with the launch of the RIM/BlackBerry and Android app stores? What kind of innovation are we seeing with apps in overseas markets? What is the next frontier of mobile apps and the music industry?<br /><br /></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"">About Chris Phenner<o:p></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Phenner has nearly 15 years experience in software, digital media and online subscription services. Prior to Thumbplay, Phenner was director of business development at Audible, Inc., business development manager at CNET Networks' Download.com; and, prior to that, served as director of business development at Napster (1.0). He was also business development manager at RollingStone.com and in marketing with Spyglass, Mosaic's original licensor.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Phenner has a B.A. in Political Science from Miami University and an MBA from a dual-degree program with U.C. Berkeley and Columbia University.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman""><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: normal; font-size: 16px; "><b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; color:black">Panelists:</span></b></span></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";color:black"> Chris Phenner, EVP, Business Development, <b>Thumbplay</b> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; color:black">Syd Schwartz, SVP Global Digital Marketing, <b>EMI North America<br /></b>Mike Scogin, VP, Wireless, <b>MTV Mobile at MTV Networks<br /></b>Pete Watson, Sr. Bus. Dev. Manager,<b> Research in Motion Limited (RIM) / BlackBerry</b><br />Jim Rondinelli, SVP, Strategic Development, <strong><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"">Slacker</span></strong><u><br />Moderator</u>: </span><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Aydin Caginalp, Partner, Ent. & Media Group, <strong><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"">Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP<o:p></o:p></span></strong></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 16px; "><span style="font-size:11.0pt; line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"">Media interested in attending the panel can register at </span><a href="http://www.dmwmedia.com/form/press-registration-2010"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"">http://www.dmwmedia.com/form/press-registration-2010</span></a><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"">.</span></span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman""><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5388994364563850419.post-76617240831645011682010-02-10T15:00:00.000-08:002010-02-10T15:07:38.883-08:00THE ECHO NEST and THUMBPLAY PARTNER FOR MUSIC DISCOVERY FEATURES<pre style="line-height:150%"><span class="apple-style-span"><b><span style="line-height:150%; Calibri","sans-serif";font-family:";font-size:11.0pt;color:black;"> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 24px; white-space: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The Echo Nest, a music intelligence platform that helps developers make online music smarter, announced today that it is enabling advanced music discovery for the new Thumbplay Music service. The Echo Nest is powered by the world's first machine learning system for music that actually reads about music and listens to music everywhere on the web. At </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: normal; "><a href="http://developer.echonest.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">http://developer.echonest.com/</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: 24px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">developers can easily tap into this deep musical understanding to create more intelligent, engaging and interactive music applications. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: normal; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: 24px; "><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">cloud-based Thumbplay Music provides unlimited, on-demand access to millions of songs and is now offered in Beta in the U.S. by invitation-only (request at </span></span><a href="http://www.thumbplay.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">http://www.thumbplay.com/</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">) Thumbplay and The Echo Nest are working together to offer users a wide range of music discovery and interactive playlisting experiences. Notably, the new service includes </span></span></span></span><span style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">AutoPlaylist, the first mobile application of its kind in the U.S., which allows users to instantly-generate playlists based on a single, selected track.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></b></span></pre> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%;tab-stops:45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt"><span style="color:black;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Thumbplay Music is currently available </span></span></b></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">on select BlackBerry</span></span></b><sup><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">®</span></span></b></sup><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> smartphones and its companion app for PCs/Macs</span></span></b><sup><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">®</span></span></b></sup><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> is available through a downloadable </span></span></b><span style="color:black;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Adobe</span></span></b><sup><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">®</span></span></b></sup><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">AIR</span></span></b><sup><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">®</span></span></b></sup></span><span style="color:#1F497D;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></b></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">version</span></span></b><span style="color:black;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">. </span></span></b><span class="apple-style-span"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Thumbplay Music </span></span></b></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">is a next generation service, built by experts in mobile content delivery and will be widely a</span></span></b><span class="apple-style-span"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">vailable on BlackBerry, Android</span></span></b></span></span><span class="apple-style-span"><sup><span style="color:#333333;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">™</span></span></b></span></sup><span style="color:black;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> and iPhone</span></span></b><sup><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">®</span></span></b></sup><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> smartphones within the first quarter of 2010. Today, the service has more than 8 million tracks under license from all major labels and more than 25,000 independent labels.</span></span></b></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%;tab-stops:45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt"><span class="apple-style-span"><span style="color:black;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></b></span></span><span style="color:black;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">AutoPlaylist applies The Echo Nest’s combined understanding of a song’s musical attributes, such as tempo, instrumentation, key, time signature, energy, harmonic and timbral structures along with cultural attributes such as an artist’s popularity and fan base, resulting in the most </span></span></b><span class="apple-style-span"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">comprehensive and intuitive mobile playlisting experience available anywhere. All Thumbplay Music playlists are </span></span></b></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">fully interactive and users can add to, delete or change playlists at any time. In addition, after discovering a new artist, users can listen to full albums on demand. Playlists are also available for offline playback when a network connection is unavailable.</span></span></b></span><span style="color:#1F497D;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%;tab-stops:45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt"><b><span style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span></b><span style="color:black;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Jim Lucchese, CEO of The Echo Nest said: “We are having a great time collaborating with Thumbplay. Both companies share an obsession with giving fans more immersive, interactive music discovery experiences around Thumbplay’s huge music catalog. We’ve been very impressed with the speed of product development and the incredible growth in their catalog over a very short period of time.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%;tab-stops:45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt"><span style="color:black;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> Added Evan Schwartz, CEO and Co-Founder of Thumbplay: “The brilliant team at The Echo Nest has delivered functionality to Thumbplay Music that has not been realized before on any other mobile service. Now music fans have all of their favorite functions on one service -- unlimited, on-demand music on their smartphones and PCs/Macs, online and offline play, wireless syncing between devices and notably, the incredibly intuitive, dynamic music discovery tools that we built with The Echo Nest. People are very impressed when they see AutoPlaylist in action; and, of course, this is just the beginning of our work together.” <o:p></o:p></span></span></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%;tab-stops:45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt"><span style="color:black;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> Thumbplay, which enjoys sustained profitability, has built an award-winning service centered on delivering millions of pieces of mobile content to 95 percent of U.S. devices among every major carrier. Thumbplay will leverage its existing network of more than 8,000 distribution partners to promote Thumbplay Music. <o:p></o:p></span></span></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">ABOUT THE ECHO NEST<o:p></o:p></span></span></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:6.0pt;tab-stops:45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt; text-autospace:none"><span style="color:black;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The Echo Nest is a music intelligence company co-founded by two MIT Media Lab PhDs, Brian Whitman Tristan Jehan. </span></span></b></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Powered by the world’s first machine learning platform for music, The Echo Nest makes it easy for developers to build more intelligent, engaging and interactive music applications. The Echo Nest’s customers and partners include leading online music services, record labels and a growing army of the smartest independent application developers in the world. </span></span></b><span style="color:black;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The company is a three-time National Science Foundation SBIR grant winner and is funded by Commonwealth Capital Ventures, Argos Management and angel investors, including two co-founders of the MIT Media Lab. </span></span></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><o:p><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">ABOUT THUMBPLAY</span></span></b></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Thumbplay, Inc. is defining the mobile entertainment experience for U.S. consumers. Thumbplay.com features licensed music, video and games from some of the world’s largest entertainment companies, including: EMI, Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group, as well as several independent labels and artists and video game companies. Headquartered in New York City, Thumbplay was founded in September 2004 by Are Traasdahl and Evan Schwartz. Investors include Bain Capital Ventures, SoftBank Capital, i-Hatch Ventures, Redwood Partners, New Enterprise Associates, Meritech, Brookside Capital Partners and Cross Creek Capital. More information can be found at </span></span></b><a href="http://www.thumbplay.com/"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">www.thumbplay.com</span></span></b></a><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> or at m.thumbplay.com from a mobile phone.</span></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;margin-right: 27pt; "><o:p><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> # # #</span></span></b></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">All trademarks property of their respective owners. No partnerships implied. </span></span></b></span><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><a name="OLE_LINK5"></a><a name="OLE_LINK1"></a><a name="OLE_LINK2"></a>The BlackBerry and RIM families of related marks, images and symbols are the exclusive properties and trademarks of Research In Motion Limited. </span></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:black;"><o:p><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></b></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops:45.8pt 91.6pt 137.4pt 183.2pt 229.0pt 274.8pt 320.6pt 366.4pt 412.2pt 458.0pt 503.8pt 549.6pt 595.4pt 641.2pt 687.0pt 732.8pt"><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5388994364563850419.post-48482822539151336372010-02-03T09:47:00.000-08:002010-02-03T09:50:51.622-08:00THUMBPLAY FORGES 20 NEW CONTENT DEALS FOR JUST-LAUNCHED THUMBPLAY MUSIC; 8 MILLION TRACKS NOW UNDER LICENSE FOR THE CLOUD-BASED, ON-DEMAND SERVICE<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">-- Beggars Group, Merge Records, Redeye Distribution, Tunecore and Others Join All Major Labels<o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>to Deliver <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">Unlimited Music for Smartphones/PCs</span> <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold">-- </span><o:p></o:p></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"">NEW YORK</span></b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman""> – 3 February 2010 – </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height: 150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Thumbplay </span></b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">(</span><a href="http://www.thumbplay.com/"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">www.thumbplay.com</span></a><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">), the leading mobile entertainment company in the U.S., has forged agreements with 20 new content partners for its new Thumbplay Music application.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>The number of tracks currently under license for the service now exceeds 8 million. Included in the latest round of content deals for the app are: Beggars Group, Merge Records, Redeye Distribution and Tunecore.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>The announcement comes just weeks after Thumbplay announced the service’s Private Beta launch with content from Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group and EMI Music </span><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family: "Arial","sans-serif";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"">as well as CD Baby, INgrooves, IODA and The Orchard</span><span style="font-size:11.0pt; line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></span><span style="font-size:11.0pt; line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"">Thumbplay Music is a cloud-based, subscription music service that provides unlimited, on-demand access to millions of songs. </span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"> It is a next generation music service, built by experts in mobile content delivery, to serve the rapidly growing market of U.S. smartphone users, which is forecasted to grow to 160 million people by 2013.**<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></span><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span></span><span style="font-size:11.0pt; line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Thumbplay also announced today that it has closed deals with: <span style="color:black;mso-themecolor: text1">AWAL; BFM Digital; DashGo; Dig Dis; E1 Music;<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Finetunes; IRIS; Nettwerk; Nu Urban; Oseao; Rebeat Digital; Record Union; RouteNote; Sundesire Records, Symphonic Distribution and The state51Conspiracy. <span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></span>As of today, Thumbplay includes more than 25,000 <span style="color:black; mso-themecolor:text1">independent labels and more than 75,000 do-it-yourself artists.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>Currently, Thumbplay Music is available by invitation-only (request at </span><a href="http://music.thumbplay.com/"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height: 150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"">http://music.thumbplay.com</span></a><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"">) on select BlackBerry<sup>®</sup> Smartphones* and on PCs/Macs<sup>®</sup> through a downloadable </span><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; color:black">Adobe<sup>®</sup>AIR<sup>®</sup></span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D"> </span><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"">desktop version.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>The app is scheduled to launch widely to consumers within the first quarter of 2010 and will be available on Android, iPhone and additional BlackBerry smartphones.</span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:2.25pt;line-height:150%"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height: 150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </span>Evan Schwartz</span></b><span style="font-size:11.0pt; line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black">, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">Thumbplay CEO and Co-Founder </b>said, “Our goal is to offer music fans the widest selection possible – spanning every genre out there – and to provide an effortless way to discover new artists.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>I believe the speed with which we’ve been able to close deals for Thumbplay Music speaks to the strength of the app and the great need for a full service, on-demand and portable music experience.”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">According to Simon Wheeler, Director of Digital at Beggars Group</b>, “We are extremely proud to include our artists and labels in the new Thumbplay Music service. It delivers on its promise of a great experience for music fans wherever they listen to music. Whether on their smartphones or at their computers, fans of our artists and labels, including 4AD, Matador, Rough Trade and XL Recordings, can listen to new releases the minute they are available. This includes the recent USA number one album from Vampire Weekend as well as Cat Power, The National, The xx and Jarvis Cocker and more great artists from our catalogue like The Pixies, The Cult, Interpol and The Prodigy. Thumbplay Music is a great music service for fans of our original, creative music.”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:2.25pt;line-height:150%"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; color:black">Redeye Marketing Director, Josh Wittman</span></b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; color:black">, added, “Thumbplay Music is a big win for music fans–‘must-have’ tunes are always at hand, and it is a <i>great</i> music discovery tool. You’ll soon be able to find and play music from all of our artists including Liam Finn, Nick Lowe, Robyn Hitchcock, Elliott Smith, The Decemberists, Gossip, DeVotchKa, The Black Keys, Laura Veirs, The Annuals and Pelican–and all right on your phone and PC. We’re delivering content from all of the Redeye labels, including Yep Roc, Luaka Bop, Kill Rock Stars, Ace Fu, Hydra Head, Bomp/Alive and Sargent House. We’re thrilled to be on board with a next generation music service that is worthy of the fans of our great music.”</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:2.25pt;line-height:150%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>Thumbplay Music includes its own <span style="mso-bidi-font-weight:bold">in-app media player</span> and boasts several compelling features, including:<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:38.25pt;text-indent:-.25in;line-height: 150%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; line-height:150%;font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height: 150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Unlimited, on-demand access</span></b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> to any artist or album; includes millions of high-quality songs <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:38.25pt;text-indent:-.25in;line-height: 150%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; line-height:150%;font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height: 150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black">Online </span></b><b><i><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">and </span></i></b><b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">offline<span style="color:#1F497D"> </span><span style="color:black">smartphone access</span></span></b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">, listen to music without Wi-Fi<sup>®</sup> or network connection<span style="color:black">.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Whether underground or mid-flight, playlists are available for listening offline–delivering <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">true</i> portability </b></span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:38.25pt;text-indent:-.25in;line-height: 150%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; line-height:150%;font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; color:black">Effortless p</span></b><b><span style="font-size:11.0pt; line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">laylist creation; add songs or albums to playlists which automatically, wirelessly synchronize</span></b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> across PC, Mac and Smartphone devices<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:4.0pt; margin-left:38.25pt;text-indent:-.25in;line-height:110%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:110%;font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family:Symbol;color:black"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height: 110%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">AutoPlaylist </span></b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:110%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-weight:bold">– <b>Instantly generate</b></span><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:110%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""> expert recommendations based on favorite songs; a great way to discover new music</span><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:110%;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:4.0pt; margin-left:38.25pt;text-indent:-.25in;line-height:110%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:110%;font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family:Symbol;color:black"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height: 110%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">iTunes<sup>®</sup> playlist re-creation </span></b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:110%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-font-weight:bold">within<b> </b></span><span style="font-size:11.0pt; line-height:110%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black">Thumbplay Music’s desktop app. With a few clicks, recreate iTunes playlists and have them available on your PC and smartphone.</span><span style="font-size:11.0pt; line-height:110%;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black"><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:4.0pt; margin-left:38.25pt;text-indent:-.25in;line-height:110%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:110%;font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family:Symbol;color:black;mso-bidi-font-weight:bold"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height: 110%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black">Search </span></b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:110%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; color:black;mso-bidi-font-weight:bold">– Find </span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;line-height:110%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black">music by artist, song, album or genre; includes free previews of all songs<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:38.25pt;text-indent:-.25in;line-height: 150%;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><span style="font-size:11.0pt; line-height:150%;font-family:Symbol;mso-fareast-font-family:Symbol;mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol;color:black"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; color:black">Favorites</span></b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height: 150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black"> – a quick, intuitive way to <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal">build a personal music collection</b> that automatically synchronizes between smartphones and the desktop app<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:.5in;line-height:150%"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; color:black">The Thumbplay Music service will include a free, three-day trial of its unlimited, on-demand service.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Following the trial period, subscriptions are $9.99 per month.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></span><span style="font-size:11.0pt; line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:navy"><br /></span><span style="font-size:11.0pt;line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; color:black"><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>Thumbplay, which enjoys sustained profitability, has built an award-winning service centered on delivering millions of pieces of mobile content to 95 percent of U.S. devices among every major carrier.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Thumbplay will leverage its existing network of more than 8,000 distribution partners to promote Thumbplay Music.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman""><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-weight: normal; font-size: 16px; "><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"">ABOUT THUMBPLAY</span></b></span></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right:27.0pt"><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"">Thumbplay, Inc. is defining the mobile entertainment experience for <st1:city st="on">U.S.</st1:city> consumers. <span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Thumbplay.com features licensed music, video and games from some of the world’s largest entertainment companies, including: EMI, Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group, as well as several independent labels and artists and video game companies. Headquartered in <st1:city st="on">New York City</st1:city>, Thumbplay was founded in September 2004 by Are Traasdahl and Evan Schwartz. Investors include Bain Capital Ventures, SoftBank Capital, i-Hatch Ventures, Redwood Partners, New Enterprise Associates, Meritech, Brookside Capital Partners and Cross Creek Capital. More information can be found at</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt"> </span><a href="http://www.thumbplay.com/"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"">www.thumbplay.com</span></a><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman""> or at m.thumbplay.com from a mobile phone.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;margin-right: 27pt; "><span style="font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman""><o:p> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 15px; ">#<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>#<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>#</span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; color:black">All trademarks property of their respective owners. No partnerships implied. </span><a name="OLE_LINK5"></a><a name="OLE_LINK2"></a><a name="OLE_LINK1"><span style="mso-bookmark:OLE_LINK2"><span style="mso-bookmark: OLE_LINK5"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The BlackBerry and RIM families of related marks, images and symbols are the exclusive properties and trademarks of Research In Motion Limited. <o:p></o:p></span></span></span></a></p> <span style="mso-bookmark:OLE_LINK5"></span><span style="mso-bookmark:OLE_LINK2"></span><span style="mso-bookmark:OLE_LINK1"></span> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; color:black"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5388994364563850419.post-8433026412922537012010-01-07T07:01:00.000-08:002010-01-14T05:16:08.200-08:00THUMBPLAY MUSIC - PRIVATE BETA - LAUNCHES AT CES 2010; UNLIMITED MUSIC APP "SINGS" ON BLACKBERRY SMARTPHONES AND ON ALL PCs<span style="font-size:100%;">-- <em>Leading Mobile Entertainment Provider Delivers Music Service with Unlimited On-Demand Access to Millions of Songs; All Four Major Labels on Board --</em></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><b><span style="line-height: 150%;">LAS VEGAS</span></b></span><span style="line-height: 150%;font-size:100%;" > --<b> </b>January 7, 2010 – </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><b><span style="line-height: 150%;">Thumbplay </span></b></span><span style="line-height: 150%;font-size:100%;" >(</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><a href="http://www.thumbplay.com/"><span style="line-height: 150%;">www.thumbplay.com</span></a></span><span style="line-height: 150%;font-size:100%;" >), the leading provider of mobile entertainment in the U.S., today launched the Thumbplay Music<b><span style="text-transform: uppercase;">™</span></b> application in Private Beta at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES).<span style="font-size:0pt;"> </span>The app is being demonstrated at the BlackBerry<b><sup><span style="text-transform: uppercase;">®</span></sup></b> booth at CES (Booth #30851 – LVCC South Hall).<span style="font-size:0pt;"> </span></span><span style="line-height: 150%;font-size:100%;" >Currently available by invitation-only on select BlackBerry® Smartphones* as well as a downloadable </span><span style="line-height: 150%;font-size:100%;color:black;" >Adobe<sup>®</sup>AIR<sup>®</sup></span><span style="line-height: 150%;font-size:100%;" > </span><span style="line-height: 150%;font-size:100%;" >desktop version (PC/Mac-compatible), Thumbplay Music is a cloud-based, subscription music service that provides unlimited, on-demand access to millions of songs. Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group and EMI Music, as well as CD Baby, INgrooves, IODA, The Orchard and dozens of additional independent labels, will also be featured in the service.</span><br /><br /><span style="line-height: 150%;font-size:100%;color:black;" >Thumbplay Music is a next generation music service, built by experts in mobile content delivery to serve the rapidly growing market of U.S. smartphone users which is forecasted to grow to 160 million people by 2013.** <span style="font-size:0pt;"></span></span><span style="line-height: 150%;font-size:100%;" >To request an invitation to join the Private Beta, sign in here: </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><a href="http://music.thumbplay.com/"><span style="line-height: 150%;"></span></a><a href="http://music.thumbplay.com/">http://music.thumbplay.com/</a></span><span style="line-height: 150%;font-size:100%;" >.</span><br /><br /><span style="line-height: 150%;font-size:100%;" >Thumbplay Music includes its own <b>in-app media player</b> and boasts several compelling features, including:</span><br /><p class="MsoNormal">- <span style="font-size:100%;"><b><span style="line-height: 150%;">Unlimited, on-demand access</span></b></span><span style="line-height: 150%;font-size:100%;" > to any artist or album; includes millions of high-quality songs </span></p><p class="MsoNormal">- <span style="font-size:100%;"><b><span style="line-height: 110%;color:black;" >Search </span></b></span><span style="line-height: 110%;font-size:100%;color:black;" >– Find </span><span style="line-height: 110%;font-size:100%;color:black;" >music by artist, song, album or genre; includes free previews of all songs</span></p><p class="MsoNormal">- <span style="font-size:100%;"><b><span style="line-height: 150%;color:black;" >Favorites</span></b></span><span style="line-height: 150%;font-size:100%;color:black;" > – a quick, intuitive way to <b>build a personal music collection</b> that automatically synchronizes between smartphones and the desktop app</span></p><p class="MsoNormal">- <span style="font-size:100%;"><b><span style="line-height: 150%;color:black;" >Online </span></b><b><i><span style="line-height: 150%;">and </span></i></b><b><span style="line-height: 150%;">offline<span style="color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"> </span><span style="color:black;">smartphone access</span></span></b></span><span style="line-height: 150%;font-size:100%;" >, listen to music without Wi-Fi<sup>®</sup> or network connection<span style="color:black;">.<span style="font-size:0pt;"> </span>Whether underground or mid-flight, playlists are available for listening offline -- delivering <b><i>true</i> portability </b>on BlackBerry smartphones</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal">- <span style="font-size:100%;"><b><span style="line-height: 150%;color:black;" >Effortless p</span></b><b><span style="line-height: 150%;">laylist creation; add songs or albums to playlists which automatically, wirelessly synchronize</span></b></span><span style="line-height: 150%;font-size:100%;" > across PC, Mac and smartphone devices</span></p><p class="MsoNormal">- <span style="font-size:100%;"><b><span style="line-height: 110%;">AutoPlaylist -- Instantly generate</span></b></span><span style="line-height: 110%;font-size:100%;" > expert recommendations based on favorite songs; a great way to discover new music</span></p><p class="MsoNormal">- <span style="font-size:100%;"><b><span style="line-height: 110%;">iTunes<sup>®</sup> playlist re-creation </span></b></span><span style="line-height: 110%;font-size:100%;" >within<b> </b></span><span style="line-height: 110%;font-size:100%;color:black;" >Thumbplay Music’s desktop app. With a few clicks, recreate iTunes playlists and have them available on your PC and BlackBerry Smartphone.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-size:100%;"><b><span style="line-height: 150%;color:black;" >Evan Schwartz</span></b></span><span style="line-height: 150%;font-size:100%;color:black;" >, Thumbplay Co-Founder and CEO said, “We are immensely proud to showcase Thumbplay Music’s Private Beta at the BlackBerry booth at CES. This is, without question, an application BlackBerry Smartphone users will truly embrace and enjoy. Over the last five years, we’ve developed a deep understanding about what it takes to build a successful mobile entertainment product around a sound business model in the U.S., and every ounce of that know-how is going into Thumbplay Music.<span style="font-size:0pt;"> </span>With the incredible growth and functionality of Smartphones, we are now able to deliver an exceptional music experience -- music the way our customers have long been asking for – a service that is easy-to-use, offers unlimited choice and access, and provides total portability.”</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="line-height: 150%;font-size:100%;color:black;" >Thumbplay Music will become widely available to consumers within the first quarter of 2010 and the service will include a free, three-day trial of its unlimited, on-demand service.<span style="font-size:0pt;"> </span>Following the trial period, subscriptions are $9.99 per month.<span style="font-size:0pt;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="line-height: 150%;font-size:100%;color:black;" >Thumbplay, which enjoys sustained profitability, has built an award-winning service centered on delivering millions of pieces of mobile content to more than 2,500 devices among every major carrier in the U.S.<span style="font-size:0pt;"> </span>Thumbplay will leverage its existing network of more than 7,000 distribution partners to promote Thumbplay Music.<span style="font-size:0pt;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="left"><span style="font-size:100%;"><b><span style="font-size:0pt;">ABOUT THUMBPLAY<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p><p style="margin-right: 27pt;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">Thumbplay, Inc. is defining the mobile entertainment experience for U.S. consumers. <span style="font-size:0pt;"></span>Thumbplay.com features licensed music, video and games from some of the world’s largest entertainment companies, including: EMI, Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group, as well as several independent labels and artists and video game companies. Headquartered in New York City, Thumbplay was founded in September 2004 by Are Traasdahl and Evan Schwartz. Investors include Bain Capital Ventures, SoftBank Capital, i-Hatch Ventures, Redwood Partners, New Enterprise Associates, Meritech, Brookside Capital Partners and Cross Creek Capital. More information can be found at</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> <a href="http://www.thumbplay.com/"><span style="font-size:0pt;">www.thumbplay.com</span></a></span><span style="font-size:100%;"> or at m.thumbplay.com from a mobile phone.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-right: 27pt;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="text-align: center;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal" align="center"><span style="font-size:100%;">#<span style="font-size:0pt;"> </span>#<span style="font-size:0pt;"> </span>#<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-right: 27pt;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="line-height: 150%;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 150%;font-size:100%;color:black;" >*As of January 7, 2010, the Private Beta launch of Thumbplay Music supports the following BlackBerry Smartphones: BlackBerry<sup>®</sup> Tour™ 9630 (Verizon, Sprint), BlackBerry<sup>®</sup> Bold™ 9000 (AT&T) and BlackBerry<sup>®</sup> Curve™ 8900 (T-Mobile).<span style="font-size:0pt;"> </span><span style="font-size:0pt;"></span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="line-height: 150%;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 150%;font-size:100%;color:black;" >**Yankee Group (2009)</span></p><p style="line-height: 150%;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-size:100%;color:black;" >All trademarks property of their respective owners. No partnerships implied. </span><span style="font-size:100%;"><a name="OLE_LINK5"></a><a name="OLE_LINK2"></a><a name="OLE_LINK1"><span style="font-size:0pt;"><span style="font-size:0pt;"><span style="font-size:0pt;">The BlackBerry and RIM families of related marks, images and symbols are the exclusive properties and trademarks of Research In Motion Limited.<br /></span></span></span></a></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><b><span style="font-size:0pt;"></span></b></span></p><p style="line-height: 150%;font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><b><span style="font-size:0pt;">Contact: <o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Susan Lietz<span style="font-size:0pt;"> </span>Patrick Durkin<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Susan.Lietz@thumplay.com<span style="font-size:0pt;"> </span>Patrick.Durkin@seismk.com<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;">917.499.5053<span style="font-size:0pt;"> </span>212.561.7459<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span style=";font-size:100%;color:black;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span style=";font-size:100%;color:black;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5388994364563850419.post-2686943152016695662009-12-16T11:38:00.000-08:002009-12-16T11:46:05.693-08:00THUMBPLAY’S ARE TRAASDAHL APPOINTED CHAIRMAN; EVAN SCHWARTZ ELEVATED TO CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-align: center;margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; "><span style="mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;color:black;"><o:p> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; ">-- Traasdahl Concentrating on Corporate Development as</span></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-align: center;margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; "><span style="mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family:Arial;color:black;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; ">Schwartz Takes Day-to-Day Reins and Drives Consumer Launch of Thumbplay Music App –</span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: normal"><b><span><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 24px; "><st1:state st="on"><st1:place st="on"><b><span style="line-height:150%;mso-fareast-Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:";"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">NEW YORK</span></span></span></b></st1:place></st1:state><b><span style="line-height: 150%;mso-fareast-Times New Roman";mso-bidi- font-family:";"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> 16 -- December 2009 --</span></span></span></b><span style=" line-height:150%;mso-fareast-Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:";"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> Following five years of growth, innovation and setting new standards for customer service, Thumbplay’s Founder and CEO Are Traasdahl will now serve as Chairman. </span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Traasdahl will concentrate on Thumbplay’s long-term corporate development, a role he has been transitioning to over the past few months.</span></span></span></span></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: 150%"><span style="line-height:150%;mso-fareast-Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:";"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Co-Founder and Chief Marketing Officer Evan Schwartz has been promoted to CEO, effective immediately.</span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Schwartz will oversee all day-to-day operations for the company, including the launch of the new Thumbplay Music application.</span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The company has achieved sustained profitability, with sales of full track music and other advanced content driving the growth.</span></span></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: 150%"><span style="line-height:150%;mso-fareast-Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:";"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Thumbplay Board Member Eric Hippeau commented, “We are extremely pleased to elevate Are to Chairman and Evan to CEO. Both have demonstrated tremendous leadership skills as they’ve grown Thumbplay into the leading mobile entertainment service in the </span></span><st1:place st="on"><st1:country-region st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">U.S.</span></span></st1:country-region></st1:place><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Evan’s 14-plus years of online music experience and his deft marketing prowess make him ideally suited to continue to grow the business and steer the company through the launch of the company’s exciting new music and video products for Smartphones.”</span></span></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: 150%"><span style="line-height:150%;mso-fareast-Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:";"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Traasdahl said, “Having seen Thumbplay through its inception and its incredible growth to-date, I’m looking forward to concentrating on big picture development from the perspective of a board member and Chairman.</span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">With a focus on long-range growth opportunities, I will continue to help Thumbplay achieve its rightful place as the leading mobile entertainment company.</span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The terrific successes we’ve achieved so far give us a great foundation and I have every confidence that with the extraordinary stewardship of Evan and the talented team at Thumbplay, we will achieve all we’ve set out to do and more.”</span></span></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: 150%"><span style="line-height:150%;mso-fareast-Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:";"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: 24px; "><span style="line-height:150%;mso-fareast-Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:";"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Remarked Schwartz: “I’m honored to assume the leadership role at Thumbplay, particularly at such a pivotal time for the entertainment industry.</span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Are and I set out with some pretty ambitious goals, and I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished so far.</span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span></span><span style="line-height:150%;mso-bidi-"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">With the advent of Smartphones, the music and video services we have been dreaming about for the last 10 years are finally possible and consumers are ready for them.</span></span></span><span style="line-height:150%;Calibri","sans-serif"; "><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span></span><span style="line-height:150%;mso-fareast-Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family:";"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Moving forward with Scott Marshall, our COO/CFO at my side, and the rest of our great team, we are well-positioned for the future.”</span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: 150%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: 22px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">The company launches Thumbplay Music, an application which provides anytime-anywhere access to digital music via Smartphones and computers, to a wide consumer audience early in 2010.</span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: 150%"><span style="line-height:150%;mso-bidi-"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Thumbplay is the leading mobile entertainment service in the </span></span><st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">U.S.</span></span></st1:place></st1:country-region><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">, offering personalization content for more than 250 million mobile customers. </span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Its </span></span></span><span style=" line-height:150%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">direct-to-consumer service is accessible on more than 2,500 mobile devices among every major carrier in the </span></span><st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">U.S.</span></span></st1:place></st1:country-region></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height: 150%"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Headquartered in </span></span><st1:place st="on"><st1:city st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">New York City</span></span></st1:city></st1:place><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">, Thumbplay, Inc. was founded in September 2004 by Are Traasdahl and </span></span><st1:personname st="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Evan Schwartz</span></span></st1:personname><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">. Investors include Bain Capital Ventures, SoftBank Capital, i-Hatch Ventures, Redwood Partners, New Enterprise Associates, Meritech, Brookside Capital Partners and Cross Creek Capital.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="line-height:115%;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> ABOUT THUMBPLAY</span></span></o:p></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" style="line-height:115%; mso-bidi-mso-ansi-language:ENcolor:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Thumbplay’s award-winning, direct-to-consumer mobile entertainment service features licensed content from some of the world’s largest entertainment companies, including EMI Music, Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group, as well as several independent labels and artists and video game companies.</span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Thumbplay’s mobile entertainment catalog is integrated into Clear Channel Radio, AOL and MSN Mobile sites, as well as iLike.com, one of the Web’s leading social music discovery services.</span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Each month, </span></span><a href="http://www.thumbplay.com/"><span style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Thumbplay.com</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> gets more than five million unique visitors and its mobile (WAP) site (</span></span><a href="http://m.thumbplay.com/"><span style="color:black;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">m.thumbplay.com</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">) receives more than 12 million page views, making it one of the most popular mobile Web sites.</span></span></span><span style="line-height:115%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> More information can be found at </span></span><a href="http://www.thumbplay.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">www.thumbplay.com</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> or at </span></span><a href="http://m.thumbplay.com/"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">m.thumbplay.com</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> from a mobile phone.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">#</span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">#</span></span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">#</span></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5388994364563850419.post-40615052220826895222009-12-02T08:37:00.000-08:002009-12-03T14:10:40.145-08:00THUMBPLAY'S MICHAEL BIONDO NAMED CUSTOMER SERVICE EXECUTIVE OF THE YEAR BY THE CUSTOMER SERVICE INSTITUTE OF AMERICA<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; ">Pre-Eminent Customer Service Organization Recognizes Thumbplay, the Leading Mobile Entertainment Provider in the U.S.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%"><span style=" line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"font-family:";font-size:11.0pt;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: 24px; font-family:Georgia, serif;font-size:16px;"><b><span style="line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-Times New Roman"font-family:";font-size:11.0pt;">NEW YORK</span></b><span style="line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-Times New Roman"font-family:";font-size:11.0pt;"> — <b>December 2, 2009</b> — <b>Michael Biondo</b>, Vice President of Customer Service for <b><span>Thumbplay</span></b><span>, the leading mobile entertainment destination in the U.S., has been <b>named Customer Service Executive of the Year </b>by the<b> </b><a href="http://www.serviceinstitute.com/ISEA%202009%20Winners.htm"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">Customer Service Institute of America</span></a> (CSIA)<b> </b>. The awards are presented from the International Council of Customer Service Organizations though the CSIA.<span> </span>The International Service Excellence Awards are recognized as the most prestigious awards within the customer service industry. Previous CSIA award winners in this category include Sheila Harrell of FedEx, and Jane Judd of Zappos.com.</span></span></span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%"><span style=" line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:11.0pt;"><o:p>Biondo, who has been at Thumbplay since<i> </i>2006,<i> </i>is responsible for ensuring that Thumbplay customers receive an extraordinary level of service.<span> </span>He oversees all of the touch points for Thumbplay’s 365-day-a-year customer service -- including phone, e-mail and live chat services – giving people multiple, convenient ways to reach Thumbplay and receive swift assistance.<span> </span>Biondo instills a solution-oriented culture of respect for anyone who contacts the company. <span> </span>This unwavering dedication to the customer is behind his recognition from the CSIA.</o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%"><span style=" line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:11.0pt;"><o:p>“Our top priority at Thumbplay has always been to deliver a positive customer experience,” says Evan Schwartz, Thumbplay Co-Founder and Chief Marketing Officer. “Under Michael’s stewardship, we have developed a number of innovative and highly-personal ways to communicate with people.<span> </span>Of course, the best measure we have of our success is the customers themselves.<span> </span>We consistently get terrific feedback from them, whether it is about the best way to download music to their Smartphones, or how to set the ideal resolution to play videos on their devices.<span> </span>I am thrilled that the CSIA agrees with our customers and is recognizing Michael’s outstanding achievements with this prestigious honor.”</o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%"><span style=" line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:11.0pt;"><o:p>“Our judges were exposed to some exceptional approaches to creating outstanding customer experiences and are always pleased to see the customer service profession receive the attention and accolades it deserves for contributing to the customer experience as well as an organization’s bottom line,” says Brett Whitford, Secretary-General, International Council of Customer Service Organizations. “This year’s award winners have demonstrated that they are leaders in customer service and are worthy of our top awards.”</o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%"><span style=" line-height:150%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"; font-family:";font-size:11.0pt;"><o:p>The Customer Service Institute of America (CSIA) is the body delegated by International Council of Customer Service Organizations (ICCSO) to manage the 2009 International Service Excellence Awards. These awards are the world’s peak customer service awards with leading customer service organizations and individuals around the globe being nominated in a variety in categories to recognize their commitment to customer service excellence. These awards are sought after by government, not-for-profit and for-profit organizations of all sizes and across all industries globally.</o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:150%"><span style=" line-height:150%;Arial","sans-serif"font-family:";font-size:11.0pt;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" line-height: normal; font-weight: bold; font-size:13px;">ABOUT THUMBPLAY</span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN" style="font-family:";font-size:10.0pt;">Thumbplay’s award-winning, direct-to-consumer mobile entertainment service features licensed content from some of the world’s largest entertainment companies, including EMI Music, Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group, as well as several independent labels and artists and video game companies.<span> </span>Thumbplay’s mobile entertainment catalog is integrated into Clear Channel Radio, AOL and MSN Mobile sites, as well as iLike.com, one of the Web’s leading social music discovery services.<span> </span>Each month, <a href="http://www.thumbplay.com/"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">Thumbplay.com</span></span></a> gets more than five million unique visitors and its mobile (WAP) site (<a href="http://m.thumbplay.com/"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">m.thumbplay.com</span></span></a>) receives more than 12 million page views, making it one of the most popular mobile Web sites.</span><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-Times New Roman"font-family:";font-size:10.0pt;"> More information can be found at </span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;"><a href="http://www.thumbplay.com/"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"font-family:";"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">www.thumbplay.com</span></span></a></span><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"font-family:";font-size:10.0pt;"> or at </span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;"><a href="http://m.thumbplay.com/"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-Times New Roman"font-family:";"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#000000;">m.thumbplay.com</span></span></a></span><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-bidi-Times New Roman"font-family:";font-size:10.0pt;"> from a mobile phone.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-Times New Roman"font-family:";font-size:10.0pt;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold; ">ABOUT CSIA</span></o:p></span></p> <p style="margin-top:6.0pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:.15in;margin-left: 0in;mso-line-height-alt:8.05pt"><span style="font-family:";font-size:10.0pt;">The Customer Service Institute of America (CSIA) provides organizations with education, certification and recognition in the field of customer service. CSIA is the professional body of choice for customer service leaders seeking professional recognition through the attainment of internationally recognized industry qualifications, certifications and awards. <span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><br /><br />CSIA is the US Representative body on the International Council of Customer Service Organizations (ICCSO) and had the honor of hosting the 2008 International Service Excellence Awards™ at the NACCM on November 17th, 2008. Judged using the International Customer Service Standard criteria, these awards are the world’s peak customer service awards. Leading customer service organizations and individuals around the globe are nominated in a variety in categories to recognize their commitment customer service excellence. www.serviceinstitute.com<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family:";font-size:10.0pt;"><o:p> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:15px;">#<span> </span>#<span> </span>#</span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;mso-bidi-font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; mso-bidi-Times New Roman"font-family:";font-size:12.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5388994364563850419.post-16111922572683726152009-05-12T07:47:00.001-07:002009-05-12T07:49:00.761-07:00Thumbplay Supports Adobe "Strobe"Today, Adobe Systems Incorporated (NASDAQ: ADBE) announced the global media companies, content delivery networks (CDNs), publishers and advertising networks which are embracing Adobe’s open framework for building custom media players – Thumbplay among them. Code-named “Strobe”, the new framework will help establish an industry standard for media players and offers production-ready components to streamline the development process, reducing the time content publishers spend creating playback technologies. Click <a href="http://www.adobe.com/aboutadobe/pressroom/pressreleases/pdfs/200905/51209SupportforAdobeStrobe.pdf">HERE</a> to see the Adobe announcement.<br /><br />Remarked Thumbplay’s Chris Phenner (EVP, Business Development):<br /><br />“Thumbplay relies on the Flash Platform™ for our web site’s audio and video samples, for widgets that Thumbplay OPEN provides to artists to sell mobile content, and for the Flash Lite titles we sell – Thumbplay is living the Open Screen Project’s strategy every day. Strobe is a great framework that we plan to leverage to help sites monetize and extend their embedded video players to include mobile features.”Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5388994364563850419.post-44095119152906312422009-05-11T12:11:00.000-07:002009-05-11T13:05:34.196-07:00Billboard: ON EVERY SITE A RINGTONE<a href="http://www.thumbplay.com/news/Billboard%20Color%20May%2011%202009.pdf"><img style="WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 85px" alt="" src="http://www.thumbplay.com/news/uploaded_images/subscribe_logo_small-715964.gif" border="0" /></a><br /><div><br />ON EVERY SITE A RINGTONE<br />A New Service Extends the Reach Of A Faltering Mobile Music Format<br />By Anthony Bruno for BILLBOARD<br />May 11, 2009<br /><br /><br />Ringtone Sales are dropping sharply but record labels and mobile content providers are doing everything they can to shore up sales. <br /><br />Several mobile carriers have begun offering a make-your-own-ringtone service from provider mSpot. Labels like Warner Music Group have explored bundling ringtones with full-song download sales. And services like Myxer have even tried ad-supported ringtones.<br /><br />Now, The mobile content provider Thumbplay has quietly unveiled a new service called OPEN Pro that allows labels to sell ringtones almost anywhere online without striking deals with each wireless operator. OPEN Pro is an extension of a tool Thumbplay launched in September that allows unsigned artists to sell ringtones by uploading their content to the Thumbplay system.<br /><br />“It helps labels and artists’ managers sell mobile content from the Web sites they manage,” says Thumbplay director of business development Mike Park. “It’s basically a way for them to keep track of sales for all their labels, drill down into specific artists and track performance.” <br /><br />Even when ringtone sales were still growing, the format faced two key distribution bottlenecks. The vast majority of sales came through mobile operators, which maintain complete control over which artists get prime placement on their crowded mobile entertainment menus. That inevitably leads to a focus on chart-topping artists, at the expense of others.<br /><br />Bypassing the carriers and selling directly to fans brought its own set of challenges, most important of which was that ringtones have to be formatted for each mobile handset and mobile network. <br /><br />Thumbplay is breaking through these logjams. It has agreements to deliver ringtones to each mobile operator and has the ability to determine the proper format based on the user’s phone. It also has partnerships with music sites like AOL, MTV, Clear Channel Online, MSN and iLike, so that tracks listed on these sites carry a “buy ringtone” link from Thumbplay. <br /><br />The new OPEN system allows labels to add that same buy link to any service that doesn’t already have a deal with Thumbplay, including the artist’s own Web site, Twitter and MySpace Page. It also includes a widget creation tool that gives fans the ability to sell their favorite artist’s ringtones from their own blogs and social-networking profiles. Labels can use the OPEN content management and data reporting systems to track ringtone sales across a variety of sites. Thumbplay hopes to add mobile full-track downloads to the OPEN Pro program in a few months. <br /><br />Thumbplay takes a cut of each sale. And while it sells a la carte ringtones, its primary business model is signing up fans to a monthly $10 subscription plan through which users get credits that can be redeemed for ringtones, games and other mobile content. Labels get the same amount per ringtone whether it’s sold a la carte or downloaded through a subscription.<br /><br />To enlist the help of labels in growing its subscriber base, the OPEN Pro service pays labels a bounty for each new Thumbplay subscriber acquired through their artists’ widgets. <br /><br />A&M/Octone tested the service late last year with a campaign for Hollywood Undead. Ringtones for developing artists usually get little attention on carrier-controlled ringtone menus, so Rome Thomas, head of sales and artist development at the label, was looking for a “back door” of sorts to the mobile market. Using Thumbplay’s widget to drive sales from the artist’s site, as well as other social network outlets, was exactly what he needed.<br /><br />“Thumbplay gives me the opportunity to make an amount of mobile revenue via all of our Web surfaces,” he says. “I’m always looking at how to be more competitive on the mobile side.”<br /><br />As a result, the campaign saw an 8% conversion rate of those clicking through to the “buy ringtone” link and completing a purchase, about four times the average.<br /><br />But Thomas says the bounty for new subscribers has proved to be the more interesting opportunity.<br /><br />“The bounty income was more compelling than the per-unit sales of an a la carte product,” he says. “We’re making a significant, very high dollar amount per acquisition, and we’re also being paid on the back end for each piece of content sold. This affiliate fee was higher than any other affiliate fee that I’ve ever seen from any of our online retailers.”<br /><br />To date, ringtone sales have focused on mining more revenue out of radio hits. If programs like Thumbplay take off, the faltering format my find some relief in the long tail. </div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5388994364563850419.post-21165123030140944712009-05-11T07:33:00.000-07:002009-05-11T07:56:10.765-07:00Thumbplay "OPEN Pro" Launched for Music Labels, Artist Managers - Makes Digital Music Sales Quick + EasyNEW YORK - MAY 11, 2009 - Thumbplay, the #1 mobile entertainment destination in the U.S., today launched <a href="http://open.thumbplay.com/">Thumbplay OPEN Pro</a> (<a href="http://open.thumbplay.com/">http://open.thumbplay.com</a>), a first-of-its-kind online marketing tool that makes it effortless for music labels, artist managers and media companies to sell their digital content to millions of mobile customers. By using the tools within the Thumbplay OPEN Pro service, which are free and available for the first time anywhere, content owners have access to more than 230 million mobile customers in the U.S.<br /><br />From just one interface, users can now manage online and mobile marketing campaigns for multiple artists across multiple websites and they have access to detailed traffic and sales reporting. Moreover, within Thumbplay’s OPEN Pro service, the company has introduced the new <a href="http://open.thumbplay.com/widgetron">Widgetron™</a> widget maker, an automated tool that allows users to create widgets with custom sizes, colors and playlists with a click of a button. Content owners generate income two ways: content sales and customer referrals.<br /><br />Thumbplay built OPEN Pro in collaboration with several of its partners to ensure that the service addressed their needs. In particular, Universal’s A&M/Octone Records beta-tested the Widgetron for the <a href="http://www.hollywoodundead.com/">Hollywood Undead</a> release “Swan Songs,” which has famously built much of its considerable steam online.<br /><br />Rome Thomas, Head of Sales & Artist Development for A&M/Octone said: "Wherever a Hollywood Undead fan exists online, we’re there with a number of promotional and commercial offers for the band's growing worldwide community. Thumbplay's OPEN Pro customized widget has given us a channel to better merchandise Hollywood Undead mobile, creating sizeable revenue and adapting our strategy for a number of other A&M/Octone artist mobile campaigns."<br /><br />Added Are Traasdahl, CEO and Founder of Thumbplay: “With Thumbplay OPEN Pro, we’ve taken Thumbplay’s greatest expertise -- reaching hundreds of millions of mobile customers who are hungry for great entertainment -- and we’ve put it in the hands of every marketing team out there. It is not only extremely easy to use; it saves time, generates money, and ensures that fans have broad and instant access to the content they love. It’s the ultimate Thumbplay win-win.”<br />-- more --<br /><br />Page Two of Two: Thumbplay OPEN Pro Launched<br /><br />Thumbplay OPEN Pro features include:<br /><br /><a href="http://open.thumbplay.com/partners/link_builder/info/dynamic_landing_pages">Dynamic Landing Pages</a> – Add purchase links to websites, emails, Twitter and social profiles in less than five minutes. Create customized pages for every band and every song.<br /><a href="http://open.thumbplay.com/widgetron">Widgetron™ Widget Maker</a> – Create and manage multiple widgets from a single dashboard; customize playlists, colors, sizes and purchase options, including a-la-carte.<br /><a href="http://open.thumbplay.com/api">Thumbplay API</a> – Build custom, rich experiences into websites and mobile apps.<br />Reporting Console – Track and compare every click on purchase links, widgets and campaigns with detailed, daily reports.<br /><br />Featuring music, videos, games and more, Thumbplay’s extensive and ever-growing entertainment library is accessible on more than 2,500 mobile phones among every major carrier in the U.S., reaching more than 230 million U.S. wireless subscribers. The company has maintained and grown its leadership position by delivering an optimal user experience, which includes its live, “24/7/365,” customer service and an unparalleled catalog of mobile entertainment options. Each month, <a href="http://www.thumbplay.com/">Thumbplay.com</a> gets more than five million unique visitors and its mobile (WAP) site (<a href="http://m.thumbplay.com/">m.thumbplay.com</a>) receives more than 12 million page views, making it one of the most popular mobile Web sites.<br /><br />ABOUT THUMBPLAY<br />Thumbplay’s award-winning, direct-to-consumer service features licensed content from some of the world’s largest entertainment companies, including EMI Music, Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and Sony Pictures Television, as well as several independent labels and artists and video game companies. Thumbplay’s mobile entertainment catalog is integrated into Clear Channel Radio, AOL and MSN Mobile sites, as well as iLike.com, one of the Web’s leading social music discovery services. Moreover, based on Thumbplay’s reputation for exceptional customer care and technological innovation, MTV recently tapped the company to power personalization content for the music giant’s mobile content site. The recently-launched <a href="http://open.thumbplay.com/">Thumbplay OPEN</a> provides artists, music labels, developers and Web site publishers the tools to package and sell their own digital media to millions of mobile customers. Each month, <a href="http://www.thumbplay.com/">Thumbplay.com</a> gets more than five million unique visitors and its mobile (WAP) site (<a href="http://m.thumbplay.com/">m.thumbplay.com</a>) receives more than 12 million page views, making it one of the most popular mobile Web sites.<br /><br />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, Meritech, Brookside Capital Partners and Cross Creek Capital. More information can be found at <a href="http://www.thumbplay.com/">http://www.thumbplay.com/</a> or at <a href="http://m.thumbplay.com/">m.thumbplay.com</a> from a mobile phone.<br /><br /># # #Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5388994364563850419.post-54355194855265033782009-04-30T10:50:00.000-07:002009-05-01T11:31:44.172-07:00Spice Things Up With Music From Thumbplay For Cinco De Mayo<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;font-family:arial;" align="center"><span style="font-size:100%;"><b style=""><span style="">-- Festive Mobile Content Brings a Fiesta to Your Phone --</span></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;font-family:arial;" align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;">NEW YORK – APRIL 30 – Thumbplay, the #1 mobile entertainment destination in the U.S., is celebrating Cinco de Mayo with a broad selection of party content on this festive holiday. Make your mobile phone the life of the fiesta with downloadable MP3s, graphics, videos and more. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;font-family:arial;" align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:100%;">Check out some of the spicy party MP3s and Mexican pride graphics<br />on <a href="http://www.thumbplay.com/feature/home.do?p=Cinco%20De%20Mayo">Thumbplay.com </a><span style=""> </span>– <i style="">the</i> hotspot for all<span style="color: rgb(31, 73, 125);"> </span>Cinco de Mayo mobile content. It’s a fiesta for your phone! ¡Viva el Cinco de Mayo! </span></p><p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:arial;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">MP3s to get the party started:</span></p><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:100%;" ></span><ul style="margin-top: 0in;font-family:arial;" type="disc"> <li class="MsoNormal" style="color:black;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a href="http://www.thumbplay.com/join/Patrulla+81-artist-Quiereme+Mas-MP3s-bonus">“Quiereme Mas” – Patrulla 81</a><o:p></o:p></span></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="color:black;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a href="http://www.thumbplay.com/join/Banda+El+Recodo-artist-Te+Presumo+-MP3s-bonus">“Te Presumo” – Banda El Recodo</a><o:p></o:p></span></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="color:black;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a href="http://www.thumbplay.com/join/Hechizeros+Band-artist-El+Sonidito-MP3s-bonus">“El Sonidito” – Hechizeros Band</a><o:p></o:p></span></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="color:black;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a href="http://www.thumbplay.com/join/The-Dream-artist-Falsetto-MP3s-bonus">“Falsetto” – The-Dream<br /><br /></a></span></li> </ul><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span style=";font-size:100%;color:black;" ><o:p>Fun Mexican Pride Graphics:</o:p></span></p> <ul style="margin-top: 0in;font-family:arial;" type="disc"> <li class="MsoNormal" style="color:black;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a href="http://www.thumbplay.com/join/Caliente+Mexican+Flag-wallpaper-bonus">Caliente Mexican Flag</a><o:p></o:p></span></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="color:black;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a href="http://www.thumbplay.com/join/Pure+Mexican-wallpaper-bonus">Pure Mexican</a><o:p></o:p></span></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="color:black;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a href="http://www.thumbplay.com/join/Madre+De+Mexico-wallpaper-bonus">Madre De Mexico</a><o:p></o:p></span></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="color:black;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a href="http://www.thumbplay.com/join/Viva+Mexico+%28Flag%29-wallpaper-bonus">Viva Mexico<br /></a><o:p></o:p></span></li> </ul> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span style=";font-size:100%;color:black;" ><o:p><br />Top Regional Tones:</o:p></span></p> <ul style="margin-top: 0in;font-family:arial;" type="disc"> <li class="MsoNormal" style="color:black;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a href="http://www.thumbplay.com/join/Alacranes+Musical-artist-Dame+Tu+Amor-realtones-bonus">“Dame Tu Amor” – Alacranes Musical</a><o:p></o:p></span></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="color:black;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a href="http://www.thumbplay.com/join/Alacranes+Musical-artist-Fue+Su+Amor-realtones-bonus">“Fue Su Amor” – Alacranes Musical</a> <o:p></o:p></span></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="color:black;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a href="http://www.thumbplay.com/join/El+Compa+Chuy-artist-El+Corrido+Del+Katch-realtones-bonus">“El Corrido Del Katch” – El Compa Chuy</a> <o:p></o:p></span></li> </ul> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span style=";font-size:100%;color:black;" ><o:p><br />Fun Tones:</o:p></span></p> <ul style="margin-top: 0in;font-family:arial;" type="disc"> <li class="MsoNormal" style="color:black;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a href="http://www.thumbplay.com/join/Justin+Timberlake-artist-Senorita-realtones-bonus">“Senorita” – Justin Timberlake</a> <o:p></o:p></span></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="color:black;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a href="http://www.thumbplay.com/join/Brooks+%26+Dunn-artist-Tequila-realtones-bonus">“Tequila” – Brooks & Dunn</a><o:p></o:p></span></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="color:black;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a href="http://www.thumbplay.com/join/Jimmy+Buffett-artist-Margaritaville-realtones-bonus">“Margaritaville” – Jimmy Buffett</a> <o:p></o:p></span></li> </ul> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span style=";font-size:100%;color:black;" ><o:p><br />Music Videos:</o:p></span></p> <ul style="margin-top: 0in;font-family:arial;" type="disc"> <li class="MsoNormal" style="color:black;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a href="http://www.thumbplay.com/join/Ayudame-video-bonus">“Ayudame” – Chicos Aventura</a><o:p></o:p></span></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="color:black;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><a href="http://www.thumbplay.com/join/Naki+Naki-video-bonus">“Naki Naki” – Tego Calderon</a><o:p></o:p></span></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=";font-size:100%;color:black;" ><a href="http://www.thumbplay.com/join/Fua-video-bonus">“Fua” – Angel Y Kriz</a></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p></span></li> </ul> <p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p><br />Featuring music, videos, games and more, Thumbplay’s extensive and ever-growing entertainment library is accessible on more than 2,500 mobile phones among every major carrier in the U.S., reaching more than 230 million U.S. wireless subscribers.<b style=""> </b>The company has maintained and grown its leadership position by delivering an optimal user experience, which includes its live, “24/7/365,” customer service and an unparalleled catalog of entertainment options. Each month, <a href="file:///C:/Documents%20and%20Settings/slietz/Local%20Settings/Temporary%20Internet%20Files/Content.Outlook/RE162O9R/WWW.THUMBPLAY.COM">Thumbplay.com</a> gets more than five million unique visitors and its mobile (WAP) site (<a href="http://m.thumbplay.com/">m.thumbplay.com</a>) receives more than 12 million page views, making it one of the most popular mobile Web sites.</o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;font-family:arial;" align="center"><span style="font-size:100%;"># # #</span><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5388994364563850419.post-36321985005828967862009-03-23T08:12:00.000-07:002009-03-23T08:14:57.777-07:00Thumbplay Names Thomas Tracey Vice President, ProductNEW YORK -- March 23, 2009 -- Thumbplay (<a href="http://www.thumbplay.com/">www.thumbplay.com</a>), the #1 mobile entertainment destination in the U.S., today announced the appointment of Thomas Tracey as Vice President, Product. He reports directly to Evan Schwartz, Thumbplay’s co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer.<br /><br />Tracey will spearhead the development and introduction of new products, particularly in the area of advanced media such as MP3s and videos. He will also ensure the continued delivery of best-in-class mobile entertainment services for smartphones and mobile devices. Tracey joins Thumbplay from Vindigo, where, as director of product development, he managed a portfolio of cross-carrier and cross-handset mobile applications including MapQuest Mobile, The New York Times, NBC Weather, Vindigo City Guide, MovieGoer and Plaxo.<br /><br />“Thomas is an accomplished addition to Thumbplay, home to the industry’s best and most innovative team of professionals,” said Are Traasdahl, CEO and Founder of Thumbplay. “He will play an important role as we continue to evolve our products while simultaneously preserving the exceptional entertainment experience our customers have come to expect.”<br /><br />Tracey will leverage his deep experience in web and mobile product development to further enhance the Thumbplay customer experience across all platforms. Prior to his time at Vindigo, he spent six years in various product development and sales positions with Yesmail, an InfoUSA company, where he was responsible for the strategy, development and support of Yesmail’s online marketing products and services.<br /><br />Featuring music, videos, games and more, Thumbplay’s extensive and ever-growing entertainment library is accessible on more than 2,500 mobile phones among every major carrier in the U.S., reaching more than 230 million U.S. wireless subscribers. The company has maintained and grown its leadership position by delivering an optimal user experience, which includes its live, “24/7/365,” customer service and an unparalleled catalog of entertainment options. Each month, <a href="http://www.thumbplay.com/">Thumbplay.com</a> gets more than five million unique visitors and its mobile (WAP) site (<a href="http://m.thumbplay.com/">m.thumbplay.com</a>) receives more than 12 million page views, making it one of the most popular mobile Web sites.<br /><br />About Thumbplay<br />Thumbplay’s award-winning, direct-to-consumer service features licensed content from some of the world’s largest entertainment companies, including EMI Music, Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and Sony Pictures Television, as well as several independent labels and artists and video game companies. Thumbplay’s mobile entertainment catalog is integrated into Clear Channel Radio, AOL and MSN Mobile sites, as well as iLike.com, one of the Web’s leading social music discovery services. Moreover, based on Thumbplay’s reputation for exceptional customer care and technological innovation, MTV tapped the company to power personalization content for the music giant’s mobile content site. Thumbplay OPEN provides independent music and visual artists, application developers and Web site publishers the opportunity to package and sell their own digital media to millions of mobile customers (<a href="http://open.thumbplay.com/">open.thumbplay.com</a>).<br /><br />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, Meritech, Brookside Capital Partners and Cross Creek Capital. More information can be found at <a href="http://www.thumbplay.com/">www.thumbplay.com</a> or at <a href="http://m.thumbplay.com/">m.thumbplay.com</a> from a mobile phone.<br /><br /><div align="center">###</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5388994364563850419.post-70271302677028513592009-03-17T15:49:00.000-07:002009-03-17T16:51:57.005-07:00ARTISTdirect Partners With Thumbplay For Mobile Content Downloads-- Arrangement Brings Together Two Major Music and Entertainment Ventures --<br /><br />NEW YORK -- March 17, 2009 -- Thumbplay (<a href="http://www.thumbplay.com/">www.thumbplay.com</a>), the #1 mobile entertainment destination in the U.S., and ARTISTdirect Internet Group, Inc. (<a href="http://www.artistdirect.com/">www.artistdirect.com</a>), the premiere online resource for music and entertainment news and information, announced today their partnership to offer ARTISTdirect.com visitors direct access to Thumbplay’s extensive catalog of mobile content. <a href="http://www.artistdirect.com/nad/music/artist/ringtones/0,,716903,00.htmll">Links to mobile content</a>, powered by Thumbplay.com, are now available on hundreds of thousands of artist pages throughout the ARTISTdirect site.<br /><br />With one of the web’s deepest and broadest catalogues of content, covering every genre of music and film, ARTISTdirect.com has established itself among the top online destinations for 24/7 in-depth coverage of entertainment. ARTISTdirect features one of the largest selections of <a href="http://www.artistdirect.com/">free music</a> content that ranges from over 10,000 music videos and 7 million albums, tracks and samples to millions of artist pages, as well as news that includes behind-the-scenes interviews, reviews and exclusive artist content with everyone from <a href="http://www.artistdirect.com/nad/music/artist/card/0,,870487,00.html">50 Cent</a> to Bruce Springsteen.<br /><br />As the 5th largest Entertainment - Music network property on the Internet according to comScore, the ARTISTdirect Network attracts more than 12 million unique visitors per month. ARTISTdirect’s user demographic is characterized as young, net-savvy and extremely mobile--a highly desirable segment among national advertisers.<br /><br />“This partnership with Thumbplay gives our visitors and fans access to the best and latest mobile content available,” said Dimitri Villard, CEO of ARTISTdirect Internet Group, Inc. and its parent, ARTISTdirect, Inc. “Thumbplay has been at the forefront of providing first class content and we’re delighted to be in business with them.”<br /><br />Featuring music, videos, games and more, Thumbplay’s extensive and ever-growing entertainment library is accessible on more than 2,000 mobile phones among every major carrier in the U.S., reaching more than 230 million U.S. wireless subscribers. The company has maintained and grown its leadership position by delivering an optimal user experience, which includes its live, “24/7/365,” customer service and an unparalleled catalog of entertainment options. Each month, <a href="http://www.thumbplay.com/">Thumbplay.com</a> gets more than five million unique visitors and its mobile (WAP) site (<a href="http://m.thumbplay.com/">m.thumbplay.com</a>) receives more than 12 million page views, making it one of the most popular mobile Web sites.<br /><br /><br />About ARTISTdirect Internet Group, Inc.<br />Headquartered in Santa Monica, CA, Artist Direct Internet Group (“ADID”) controls some of the Internet’s leading consumer music and entertainment information properties. Its flagship website <a href="http://www.artistdirect.com/">www.ARTISTdirect.com</a> is the premier destination for all things related to music and film and their artists. Through its rich, multimedia repository of contextually relevant information and entertainment, the company creates deep connections between artists and fans that deliver benefits to both the entertainment consumer and the entertainment industry. ARTISTdirect.com receives over 3 million unique visitors per month while the ARTISTdirect Network, a family of related Web sites, draws more than 12.4 million monthly unique visitors. Featuring the latest hit videos, streams, free downloads, breaking news, in-depth interviews with musicians, actors, filmmakers and film score composers, a huge data base filled with biographies and discographies plus hard-to-find information, as well as CDs, concert and movie tickets for purchase, ARTISTdirect.com is the ultimate resource for anyone with an appetite for finding new and interesting content about their favorite artists and their music and films. ADIG’s other properties include the legendary Ultimate Band List, <a href="http://www.ubl.com/">www.UBL.com</a>, one of the web’s first music properties.<br /><br />About Artist Direct, Inc.<br />ARTISTdirect, Inc. (OTC BB ARTD – NEWS) is a publicly-held holding company with two operating subsidiaries: ARTISTdirect Internet Group, Inc. operates one of the largest destination sites on the Internet for music and motion picture news, information and streaming music. ADIG also operates an ad network that is currently ranked 5 in comScore’s ranking of music sites. MediaDefender, Inc. provides intellectual property protection and business information services to major motion picture studios, record labels, television networks, gaming companies and software publishers and Internet marketing services to advertising agencies and other clients.<br /><br />About Thumbplay<br />Thumbplay’s award-winning, direct-to-consumer service features licensed content from some of the world’s largest entertainment companies, including EMI Music, Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and Sony Pictures Television, as well as several independent labels and artists and video game companies. Thumbplay’s mobile entertainment catalog is integrated into Clear Channel Radio, AOL and MSN Mobile sites, as well as iLike.com, one of the Web’s leading social music discovery services. Moreover, based on Thumbplay’s reputation for exceptional customer care and technological innovation, MTV recently tapped the company to power personalization content for the music giant’s mobile content site. <br /><br />The recently-launched Thumbplay Open provides independent music and visual artists, application developers and Web site publishers the opportunity to package and sell their own digital media to millions of mobile customers (<a href="http://open.thumbplay.com/">open.thumbplay.com</a>).<br /><br />Each month, <a href="http://www.thumbplay.com/">Thumbplay.com</a> gets more than five million unique visitors and its mobile (WAP) site (<a href="http://m.thumbplay.com/">m.thumbplay.com</a>) receives more than 12 million page views, making it one of the most popular mobile Web sites.<br /><br />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, Meritech, Brookside Capital Partners and Cross Creek Capital. More information can be found at <a href="http://www.thumbplay.com/">www.thumbplay.com</a> or at <a href="http://m.thumbplay.com/">m.thumbplay.com</a> from a mobile phone.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5388994364563850419.post-45802168886327173812009-03-11T08:58:00.000-07:002009-03-11T09:15:43.565-07:00Media at your Thumbtips<p align="center"><a href="http://www.thumbplay.com/news/uploaded_images/newBatt3-740864.jpg"><img style="WIDTH: 261px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 93px" alt="" src="http://www.thumbplay.com/news/uploaded_images/newBatt3-740862.jpg" border="0" /></a></p><br /><br />This Web site is the one-stop destination for your cell phone. From ringtones and videos to wallpapers and games to MP3s, there is a lot to choose from to customize a cell phone.What sets it apart:There are a host of sites offering digital music downloads, but what differentiates Thumbplay is its comprehensive collection of songs. "We have deals with every major record company, independent labels and artists, as well as game and video content providers," said Susan Lietz, vice president for Corporate Communications of Thumbplay. "And specifically, our selection of full-songs, games and videos is really great - so whatever your tastes are, we've got something for you.<br /><br />"The site includes Aggie fight songs in the music library, and during the election season the site offered Obama ringtones and videos. It is pretty much up to the imagination to what digital music and videos can be found.Thumbplay has great coverage and works with major mobile carrier services. It reaches out to more than 2,500 models, so in all probability your phone will be covered.<br /><br />"The moment you enter your mobile number, our service 'recognizes' what type it is and provides specific recommendations for the best media for your handset," Leitz said.The customer service on the Web site is top-notch and available at all times. What's great about the customer service is that instead of being greeted by voice recording machines, you get to speak with real people no matter when you call. Customer service is not restricted to phones; it is accessible by text messages.<br /><br />One feature of Thumbplay is if you are an independent artist or you invented a ringtone, you can sell it on "Thumbplay Open" and get paid for your work. Signing up is free, and the application provides a platform for amateur artists to sell their work. You can also sell mobile applications you developed on Thumbplay.Another function of the site is the "locker." This automatically stores purchases from Thumbplay on your computer. In case you change your phone or lose it, you always retain all your Thumbplay entertainment.<br /><br /><strong>Price:</strong><br />Thumbplay does not have individual prices for each service.<br /><br />Instead, you sign up for an account subscription for $9.99 a month. You earn credits, which you can use for any of the services. New subscribers get bonus credits. For example, a subscription will give you 10 credits a month, an MP3 purchase gives you two credits and a ringtone comes for one credit. This gives you a lot of flexibility in choice and lets you browse the huge range of offered entertainment. The flipside of this subscription is if you want only one song, you end up paying more. Subscriptions can be cancelled anytime.<br /><br /><strong>Conclusion:</strong><br />Thumbplay is an awesome site for people wanting more applications on their phone. Thumbplay.com is one of the best mobile entertainment sites on the Internet and won an award for "Best Mobile Infotainment Portal" for News/Entertainment in Visiongain's 2008 Mobile Entertainment Awards and Conference in London.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com