O2 today announces that it will partner with Napster, one of the world's most recognised digital music brands, to offer the UK's largest full track mobile music download service. Available exclusively on mobile through O2 Active, the Napster Mobile service provides access to over 5 million songs and dual delivery of tracks to both the customer's mobile phone and PC.
In order to make the best mobile music experience available to its customers, O2 has chosen to partner with one of the biggest brands in digital music. The deal brings together one of the largest digital catalogues in the music industry with the UK's largest mobile portal, delivering a high quality mobile music experience to O2 customers.
Napster on O2 will provide market-leading value for customers with single tracks initially priced at 99p or 5 tracks for £4*. Once a song is purchased on the mobile phone, a copy will be automatically sent to the email address of the customer's choosing. The Napster service will be accessible through O2 Active on over 30 different handsets.
"This is another great example of our strategy of creating deep level partnerships with the best companies in the world to deliver compelling services to our customers," said Sally Cowdry, Marketing Director, O2 UK. "Working with the right partners at O2 UK is crucial to our success and we have joined forces with a leader in this space to bring our customers a high quality, great value music service with the widest choice of songs available on mobile."
"We're extremely excited to be working with O2 UK on the launch of Napster Mobile," said Brad Duea, president of Napster. "We look forward to delivering a superior mobile music experience to O2 UK's customers, along with the largest mobile music catalogue available. It's the perfect extension of Napster's online service in the UK."
Ged Doherty, Chairman SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT UK and Ireland, commented, "Napster pioneered subscription services in the online world. We are delighted to support them as they move into the mobile space with O2 - another brand making a considerable impact on the music landscape."
The Napster service will bring O2 customers all the latest releases and the biggest tracks with full artist descriptions and imagery to both their phone and PC.
This activity builds on the successful partnership with Napster that O2 Ireland has pioneered.
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*Stated prices are for a promotional period
About O2
O2 is a leading provider of mobile and broadband services to consumers and businesses in the UK. These services include voice, text, media messaging, games, music and video, as well as always on data connections via GPRS, 3G and WLAN. Every month, O2's 18.4 million customers send well over a billion text messages. O2 UK is part of Telefónica O2 Europe which comprises mobile network operators in the UK, Ireland and Slovakia along with integrated fixed / mobile businesses in Germany and the Czech Republic. Telefónica O2 Europe also owns 50% of the Tesco Mobile and Tchibo Mobilfunk joint venture businesses in the UK and Germany respectively as well as having 100% ownership of Be, a leading UK fixed broadband provider
O2 was ranked as 6th best place to work in the Best Companies to Work for 2008 List and has been awarded a three-star accreditation denoting an 'extraordinary' company.
(For b-roll footage of O2, please visit http://www.thenewshub.co.uk/)
For further information contact:
O2 UK Press Office
01753 565656
pressoffice@O2.com
About Napster (http://www.napster.co.uk/)
Napster, the pioneer of digital music, offers the ultimate in interactive music experiences, creating better ways to discover, share, acquire and enjoy music - anytime, anywhere. With a Napster membership customers get unlimited access to one of the biggest music catalogues worldwide with more than five million tracks covering every genre, for a flat monthly fee.
The company's offerings also include Napster To Go, which allows members to fill and refill a compatible music device and listen to their music on the move and Napster Light, a more condensed service for those who just want to purchase songs and albums a la carte. "Napster Mobile" is one of the industry's fastest growing mobile music platforms, providing the premier mobile music experience for customers in nine global markets.
Napster's European offices are based in Frankfurt, London and Luxembourg with worldwide operations located in Los Angeles. Napster's services are available in markets across North America, Europe and Japan.
For more information on Napster, please contact:
Dan Nash
Senior Marketing Manager, Napster UK
office: +44 (0) 207 101 7285
mobile: +44 (0) 7956 498507
e-mail: dan.nash@napster.co.uk
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