Over-the-Air Music Download Service Gives Customers More Mobile Music Choice
AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) has announced the launch of an over-the-air music download service with eMusic, the world’s largest retailer of independent music. The eMusic over-the-air (OTA) service will give AT&T’s customers the ability to preview and purchase music via their wireless devices from a catalog of 2.7 million songs, the nation’s largest wireless music catalog. This new service is part of the AT&T Mobile Music platform, which provides customers with more music choices than any other wireless carrier.
Songs purchased from eMusic Mobile are immediately sent to the user’s wireless handset, and a duplicate copy is available for download to the user’s PC at no charge. AT&T customers can subscribe to download five tracks a month for $7.49, and additional packages of five songs are available for the same price whenever desired.
“eMusic Mobile is not your typical over-the-air service,” said Mark Collins, vice president of Consumer Data Services for AT&T’s wireless unit. “This service, which is as unique as the independent artists found in the eMusic catalog, differentiates itself from the competition through its ease of use, subscription pricing model and the ability to play these tracks in any MP3 player.”
“eMusic Mobile will expand the audience for mobile music beyond the youth market by offering an alternative to the mainstream pop hits that have so far dominated over-the-air music,” said David Pakman, eMusic president and CEO. “AT&T is a terrific partner for this service, and we look forward to offering AT&T’s more than 63.7 million subscribers access to a rich catalogue that ranges from legends like Paul McCartney and Miles Davis to new independent stars such as Spoon and Arcade Fire.”
eMusic Mobile will prove to be a valuable tool for music discovery when users are on the go, hear a song on the radio or in a store, and want to hear it again. The service allows for the preview of tracks before purchase and is perfect for making sure that same great song is the right one before purchase.
eMusic Mobile will be initially available on some of AT&T’s most robust music devices, with many to be added in the future. Users of the Samsung a717, a727, new versions of the popular Samsung SYNC and the Nokia N75 will be able to access the eMusic wireless store by clicking on the music note key, choosing the Shop Music option and then selecting eMusic.
eMusic Mobile also offers customers more value with dual delivery of purchased tracks. When a customer purchases a song from a wireless handset, a DRM-free track is delivered to the phone while a second version is delivered to the user’s home computer for use in his or her larger music library or with any music player supporting the MP3 format.
Customers can access the eMusic wireless site in just three clicks from compatible handsets and do not have to subscribe to the service to preview songs, though AT&T strongly recommends an unlimited data plan before previewing tracks.
The new eMusic service complements AT&T’s existing mobile music offerings, which include the ability to transfer songs from a PC to a wireless handset from popular music subscription services such as Napster, in addition to eMusic. AT&T was also the first and only U.S. carrier to offer a phone with iTunes capability in 2005 and launched the Apple iPhone in June of this year.
For more information, visit www.wireless.att.com/emusic or www.emusic.com/emusicmobile. For the complete array of AT&T offerings, visit www.att.com.
