Nokia snares Sony BMG for music offering

Nokia Corp. bulked up its music offerings, inking a deal with Sony BMG and adding two new handsets to its XpressMusic line.
The Finnish company said Sony BMG has joined its Comes With Music offering, a program that packages one year’s access to full tracks with Nokia handsets. The handsets will be bundled with Ovi, Nokia’s broad direct-to-consumer brand that comprises music, mapping, games and social networking offerings.
“This initiative represents a critical new way of gaining access to music, through which fans will be able to explore Sony BMG’s vast catalog of recordings for an entire year,” said Sony BMG executive Thomas Hesse. “We think this business model will encourage users to sample a wide range of material, expand their musical tastes and listen to more music than ever before.”
Comes With Music is set to come to market in the second half of 2008; Nokia has said it expects to have all four major labels in the fold at launch. Universal Music was the first label to sign on, last year.
Meanwhile, Nokia unveiled two handsets that support its recently launched music distribution service. The 5220 XpressMusic offers up to 24 hours of playback time and dedicated music keys; the 5320 is an HSDPA-enabled device that offers Web 2.0 access and extendable memory up to 8 gigabytes. The 5220 will sell for $255 before subsidies; the 5320 will retail for $352. Both phones are slated for release in the third quarter.