Direct-to-consumer content provider Thumbplay Inc. expanded its music portfolio through a new pact with EMI Music.Thumbplay sells ringtones, games and text-based services from its online storefront through both a la carte and subscription models. The company said the deal includes content from EMI acts...
Wireless operators increasingly are cutting ringtone aggregators out of the loop, opting instead to make deals directly with recording labels. But as EMI Entertainment World Inc.'s lawsuit against InfoSpace Inc. shows, the ringtone business may not be as simple as it seems.EMI earlier this...
Music publisher EMI Entertainment World Inc. has slapped InfoSpace Inc. with a $100 million lawsuit, claiming the buffeted mobile content company has been underpaying royalties and selling ringtones without proper licensing rights.The suit, filed Jan. 12 in U.S. District Court in New York, accuses...
SAN MATEO, Calif.-Digital Chocolate Inc. is partnering with EMI Music Canada to include pop music into customized versions of its mobile games.The companies' first offering, Club k-os, is a takeoff on Digital Chocolate's Nightclub Empire game. The title will include the hip-hop artist's likeness...
What goes better than ringtones and rap? Not much. Multi-platinum selling rap artist Chingy has gone the extra step and today can announce girlfriends' names when they call their friends' cell phones. Chingy has replaced the word ``girl'' in the chorus line of his...
You can call it off-deck, off-portal or off-network, but the stampede of companies looking to sell content directly to consumers is unquestionably on. Off-deck activity has long dominated the wireless market in Europe, where a lack of garden walls has encouraged subscribers to use...
LONDON-Warner Music continued to expand its digital distribution operations, acquiring a minority stake in Japanese mobile broadcasting FrontMedia. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.Warner Music Japan said it is making a capital investment in the year-old firm, which operates an Internet-based audio and...
LONDON—Warner Music continued to expand its digital distribution operations, acquiring a minority stake in Japanese mobile broadcasting FrontMedia. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.Warner Music Japan said it is making a capital investment in the year-old firm, which operates an Internet-based audio and...
CAMBRIDGE, United Kingdom—Off-deck wireless content provider Bango reported increased quarterly revenues but offered a lowered forecast for its non-U.K. businesses. The direct-to-consumer technology company said it generated $14.19 million during the quarter ending March 31, more than doubling revenues during the year-earlier period. But...
Mobile video continues to make headlines as a sexy, next-generation offering for wireless users. But content providers are beginning to look to the venerable business model of advertising-supported content to fuel broadcasts for wireless subscribers. The Fox Broadcasting Co. joined the crush of broadcasters...
NEW YORK—Virgin Mobile USA L.L.C. and Virgin Records are teaming with EMI to offer four exclusive ringtones from hip-hop star Big Boi. The clips are based on four tracks from a compilation album from the Outkast member released last November. Four ringtones will be...
MILWAUKEE—Brady Corp., which makes die-cut components used by mobile handset manufacturers and electronics companies, announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Tradex Converting AB. Tradex, headquartered in Kungalv, Sweden, manufactures pressure sensitive, die-cut adhesive components for the mobile handset and electronics industries....
LAS VEGAS-Wireless operators will need to establish new business models to address the growing market of off-deck content. And they'll likely have to take a smaller piece of the pie.Poorly managed relationships with content providers, a lack of quality customer care and complicated refund...
STOCKHOLM, Sweden-L.M. Ericsson plans to offer ringtones and full-track downloads from music publisher EMI to European wireless users. The companies announced a deal to bring 12,000 ringtones and 200,000 full tunes to market through Ericsson's white-label mobile music portal. EMI's stable of artists includes...
STOCKHOLM, Sweden-L.M. Ericsson plans to offer ringtones and full-track downloads from music publisher EMI to European wireless users.The companies announced a deal to bring 12,000 ringtones and 200,000 full tunes to market through Ericsson's white-label mobile music portal. EMI's stable of artists includes Coldplay,...
LAS VEGAS-Verizon Wireless has unveiled its new music service, Vcast Music, which will offer consumers the ability to download full-length digital songs and transfer them between their handset and a Windows XP personal computer. The service is a collaboration between Verizon Wireless and Microsoft...
If Amp'd Mobile Inc.'s bargain-basement full-track download music service was designed to get attention, it's working. The recently launched mobile virtual network operator made headlines a few weeks ago when it said it would match the price of Apple Computer Inc.'s iTunes service, selling...
CHELMSFORD, Mass.-SavaJe Technologies announced two key executive appointments this week. The company named Gregory Koss as its new chief executive officer and William Sorenson as its new chief financial officer.Koss' experience includes executive-level positions at networking and communications companies, including Internet Photonics and Sonoma...
Deals were announced and applications launched last week as the large wireless vendors fanned the flames of the hot and getting-hotter mobile content market. L.M. Ericsson said it will distribute ring-back tones from EMI Music's catalog of music as part of Ericsson's hosted ring-back...
SAN FRANCISCO-L.M. Ericsson said it will distribute ringback tones from EMI Music's catalog of music as part of Ericsson's hosted ring-back tone service in the United States. The nonexclusive deal with EMI Music North America means Ericsson can offer U.S. carriers preapproved music from...
SANTA CLARA, Calif.-Internet-based digital radio network Mercora said it is bringing its user-contributed streaming audio service to Windows Mobile-based handhelds. The company launched IM Radio Mobile v1.0, featuring more than 20,000 commercial-free radio channels, near-CD quality sound and instant messaging and chat capabilities. The...
WARREN, N.J.-Virgin Mobile USA customers will get exclusive access to ringtones from Grammy-winning artist Faith Evans' album "The First Lady" as part of its First Dibs program.The offer is part of a new mobile content agreement between Virgin and EMI Music. The ringtone for...
ATLANTA-Cingular Wireless L.L.C. announced a new music service that will offer ringtones of singles before the songs are released to the public. The carrier will offer ringtones in advance of, or in conjunction with, the radio debut of new tunes. Cingular Sounds has launched...
Cingular Wireless announced a new music service that will offer ringtones of singles before the songs are released to the public. The carrier will offer ringtones in advance of, or in conjunction with, the radio debut of new tunes. Cingular Sounds has launched with...
