Napster, the biggest brand in digital music, and Dwango Wireless, a leading developer and publisher of mobile entertainment content for top lifestyle brands, today announced the debut of the Napstertones mobile phone service. The new consumer service will provide ringtones, artist voice “shoutouts”, exclusive wallpapers featuring the iconic Napster Kitty and other cool graphics from Napster’s library. Napstertones is immediately available to Cingular and T-Mobile subscribers.
Dwango leveraged its expertise in the digital mobile entertainment space and deep distribution channels to establish Napstertones in the wireless arena. After the initial launch, Dwango and Napster expect that consumers of most major carriers will be able to access the Napstertones service during summer 2005. The service also has a planned rollout in Canada to Rogers Wireless and Fido this June.
“Napster is dedicated to giving consumers the widest set of options to access the music they love in a way that fits their lifestyle,” said Chris Gorog, chairman and CEO of Napster. “We are excited to work with Dwango to make Napstertones a reality and give millions of wireless subscribers a simple way to get a taste of the Napster experience.”
Napstertones can be directly purchased from Napster at www.napstertones.com, www.napster.com or from within Napster’s award-winning digital music service. Napstertones’ plethora of exclusive content includes polyphonic ringtones, mastertones, voicetones of artist “shoutouts” and unique graphics, each of which cost $1.99 to $2.99 and which are compatible with a wide variety of phones.
“As consumers in North America increasingly embrace personalized content on their mobile devices, digital music providers such as Napster are perfectly positioned to offer compelling content to wireless subscribers,” said Alexander U. Conrad, president and COO, Dwango Wireless. “The Napster brand resonates with music lovers everywhere and we look forward to a continuing partnership that delivers the best in mobile media entertainment.”
In celebration of the new service, music fans will receive a free song download of their choice from Napster’s million-plus catalog when they purchase their first ringtone from Napstertones within the next 30 days. Expanding its pioneering prepaid card program into the ringtone space, Napster will debut a Napstertones prepaid card by end of the summer.
About Napster
Napster, the biggest brand in digital music, is a subscription service that enables fans to freely sample the world’s largest and most diverse online collection of music and move an unlimited amount of songs to compatible MP3 players. Napster (www.napster.com) members have access to songs from all major labels and hundreds of independents and have more ways to discover, share and acquire new music and old favorites with community features like the ability to email tracks to friends and browse other members’ collections. Napster also offers Napster Light, a “lighter” version of the service for those who just want to purchase songs and albums a la carte. Napster is currently available in the United States, Canada and the U.K. and is headquartered in Los Angeles with offices in London, New York, San Diego and San Jose.
About Dwango Wireless
Dwango Wireless offers a comprehensive approach for bringing lifestyle and affiliate brands to the wireless arena through customized entertainment content, ringtones, games and applications for mobile phones. A key player in the wireless industry, Dwango Wireless provides unique content for some of today’s hottest lifestyle brands, including Beliefnet, Napster and Rolling Stone. Dwango Wireless corporate information can be found at www.dwango.com. Dwango is a trademark of Dwango Co., Ltd., and used by Dwango Wireless pursuant to an exclusive license.