LONDON, UK. & NEW YORK, NY. (Top40 Charts/ Nokia) - Nokia has tapped The Orchard (NASDAQ: ORCD), a global leader in music and entertainment, to serve as its premier independent provider for the launch of Comes with Music, which was announced earlier today in London. Comes with
Music offers customers unlimited access to millions of tracks for a year via the Nokia
Music Store upon the purchase of a compatible Nokia device. After a year ends, customers can keep all the tracks they have downloaded.
This groundbreaking service is powered in part by music from The Orchard's diverse and substantial 1.3 million-track catalogue.
Comes With
Music customers will have instant access to tracks by thousands of Orchard-distributed artists from around the world, including favorites as diverse as Simply Red, Lil' Jon, Pitbull, The Holloways,
Brett Anderson,
Polyphonic Spree and Joe Brown.
As a part of this unique collaboration, Nokia will work closely with The Orchard, drawing from The Orchard's strong regional marketing staff and proprietary data sales analytic tools to assist Nokia in 'localizing' the Comes With Music offering. Through custom playlist creation and other discovery tools, the Nokia service will be further tailored to customers in all of the diverse worldwide markets where Comes with Music will ultimately be available.
'With their vast catalogue, unmatched digital marketing and promotion expertise, and commitment to innovation and experimentation, Nokia is pleased to name The Orchard as our premier music independent supplier,' said Tero Ojanpera, executive vice president and head of the Nokia entertainment and communities business. 'We expect that our close collaboration with The Orchard team as we roll out the service across the UK, and then many territories worldwide, will mean a better offering to Nokia customers, and more exposure for the fantastic independent artists and labels who have chosen The Orchard as their digital partner.'
'Nokia has once again innovated ahead of the market in the mobile music space, aggressively competing with an exciting new model,' said Greg Scholl, president and chief executive officer for The Orchard. 'Comes with Music is inventive, and the ground under the music industry is shifting at a speed that rewards innovators and risk-takers - both companies and artists. Nokia, The Orchard, and The Orchard's tens of thousands of worldwide label clients stand to benefit. We have high hopes that this represents yet another incremental source of revenue in the rapid evolution of digital music.'