Sony Ericsson Adds 5 Million Tracks to OTA Music Service

Sony Ericsson used the MIDEM conference in France to take the wraps off the next rev of its PlayNow over-the-air music download service, including deals with 10 record labels.
New content partnerships with Sony BMG, Warner Music Group, EMI, the Orchard, IODA, the PocketGroup, Hungama, X5 Music, Bonnier Amigo and VidZone add five million tracks to the existing catalog. The handset maker also said it’s talking with a host of regional labels to deliver a wider variety of music as well as localized content.

The announcement also unveiled the enhanced PlayNow arena, a service that offers a bunch of content and applications such as TrackID, which identifies songs and then lets you download them right to the phone, and PlayNow Uncut, a promotional space for new and emerging artists.

Most of the world will have to wait for the experience, however. The PlayNow arena is launching in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland in May, but won’t be available in additional European countries, the Americas and Asia until the third or fourth quarter of this year.

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