Consumers Vote Music Anywhere 'Best Mobile Service'

After only a few short months on the shelves, the Catch Media and Carphone Warehouse service Music Anywhere has been voted by consumers as the 'Best Mobile Service' in the What Mobile Awards 2010.A groundbreaking service designed to provide users unlimited global access to their music collection through their computers and a range of mobile devices, Music Anywhere has been acclaimed by industry leaders and critics as a step forward in the mobility of user music libraries.The first fully licensed service of its kind, Music Anywhere uses Catch Media's award winning Play Anywhere^TM technology to 'fingerprint' the users home library and 'smart cache' the most listened to songs, giving uninterrupted access without even the need for an internet connection.Working on iPhones, BlackBerries and a range of Android handsets, Music Anywhere organises fans' music libraries, enabling them to enjoy their playlists and rate their favourite songs.   Catch Media's agreements with major labels and indie rights aggregators and collecting societies across the world license more than six million different tracks to the service.Recognising this breakthrough service are the mobile consumers, 5,500 of whom voted through What Mobile's website and magazine, resulting in Music Anywhere beating competitors such as Google Maps and Orange HD Voice to claim the 'Best Mobile Service' award.  The What Mobile awards have been a big event on the mobile industry calendar since their inception 6 years ago, having hosted lavish ceremonies at such venues as Shoreditch House and Jalouse Club in London's Mayfair.Coming towards the end of a 12 week integration into the 800 Carphone Warehouse stores across the UK, the award illustrates the service's popularity with the general public. Carphone Warehouse customers can subscribe to the service for a monthly subscription of just £2.99 or an annual fee of just £29.99 on other supported smartphones.Catch Media CTO Boaz Ben-Yaacov is flying to the UK to collect the award in the person. Said Harry Maloney, Chief Executive Catch Media UK "We are very pleased to be part of this award with our partner The Carphone Warehouse at such an early stage in our development. The public vote  goes someway to confirm that music lovers prefer to access their own music collection at their convenience and where they want to." "We're thrilled to win the Best Mobile service award for Music Anywhere. It's the first offering of its kind and it's bringing people a new way to listen to their music collection wherever they are." -Tom Guy, Group Head of Digital Services Best Buy Europe FAQWhat Is Music Anywhere?Music Anywhere is a revolutionary new service that allows Carphone Warehouse customers to access their music collection from anywhere in the world via their mobile handset or computer.Built using Catch Media's Play Anywhere^TM technology, Music Anywhere is the first fully licensed service of its type. Music Anywhere isn't about new music, it's about allowing the end user to make the most of the music they already own.What Makes This Service Unique? Music Anywhere is the first legal service rolled out by a major retailer which provides the consumer with the ability to listen to their music collection and playlists through their smartphone seamlessly wirelessly synced just like their e-mail. So How Does It Work?When you first install the Music Anywhere application on your computer it accesses your music library, but rather than copy the files to your handset it builds a database from your music's metadata, so it knows what music you should be able to access and will also have a record of all your existing playlists.When you access your music from a remote location, you're in fact streaming music from Catch Media's servers. A major benefit of this is that because we don't copy the actual file, just the metadata, it doesn't matter what format your music is stored as, whether MP3, WMA, or AAC, it will still be streamable through Music Anywhere.Will It Recognise All My Music?Play Anywhere^TM is comprehensively licensed, with deals in place with all four major record labels, independent aggregators and all relevant publishing agencies such as PRS in the UK, and BMI, HFA and ASCAP in the USA. These licenses cover over 6,000,000 different tracks.I've Got Some Pretty Obscure Music...If there are any media files in your library that are not recognised, that recording of Aunty Gladys signing 'Stairway To Heaven' at Uncle Monty's funeral for instance, we copy that file to a digital locker so it will still be available. What Happens When I Add New Music To My Collection?Once Music Anywhere has been setup it will continue to sync with your music library, so as and when you add new music or create new playlists, they will be available through Music Anywhere. Is There A Limit To How Many Songs I Can Access Through Music Anywhere?No.I Have 10,000 Songs In My Music Library How Long Will It Take To Set Up?Even with such a large library it should only take a few minutes to build the inventory the first time you install the Music Anywhere app.Will I Be Able To Access My Music When I Am Offline?Whilst you will need to be online to access your complete music library, as you use Music Anywhere it will begin to 'smartcache' 500 of your most played tracks on your handset.  This means caching is done intelligently, according to your own playlists and listening habits.  These 500 tracks will then be available at any time, whether on or offline. Can I Access My Music When I'm Abroad?Depending on your data plan, yes, as long as you can get online you will be able to access your entire music collection even when abroad.Will Music Anywhere Come Be Pre-Loaded On Any Devices?Music Anywhere will be pre-loaded on the new Samsung I5500 'Europa' phone, being made available from tomorrow Tuesday 3^rd August from Carphone Warehouse.Will I Be Able To Use Music Anywhere On My Existing Handset?All Carphone Warehouse customers with smart phones will be able to subscribe to Music Anywhere for £29.99 a year.Who Is The Target Audience?Smartphone purchasers or smartphone owners who have a collection of music and playlists on their PC who want to listen to their music collection on the go.Who Are The Biggest Competitors?There are a number of music lockers on the market, none of which is licensed by the music industry, and there are also a number of cloud based services that are available at a much higher price point. Why Not Just Use Spotify?While Spotify is a great way of discovering as well as playing your own music, the £9.99 monthly premium service is not yet available across the world.We believe that once many people who listen to their own music collection on their mobile phone and on the web at work, may want to upgrade to a music rental service like Spotify, they may want to add songs to their collection buy purchasing a la carte from Amazon , iTunes or Napster. What Happens If I Lose My Phone?No problem at all, the information is stored on our servers, so once your new phone is up and running you'll have access to all you music straight away. So Will Music Anywhere Work On All Smart Phones?Catch Media's Play Anywhere^TM technology is compatible with over 500 different mobile handsets.  This means Music Anywhere subscribers will be able to access their music through all iPhone, Android and Blackberry devices.What Effect Will Music Anywhere Have On My Mobile Data Plan?The application on the mobile phone will store your favourite songs so that as you listen to them they will not use up your data plan after listening the first time.Am I Limited In The Number Of Devices That I Can Access My Music From? With Music Anywhere you can stream your music to one mobile handset and to any computers that have the Music Anywhere application installed, however you can only login via one PC at any one time, this is designed to stop file sharing.Do The Labels Or Artists Get Paid When I Play Their Songs Through Music Anywhere?Yes, as we said Play Anywhere^TM and hence Music Anywhere are fully licensed.Subscription revenues are split with rights holders, pro-rated according to the amount a track has been played, on a monthly basis.  Accounting is completely transparent, with no black boxes, and no right holders owning equity stakes in Catch Media.Music Anywhere also provides a unique service to labels in that we can provide real time statistics on where and how often their music is being accessed.Tell Me More?Catch's Play Anywhere^TM technology tracks every song that is played and can provide this information, aggregated and de-personalised, to record labels allowing them unprecedented data on how their artists are performing and importantly where. Live analytics can be broken down from a national level right down to individual postcodes.  This is invaluable when booking tours and in-store appearances through to measuring the success of a TV or radio appearance.These analytics are provided in an aggregated way, without revealing any private user information either to the labels or to Carphone Warehouse.About Catch MediaCatch Media is a B2B company deploying award-winning proprietary patented technology and a suite of services that allow consumers to seamlessly and conveniently listen to and watch their music, TV and video collections and services, and share their digital media wherever and whenever they want across multiple platforms, while providing content owners and content distributors a sustainable vehicle to monetize their content on an ongoing basis.Since its founding in 2003, Catch Media has invested in developing its patented (and patent pending) award-winning Play Anywhere® technology that registers, tracks, routes, and reconciles digital content.  This provides consumers with a convenient way to listen and watch their digital content on different platforms where and when they want and share that content with friends, while guaranteeing content owners (studios, labels, producers, writers, artists and composers), telecom carriers, subscriber-TV operators and retailers compensation on an ongoing basis as the content is transmitted and consumed. As a DECE member, Catch Media plans to next launch movies through the Play Anywhere® platform and is working to provide DECE access seamlessly through the Play Anywhere® interfaces on the cell phone, web, set top boxes and any many other connected devices. For more information about Catch Media, visit www.catchmedia.com About The Carphone WarehouseThe Carphone Warehouse is the largest independent mobile phone retailer in the world with 2,400 stores operating across 9 markets, including over 800 UK stores.  The company is committed to offering impartial and expert advice on the widest range of the latest product plus unbeatable, aftersales care.Stockist details:  www.carphonewarehouse.com or from The Carphone Warehouse Direct Sales on 0800 925 925. For further information please contact Sam Shemtob, Name PR T: 020 8357 7305 M +44 (0) 7951 069 228E: sam@namemusic.net