A company that got its start putting unsigned bands on U.S. cable TV will now bring Sony BMG Music Entertainment properties to cell phone users in China.
Content aggregator Global Music International Inc. (GMI) made a deal with the music conglomerate under which it can provide music videos, ringtones and ringback tones through any Chinese mobile operator, said Jim Fallacaro, founder and chairman of GMI. Initially, the company will make the content available to subscribers of China United Telecommunications Co. Ltd., (China Unicom) which is already offering GMI’s independent music products.
Ringtones and ringback tones are bread-and-butter products for mobile operators and video is emerging as a significant part of data services around the world. The Sony BMG deal, though not exclusive, gives GMI access to subscribers in the world’s largest cellular market even as it continues to grow rapidly. There are already 40 million China Unicom customers buying ringtones, out of a total subscriber base of 146 million, Fallacaro said. Adding on the label’s properties will change GMI’s lineup from thousands to tens of thousands of music videos and add artists such as Jennifer Lopez, Avril Lavigne, Travis and John Legend, in addition to many Asian artists, he said.
Through China Unicom Newspace, the carrier’s mobile media division, GMI will offer multiple channels of streaming music videos as well as video on demand and downloads. The channels will include a Western music video channel, one for Chinese commercial artists and one for Chinese independent acts. China Unicom, the second-largest mobile operator in China, operates both GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) and CDMA (Code-Division Multiple Access) networks, but no operators offer the faster 3G (third-generation) mobile data services. China hasn’t granted any 3G licenses yet.
GMI was founded in 2000 to solicit music videos from unsigned artists and provide them to cable operators, Fallacaro said. Today, it supplies content to RealNetworks Inc.’s Rhapsody Radio service for Sprint Nextel Corp. customers in the U.S. GMI will continue its independent ways in China, seeking out unsigned local acts, Fallacaro said. The commitment to Chinese artists has helped GMI gain backing in the country, and Sony BMG came to the company because of its foothold and experience in China, he said.
