So here I was gearing up a lovely music tech piece and I read Keith’s post, kudos to Mr. Bohanna for also unearthing this gem.
For the first time ever a music artist has launched an entire album exclusively on a mobile phone. Majella, has preloaded her new album “Brave New World” on the Sony Ericsson Z530i available exclusively from O2 Ireland. The album, which includes three live acoustic tracks will not go on general digital release until July 2006. Speaking in Dublin today, Pat Hughes, Sony Ericsson, said, “As a world first, both Sony Ericsson and O2 are delighted to play a role in launching Majella Murphy’s album exclusively via mobile phone. This marks an exciting time for the collaboration of music and mobile phones. Partnering with mobile technology provides a vital opportunity for gifted artists such as Majella to connect with audiences in new and more immediate ways”.
Its been a busy year to date for Ms. Murphy, launching her website (ColdFusion based) back in February, coupled with appearances in the Olympia and at the IRMAs. Plus, she’s from Kilkenny (my lovely hometown) – yet not featured on KilkennyMusic.com, will have to have words there.
Personally, I think its a fantastic move in the right direction for both mobile technology and Irish music. Its great to see artists and creative minds branching out and making the most of the technology thats available, in particular mobile services. Beats the hell out of a tacky free DVD.
If you’re up for a listen, her current single is also available to download directly from MajellaMurphy.com and is well worth the listen.
Update (Tuesday) – To announce this release Majella will be in studio with Pat Kenny (RTE Radio 1) this morning (10am-12noon) talking about recording “Brave New World” her deal with Sony Ericsson and O2.
Nice idea/gimmick, but I’m not sure how this works as a business model for anyone involved. Surely Majella won’t get enough exposure from the deal, she’s not ‘big’ enough to sell a load of phones on the back of her album. As far as I can see the only advantage is that people will buy the phone regardless and get a nice surprise of a full album (put a CD with the phone and you have the same effect only perhaps more appealing to people with an attachment to physical commodity.) Launch a U2 phone and it might be worth everyone’s while!
True, the U2 route would be massive, they were highly successful with the iPod but I can’t see them repeating it. If the tracks can be beamed phone-to-phone then I think there’s a good case for viral marketing to push her CD sales up. Think of buying a new smartphone packed with YIFM shorts….
Getting airplay on national radio normally helps anyone who can get the minutes for free. I’d like to hear Majella on the Podsafe Music Network (http://music.podshow.com) because I have seen the sales mechanism and promotional plays work for unsigned artists already.