More Mobile Music in Singapore: Lady Gaga Gets AMPed with Singtel
Music is a passion point for youth all over the world, and Asia is no exception. According to a Synovate survey presented during the 2009 Music Matters Asia Pacific Music Forum, 68% of Asian youth say music is a very important part of their lives, and mobile phones are one of the leading devices they use to listen to it. Mobile companies is Asia are getting wise to this youth behavior and developing new ways of integrating music usage into the device.
Just days after our last post on Nokia’s “comes with music” service, Singtel launched a new service called AMPed, a multimedia music offering that gives Singtel’s customers unlimited music downloads and exclusive music services.
“Singapore Telecommunications Limited (SingTel) today launched SingTel AMPed, an interactive music experience for postpaid mobile customers. This unique service, developed in strategic partnership with Universal Music Group (UMG), is the first-of-its-kind in Asia that goes beyond offering unlimited music downloads.
AMPed customers can access music videos, the latest entertainment news and gossip, as well as pre-album releases for free. There will also be opportunities for them to meet their favourite stars and interact online with like-minded music fans. The multi-platform service will be available on the widest range of 3G handsets across brands, which is another outstanding feature of AMPed.
AMPed is offered at no additional cost on selected mobile plans, allowing SingTel customers to enjoy the ultimate mobile music experience with peace of mind. Customers can browse and download songs to their hearts’ content, on their handsets and PCs, without having to worry about data charges. The AMPed music library comprises popular songs from different genres and eras, ranging from evergreen to contemporary hits.” Read the rest here.
To celebrate their new offering, Singtel and Universal Music brought Lady Gaga down for an exclusive showcase. Enjoy this acoustic performance that was taken by a good friend of ours (thanks to his mobile phone!). See below or here.
Although the music is free, accessing the service will require a data plan, a feature that Singtel has had trouble promoting. In recent years, the telecom company has been struggling to increase its data usage, and even though they carry the iPhone, they have not really been able to convert customers to data subscriptions. Taking a play out of Nokia’s book, this seems to be a great incentive for existing 3G users to hop onto a data plan and start enjoying the unlimited downloads. While the jury is still out on whether this will be a success, it’s clear that the winners are the mobile audience and the medium itself.
- Melvin Kee, MobileBehavior Singapore
