NASHVILLE, Tenn. ? 06/08/2006 Sprint (NYSE: S) and Universal Music Group, the world's leading music company, will deliver live country music for the first time with video and audio on mobile phones during a concert tonight from Nashville's Rocketown music venue. Favorite country artists, including Josh Turner, Billy Currington, Julie Roberts and Gary Nichols, will perform exclusive acoustic performances. The concert begins at 4:30 p.m. Central Time, and it will be available for free to all Sprint PCS Vision(SM) and Sprint Power Vision(SM) customers who have multimedia phones and data plans. These customers can also experience the concert afterwards on-demand.
Additionally, Sprint customers will be able to download content from the performances to personalize their phone with Ringers, Call Tones, Video Ringers and full-song downloads from the Sprint Music Store(SM). The concert is part of the 2006 CMA Music Festival, which is a high-energy event that brings together tens of thousands of country music fans with many of music's best and brightest stars.
"Sprint is the only mobile provider in the U.S. that is able to offer live audio and video on phones, and Sprint is pleased to work with Universal to mark another milestone by offering the first-ever live country concert on mobile phones. With the massive popularity of country music, we know that millions of our customers are fans, so we are especially excited to provide this ground-breaking concert for free as an added benefit of their service," said Alana Muller, director, entertainment product marketing, Sprint.
"We are thrilled that Sprint has partnered with us during this year's CMA Music Festival. Our relationship with Sprint not only puts our music directly into our fans' hands through a variety of dynamic and exciting mobile products, but gives them an exclusive stage-side seat to experience their favorite country artists live for the first time ever on a wireless phone. It's the next best thing to having a ticket," said Luke Lewis, co-chairman, Universal Music Group Nashville.
Mercury Recording artist Billy Currington is an Academy of Country Music nominee for "Top New Male Vocalist." His sophomore release "Doin' Somethin' Right" was certified Gold in just three months after its release. The album spawned the #1 Country single, "Must Be Doin' Somethin' Right," which also earned Currington a CMT nomination for "Hottest Video of the Year."
Josh Turner's first release, "Long Black Train," went platinum and was quickly followed by his current sophomore album, "Your Man," which debuted at #1. The album has already yielded the title track which spent two weeks as the #1 country single in the nation.
As an Academy of Country Music nominee for "Top New Female Artist," Julie Roberts burst onto the music scene with her self-titled, Gold-certified debut album in 2004. Her highly anticipated new album, "Men & Mascara," is due June 27.
Hot newcomer Gary Nichols is already making a big name for himself, as his debut single "Unbroken Ground" is rapidly climbing the country charts. The Mercury Recording artist's first record hits stores in early Fall.
