Published:
20-May-08
Sony BMG is providing its catalogue DRM free to the mobile entertainment service Dada Entertainment, a joint venture between DADA USA and Sony BMG. As a result the existing $9.99 subscription giving consumers 15 tokens to use towards ringtones and wallpapers now includes full-track downloads. The company hopes to encourage other labels to offer similar content. Dada's music service is currently available to AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Alltel, Virgin, Cellular One, Boost, Cricket and Nextel subscribers in the USA. Unlike other content offered by Dada, full tracks cannot be downloaded over the air although DADA plans to make this option available shortly. At present users can sideload the full length tracks onto a mobile device or other digital music player and are billed using premium SMS.
Our take...
Dada is transforming its music offering into an integrated music download and social networking service. At the same time as announcing the full track deal with Sony BMG, Dada has repurposed its existing social network to be more music orientated, renaming it 'The Music Movement'. Once the site is fully operational, users will be able to discover new music, network with other users and create their own page detailing their musical likes and dislikes. Dada will face fierce competition from other mobile music service providers such as Napster which also launched DRM free tracks to sideload on 20 May 2008. As opposed to Dada, Napster provides DRM free tracks from all four major record labels EMI, UMG, Sony BMG and WMG.
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