Technology Gets The Blues

Helena, Arkansas; “We hoped all this media would help but we never imagined this would happen.” commented Wayne Andrews, Director of the blues festival that until recently was known as King Biscuit. The Festival has been the topic of conversation for music fans across radio stations, websites and newspapers. For the past 60 years the King Biscuit name has been associated with a small Southern town. Music legends traveled to the town to be part of the King Biscuit name from Howlin Wolf, to Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin, and Elvis Costello. That was until a New York company acquired the rights to the name in the settlement of a legal dispute and told the former owners and the festival run by a charity to either pay up or to stop using the name.

Now another out of town company has arrived to try and save the festival. TextPayMe, a technology company out of Washington, contacted the festival with aid. “The festival is amazing” commented Philip Yuen, CEO of the TextPayMe and former resident of New York, “it brings 100,000 music fans from around the world to a small delta town, all for the love of music. The festival is free – it is a living museum to music.”

“I read an interview with Mr. Andrews who spoke with such passion about the mission of the charity that presents the festival that I realized TextPayMe could help. If he could talk on the radio and share this emotional story I was sure people would donate to help, especially if they could do it immediately through their cellphone.” Stated Mr. Yuen. This is what sparked TextPayMe’s amazing offer. TextPayMe's technology allows users to make payments and donations using their mobile phones by sending a simple text message.

TextPayMe is offering $5 to each new person who signs up for their service for a limited time. The sign up and basic service is free – and you can donate the $5 immediately to King Biscuit. Mr. Yuen puts it simply, “There are 100,000 fans who attend this event – if each one signs up for our free service and donates the $5 we are offering to King Biscuit that would be half a million dollars, or the full budget of the event. We hope fans will use this chance to make a personal donation – think of it as a matching gift, TextPayMe is donating $5, and we expect each fan to donate the same.” said Mr. Yuen.

“This is an amazing offer” stated Mr. Andrews, “TextPayMe has given us the chance to tell people the King Biscuit story, and given people a chance to help. If each fan donates$5, and TextPayMe matches the $5 it adds up quickly when you think of all the music fans in the United States.”

To learn more about how to “Save the Biscuit” and donate $5 visit www.TextPayMe.com or the festival website www.bluesandheritage.com, or call 870-338-8798.

To donate now just send a text message to sms@textpayme.com. In the body of your text message write the word “signup”. The service will confirm your signup. Then just text message sms@textpayme.com and in the body write “pay (the amount of your donation) blues” The service will handle the rest of the transaction.



TextPayMe:

TextPayMe, Inc, was founded in 2005, is privately held, and is located in Redmond, WA. TextPayMe's patent-pending solution allows users to send and receive money securely through any text message capable phone, without having to install any applications. TextPayMe is currently available in public beta for all mobile phone users in the United States.

TextPayMe was founded with the mission of providing the most convenient, fast, and secure mobile payment services. Users no longer need to be in front of a PC to send payments. To make a payment: take out the mobile phone, send a text message, and answer a phone call. That's it.

Philip Yuen, CEO
18300 NE Union Hill Rd, #294
Redmond, WA 98052
(425) 276-0131

Blues and Heritage Festival/King Biscuit Blues Festival

The King Biscuit Blues Festival is a project of the Sonny Boy Society, a 501 c 3 charitable organizations, which works to promote an understanding of the cultural heritage and history of the Delta through live music, education programs, and a museum.

Founded in 1985 the Society is recognized for presenting the free King Biscuit Blues Festival which draws 100,000 visitors to the town of Helena, Arkansas each October. The festival has won national awards, tourism awards and been ranked by Travelocity and Southern Living as one of the top attractions in the United States.

The festival is presented free to encourage people to understand the history and culture of the region through music.


Wayne Andrews, Festival Director
233 Cherry Street
Helena, Arkansas 72342