EMI and Orange announce new music deal

EMI Music UK has signed an agreement with Orange, the UK's most popular mobile phone service, to offer an even greater selection of music content to its customers.

The deal allows Orange customers access to a great range of official true tones of EMI Music UK's artists including Kylie, Robbie Williams, Blue and Joss Stone, as well as Fireplayer remixable true tones from the likes of Kelis, Gorillaz and Richard X. The award winning Fireplayer service lets you download music tracks by your favourite artists and remix them on your phone. You can put down some echo, bring up the bass, add sound effects and loops –make them sound fresh, funky, and just how you want them to. Then you can save your remixed tracks and use them as unique true tone ringtones.

EMI Music UK's true tones and Fireplayer tracks will now be available on Orange World: adding to the great range of ringtones, true tones and music services available to Orange customers.

Danny Van Emden, Digital Media Director at EMI Music UK, comments: "This mobile phone deal is yet another way of helping our artists reach consumers. The opportunities we have with Orange allow us to deliver music content direct from our artists – and in the shortest timeframe possible so that fans have the earliest possible access to official products rather than cheap and poorly executed imitations.

"The deal also furthers our core aim to deliver EMI content through a wide range of digital media. Partnering with mobile phone companies is a natural progression from our recent web-based deals and puts a wide array of music content into the hands of our consumers.'

Mark Ashford, Head of Commercial Relationships – Entertainment at Orange UK commented: "The deal with EMI is great news for our customers who will have fantastic true tones and Fireplayer tracks from EMI artists. It also demonstrates our commitment to working with the music industry to deliver high quality official content "
Music on Orange World
Orange customers can find the true tones and Fireplayer tracks on Orange World in the ringtones and music sections. Not only will customers be able to download the tones, they can also follow their favourite artists with daily news, free text alerts, competitions, interviews and much more.

Pricing and availability
Official EMI artist true tones and Fireplayer tracks are now available and will be priced at £3.50 per download. The Fireplayer application is free to download to selected handsets.


- ends -

Notes to Editors

About EMI Music UK – Digital Media Division

EMI Music UK was the first major record company to establish a dedicated Digital Media division in 1998. The division, headed up by Danny Van Emden, the Digital Media Director, is responsible for the digital activity of EMI Music UK and Ireland and its individual music labels. In addition, each of EMI Music UK's record labels - EMI Records, Innocent, Parlophone, Virgin and the catalogue division - has a Digital Media Manager responsible for developing artist specific new media opportunities, promotions and web presence.

The Digital Media division develops many of the company's digital cross-marketing and artist promotions; providing exclusive content; managing data capture and eCRM systems; and monetising EMI Music UK's assets across the digital media. The division is also responsible for the EMI Music UK aggregate site, www.the-raft.com, which has been running for 11 years and won multiple awards.

With in house skills in journalism, programming, photography, SEO and design, the team are able to generate the right mix of copywriting and creativity to exploit a range of commercial opportunities. Working with EMI Music UK's Commercial Digital team, Digital Media has worked with retail, brand, online and mobile organisations. This year alone, the division has agreed a number of crucial deals with high profile partners including OD2, i-Tunes, mycokemusic, Napster, Orange and Vodafone Live.

Websites developed for well-known artists include Kylie.com, Kelis.co.uk, thethrills.com, nerduk.com, thedivinecomedy.com, doves.net and jamelia.com. The team is also responsible for creating artists' web shops, selling physical products and exclusive merchandise, as well as developing mobile shops and download platforms.

EMI Music UK is part of The EMI Group, one of the largest music companies in the world and listed on the London Stock Exchange.

www.emimusic.co.uk

About Orange

Orange and wirefree and any other Orange product or service names included in this material are trademarks of Orange PCS. The Orange group is one of the world's largest mobile communications companies and a subsidiary of the France Telecom group, with operations in 16 countries across Europe and beyond. It provides a broad range of personal communications services, including Orange GSM1800 services and other digital cellular telephone services. Within the Orange Group, the Orange brand operates in the UK, France, Switzerland, Romania, Slovakia, Thailand, the Ivory Coast, the Dominican Republic, Cameroon, the Netherlands, Botswana, and Madagascar. The Orange group also has controlled operations in Belgium (Mobistar). The Orange group has a joint controlling interest in Egypt (MobiNil) and minority interests in Portugal (Optimus) and Austria (One). As at the end of September 2004, Orange was the largest mobile operator in both the UK with 13.9 million active customers, and France with 20.6 million registered customers. As at the end of September 2004, Orange controlled companies had over 52 million customers worldwide. Orange, along with TIM, Telefonica and T-Mobile, is a founding member of the FreeMove alliance. Further information about Orange can be found on the Orange website at www.orange.com.

Katy Howell
immediate future Ltd.
pressoffice@immediatefuture.co.uk