NEW YORK, NY. (Top40 Charts/ Thumbplay) - Thumbplay (https://www.thumbplay.com), the No 1 mobile entertainment content service in the U.S.*, and Universal
Music Group (UMG), the world's leading music company, today announced the exclusive launch of ringtones and other mobile content by legendary Def Jam recording artist and music icon Shawn 'Jay-Z' Carter.
Starting today, only Thumbplay customers can personalize their mobile phones with a collection of ten chart-shattering singles that have never been made available in the mobile marketplace. Encompassing some of the greatest hits from the past ten years from this cultural icon, Thumbplay's customers will enjoy exclusive access to Jay-Z's biggest hits, including:
- 1-900-Hustler, The Dynasty: Roc La Familia (2000)
- Can I Get A, Vol. 2: Hard Knock Life (1998)
- Encore, The Black Album (2003)
- Excuse Me Miss, The Blueprint 2: The Gift & The Curse (2002)
- Girls, Girls, Girls, The Blueprint (2001)
- Heart Of The City (Ain't No Love), The Blueprint (2001)
- IZZO (H.O.V.A.), The Blueprint (2001)
- Jigga What, Jigga Who, Vol. 2: Hard Knock Life (1998)
- Roc Boys (And The Winner Is), American Gangster (2007)
- S. Carter, Vol. 3: Life and Times of S. Carter (1999)
"UMG is committed to ensuring that fans are provided with new and innovative ways to access the music of their favorite artists," stated Adam Flick, Vice President of Marketing, Digital, Universal Music Group Distribution. "And our partnership with Thumbplay provides an engaging and dynamic means of doing just that."
"The availability of exclusive content from Jay-Z marks the continuation of Thumbplay's leadership and commitment to delivering excellence to its consumers in the mobile music arena," commented Are Traasdahl, Thumbplay's CEO and founder. "We are pleased that Universal Music Group has chosen Thumbplay to be the first to launch this exclusive collection of Jay-Z's chart-topping hits and look forward to sharing more exclusive UMG content with our consumers in the future."
Thumbplay and UMG inked a deal in April of 2006 that significantly increased the mobile entertainment content leader's offerings through access to the full UMG catalog of music tones from artists such as Eminem, Mariah Carey, Kanye West, Sheryl Crow, 50 Cent, Jack Johnson, Gwen Stefani, blink-182 and The Killers. By targeting diverse communities of consumers and creating strong partnerships with major online brands and content providers, Thumbplay has been able expand its Web site traffic to over 4 million unique visitors each month.
With more than 100,000 pieces of mobile entertainment content under license, including ringtones, wallpapers, games, videos, voice tones and text- based services, Thumbplay has built a strong consumer following and gained broad recognition as a leader in the direct-to-consumer mobile content space.
During the last quarter of 2007, Thumbplay announced deals to integrate its mobile entertainment content catalog into the Web and mobile portals of AOL and MSN Mobile, as well as iLike, one of the Web's leading social music discovery services. Earlier this year, Thumbplay signed a digital distribution agreement to roll out mobile content stores on the Web sites for Entertainment Tonight (etonline.com) and more than 650 of Clear Channel Radio's local music, news and sports stations throughout the U.S.
