MUMBAI: Cell operators and music industry together have taken a significant step to provide full entertainment to customers. Hutch recently introduced an innovative service Full Song Download along with the launch of forthcoming film Krrish. Hutch alongwtih Hungama Mobile, Filmkraft and T-Series announced the music premiere with the launch of the service.
It will allow downloads of songs from many categories like Bollywood, International, Indipop and Regional hits amongst others on their Hutch phones starting May 15, 2006. This service will be available to Hutch postpaid and prepaid customers across all circles except Maharashtra, Goa, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The full song download service at present is compatible with nine popular Nokia handsets including the Nokia 6600 that is being used by more than five lakh Hutch customers. This service is available at a charge starting as low as Rs 20 per song.
To down load full songs Hutch customers will first have to download the music player available free of cost from Planet Hutch. This will allow customers to download and enjoy their favourite songs on their hutch phones and personalise it by creating various pay lists. Naveen Chopra, chief marketing officer, Hutchinson Essar said, “Hutch customers can now purchase their favourite songs at their convenience anywhere and anytime on their Hutch phones this innovation allows our customers to download full songs of outstanding sound quality at a faster download speed”. Neeraj Roy, Managing director and chief executive officer, Hungama Mobile said ” Hungama Mobile has always believed in innovation in mobile entertainment. We are trying to capture the Indian Youth and today we have taken a step in that direction”.
Actor, producer and director Rakesh Roshan, now managing director Filmkraft, sounded very charged up with the idea. “I congratulate Hutch and Hungama Mobile on this first step and am glad my film Krrish is the first film to have taken this step.”
When asked if this would affect the sales of the Music CD in the market Rakesh Roshan retorts, “I don’t think so. I think it will prove beneficial to the producers by creating more revenue. So far piracy was killing our revenue. With this arrangement piracy will definitely get affected.”
We also quizzed him on the quality of music on the mobile phones. He said, “The sound quality is the same. We will see to it that our customers get value for their money”.
Speaking on the occasion Bhushan Kumar, managing director super cassettes Industries Ltd (T Series) said “T series has been at the forefront of capturing the digital music opportunity in India. As the largest publisher or Indian music in the world, we could not have found a better partner in Hungama Mobile and a more appropriate film than Krrish to launch the first full length music download service in India with Hutch”.
