NME revamps mobile service

by Nikki Sandison, Brand Republic 30-May-08, 09:50

LONDON - IPC Ignite is relaunching NME Mobile's off-portal music service to offer a range of new features including breaking music news, album reviews, prizes, video downloads and wallpapers.

The revamped site can be accessed by texting NME to 61718 and includes a guide to gigs across the UK as well as mobile vouchers offering discounts to Club NME nights.

The site, which is developed and managed by InfoMedia Services, is off-portal, so that it is available to users on all mobile networks and will also carry third-party mobile banner ads.

The service will have a strong emphasis on up and coming acts, with a members area giving users access to video clips and audio track downloads, which will be updated daily.

It will include micro-sites for bands and artists such as Arctic Monkeys, Bloc Party and Foo Fighters to allow users to access specific information and downloads on artists and bands.

Miles Ross, head of mobile development at IPC Media, said: "Mobile is becoming a key medium through which users access music and the music world. We took the decision to redevelop the off-portal service so that we could build in the mechanics which would enable us to provide more value to both users and advertisers."

Michael Tomlins, commercial director at InfoMedia Services, said: "InfoMedia has a strong heritage in mobile music, so it's fantastic to be able to work alongside NME which is one of the most recognised brands in music publishing today.

"The ubiquity of mobile makes it an ideal channel through which brands can reward customer loyalty whilst creating an engaging destination through which to promote other services."