Universal to move music on Sony Ericssons PlayNow mobile music service

Sony Ericsson and  Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) today announced a deal on PlayNow™ Uncut. With this deal, Universal will publish music from breaking artists across Sony’s mobile music platform.

PlayNow is Sony’s platform for emerging artists, both online and via Sony Ericsson mobile phones. It offers videos, interviews, tracks and tour dates. With UMPG signing on to the mobile platform, users will be able to access a far greater number of new artists.

From the release:

Gareth Carter, Content Acquisition Partner, Music, at Sony Ericsson commented, “This collaboration demonstrates the breadth and reach of Sony Ericsson’s music services as well as what it can do for key emerging artists.  It is great to be partnering with Universal Music Publishing Group, the leading global music publishing company.”

Simon Mortimer, VP Business Development and Media, Universal Music Publishing Group commented, “The collaboration with Sony Ericsson gives a fantastic outlet for some of our very innovative young artists to reach wider audiences globally.”

What we think?

With this announcement coming on the heels of their PlayNow kiosk service, Sony seems to be putting a lot of resources into mobile music this quarter. This is an important step forward for the carriers if they want to seize control of the mobile music market. The opportunity in mobile music is huge, and if off-portal providers want to offer real competition, then PlayNow is the kind of service they need to beat.