BIZ Community - 31 October
2002
SA Radio Moves to the BEAT
South African radio is about to enter a new era of interactivity
with the launch of Mark Shuttleworth's Mybeat music discovery
service.
The service will be launched in partnership with South Africa's
largest commercial station, Metro FM, in early November
2002. This follows successful trial implementations in which
thousands of users have discovered music the Mybeat way.
Mybeat Interactive Technologies was recently funded by Shuttleworth's
innovation fund, HBD Venture Capital. Mybeat aims to revolutionise
the way consumers discover music by allowing an unprecedented
level of interactivity between the station, listeners and
advertisers.
Mybeat's patented technology enables radio listeners get
more information about the current song, advert of promotion
on their favourite radio station. Information is received
instantly via SMS and is also logged on the Mybeat website.
Gone are the days of wondering what song you just heard
and the frustration of forgetting that vital competition
number!
Industry watchers have touted Mybeat's mobile music service
as a revolutionary way for consumers to find, remember and
purchase the music they enjoy.
Over the past few months, Mybeat has been piloting its mobile
music service nationally with Metro FM and regionally with
Classic FM and a number of other stations. To date thousands
of users have tested Mybeat ahead of the imminent full-scale
launches on these stations. Rodney Kuhn, Mybeat's marketing
director and co-founder, notes "the results from our
pilots have been extremely positive and we anticipate that
Mybeat will be a huge hit with consumers and advertisers."
Mike Ford, station manager of Classic FM says, "Mybeat
is an excellent development for radio. We are extremely
pleased with the way it's working on Classic FM and are
delighted with the feedback that we have received from our
listeners. I have no doubt that Mybeat will be a success
on other radio stations."
Wayne Silbermann director of business development highlights,
"The Mybeat launch will open the door to a revolution
in music and we expect that it could potentially transform
interactivity on radio."
Years of research have gone into Mybeat as Jarrod Hermer,
Mybeat's technology director describes, "Mybeat's technology
has been specifically designed with today's consumer psychology
in mind. We wanted to keep it simple, fun and slick for
the consumer and concurrently build a strong value offering
for the radio, music and advertising industries."
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