PRESS RELEASE
London, UK 12th August 2010: PURE, the world-leading radio maker, presents FlowSongs, a ground-breaking, cloud-based music service that allows the user to identify (tag) tracks playing on any radio station and buy them directly from any PURE radio with Flow technology built-in. FlowSongs is currently exclusive to UK customers as a public beta with an international roll out taking place later in the year.
Colin Crawford, PURE's director of marketing says: ‘The start of an exciting journey for PURE and our customers, FlowSongs is a unique and easy-to-use cloud-based music service that delivers a bridge between radio, which is the most popular way of discovering new music, and the ability to own that music.'
Will Page, chief economist at PRS for Music, says: "This FlowSongs music service sows all the same seeds of success that YouTube offered back in the summer of 2006 by giving the fan instant gratification - you hear it, like it and now you can buy it. It's a truly remarkable step forward in the digital convergence story as well, making it easier for music fans to purchase what they are exposed to as well as ensuring the songwriter and artist gets paid."
The first of a range of new services coming to PURE's internet-connected digital radios, FlowSongs allows users to tag and buy tracks while listening to any digital, FM or internet radio station and stream them at the touch of a button from their radio without having to switch on a computer. In addition to streaming purchased tracks from any PURE radio with Flow technology, tracks can also be downloaded in a high-quality MP3 format to a PC or Mac and added to the user's MP3 collection.
To access the FlowSongs service, users simply register their Flow radio on the Lounge (http://www.thelounge.com/), then open and top-up a Lounge Account using a credit or debit card. From the point of opening the Lounge Account, the user receives a free 90 day trial subscription to FlowSongs allowing them to tag as many tracks as they like although credit is required in the user's account in order to purchase tracks. Tracks are individually priced, usually between 79p and £1.29 depending on the publisher, as with other leading services.
After the 90 day trial, the user can continue to use FlowSongs for an annual subscription of £2.99, enabling them to identify an unlimited number of tracks as well as purchase tracks (as long as the user's Lounge Account is topped up with credit) for a further twelve months. The Lounge Account balance can be checked and topped up at any time on the radio or online via The Lounge.
When purchased, the track is stored on the Lounge and can then be streamed from any PURE radio with Flow technology. The track can be downloaded and added to the user's digital music collection or uploaded onto an iPod or MP3 player. In addition, the track can be streamed from and organised into playlists on the Lounge. Playlists are mirrored on the radio and tracks can be searched by artist or album.
The beta version of FlowSongs is available from Monday 16th August 2010 on all PURE internet-connected digital radios including: Sensia, EVOKE Flow, AVANTI Flow, Oasis Flow and Siesta Flow.
For more information, please visit www.pure.com/FlowSongs.
FlowSongs Service Partners
Tagging is a music identifying service provided by Shazam, the world-leading music discovery provider with a database of over eight million tracks. The music store is provided by 7digital offering direct links to purchase from a tagged track.
About PRS for Music:
PRS for Music represents 65,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers in the UK. As a not-for-profit organisation it ensures creators are paid whenever their music is played, performed or reproduced; championing the importance of copyright to protect and support the UK music industry. The UK has a proud tradition of creating wonderful music that is enjoyed the world over and PRS for Music has been supporting the creators of that music since 1914.
PRS for Music provides business and community groups with easy access to over 10m songs through its music licences. In a recent report, PRS for Music calculated the value of UK music to be £3.9bn, highlighting that the music industry has bucked downward trends at home and abroad. PRS for Music is uniquely placed to be a voice for music and can provide analysis and insight for all aspects of the business: live, broadcast, sales, online, touring and music creation and up to date analysis, research and trends about the industry.
About PURE
PURE is the world's leading manufacturer of broadcast and internet-connected digital radios, the number one supplier of digital radios in Europe and the creator of the EVOKE-1S, the world's most popular and iconic digital radio. PURE radios increasingly support all the broadcast standards in the DAB family used across all key markets in Europe and beyond. PURE is also leading the way in internet-connected radios based on its Flow technology and the PURE Lounge portal (http://www.thelounge.com/). Designed and engineered in the UK, all of PURE's products are manufactured with the environment in mind and at ethically audited facilities. PURE is a division of Imagination Technologies Group plc.
See http://www.pure.com/.
