Post date: Sep 26, 2010 1:59:16 PM
NEW YORK, Sept. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- (http://www.myprgenie.com) -- UrFilez, (http://www.urfilez.com), a leading digital music service for the Middle East, Africa and Asian markets, today announced a new digital rights management (DRM)-free MP3 service in Bahrain with content from all four major record labels.
UrFilez has launched its new music download service together with on-demand streaming and personalized radio mobile applications for Blackberry, iPhone and Android users. Consumers will now be able to use their MP3 downloads without restrictions across the full array of playback devices, including PCs, mobile phones, portable media players and CD players. The streaming services and mobile applications give consumers portability and access to the full library for extremely affordable prices.
"UrFilez's senior executives were at the forefront of the digital music revolution when it was launched in 1998 and have been involved with many of the leading technologies and advancements in this space over the last 12 years," said Hassan Miah, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of UrFilez. "Our technology has been developed by an international team comprised of PhD qualified engineers, who have been educated at the most advanced music technology universities in the world. Music has the power to bring people together and we are proud to play a part in being able to now bring it into people's lives in new and exciting ways."
The UrFilez platform is highly advanced, offering a state-of-the-art algorithm-based recommendation engine and global music discovery, made possible through the use of One Llama technology, a company that UrFilez recently acquired. It is the only software in the world designed to analyze music from all over the world, in any language, tempo or genre and exposes consumers to new music that fits their own personal tastes regardless of its country of origin.
"We are very excited that our groundbreaking technology is being integrated into the UrFilez platform. From day one, our goal was to help people all over the world discover new music, and we believe UrFilez is uniquely positioned to make this happen," said One Llama CEO Rob Schultz.
One Llama uses a combination of collaborative filtering (CF) and audio similarity (AS) modeling to generate recommendations. Its model harvests cultural references and social networking data about each track and listens to the audio using an advanced "virtual ear". The result is a stronger combined logic for all its recommendations. The One Llama method has the advantage of being able to give intelligent recommendations for new audio tracks immediately while becoming increasingly smarter as additional information is collected about the tracks from playlists, downloads and user feedback.
UrFilez also uses the envIO Networks (envIO) ringtone and ringback service, another technology UrFilez recently exclusively licensed for the emerging markets. envIO, which is backed by the leading venture capital firms, Matrix Partners andNorthbridge Venture Partners, has had over 4 million downloads for its ringback and ringtone service. Operating since 2008 inIndia for Bharti Airtel, the application enables users to search, share, purchase and organize ringtones and ringback tones. The envIO service includes java applications that work on virtually every handset now being sold and server technology to browse, preview, select, pay and acquire content. Ringtones/Ringback tones are currently the largest source of music related revenue for telecommunication companies, accounting for over 90% in the emerging markets.
"We are excited that envIO's proprietary ringtone and ringback tone technology is being integrated into the UrFilez platform. The UrFilez platform complements envIO's ringtone and ringback tone technology and provides envIO with an opportunity to serve targeted ads in emerging markets," said Manish Jha, the CEO of envIO Networks.
The mobile revolution
UrFilez is revolutionising the development of mobile music in emerging markets, with consumers now also being able to easily access content via the web or any data connected phone. The company has developed mobile applications for the major platforms (BlackBerry, iPhone, Android-based handsets) to make it easy to play, find, and discover music.
Telecommunication companies recognize how this technology can facilitate greater consumption of mobile music. They are investing heavily in upgrading their networks to include high-speed data transfer and are actively seeking increased revenue from value-added services.
Payment mechanisms are made easy with UrFilez offering convenience for mobile users, with individuals able to pay for the service via their prepaid or post-paid mobile account with participating telecommunication partners. Consumers can also pay on-line with a credit card and then access content via the phone or web. Soon, consumers will also be able to purchase prepaid cards at retail outlets to use the service on any mobile network. UrFilez's advanced content delivery and billing platform for mobile music creates new revenue generators for emerging markets.