Faith Evans Ringtones Heard First on Virgin Mobile Phones

Faith Evans Ringtones Heard First on Virgin Mobile Phones

Virgin Mobile and EMI Music's Capitol Records Give Virgin Mobile Users 'First Dibs' on Ringtones from Faith Evans's Chart-Topping Album, The First Lady

WARREN, N.J. and NEW YORK, April 25 /PRNewswire/ -- Thanks to a new mobile content agreement from Virgin Mobile USA and EMI Music, Virgin Mobile customers can truly say that they have Faith. The two companies today announced the next wave of Virgin Mobile's popular "First Dibs" program, giving customers of the youth-focused wireless service exclusive access to ringtones from Faith Evans's chart-topping Capitol Records album The First Lady.

Starting today, Virgin Mobile customers will be the only ones in the U.S. with access to Superphonic (a.k.a., real music) ringtones based on three tracks from multiple Grammy(R) winner Faith Evans's latest album: "Again," "Goin' Out" and "Tru Love." The ringtone for "Again" will be exclusively available for one month, from April 25 to May 25. Ringtones for "Goin' Out" and "Tru Love" will be exclusive for two months, from April 25 to June 25.

"Thanks to EMI Music's Capitol Records, we're adding another top- performing artist to our 'First Dibs' roster," said Howard Handler, chief marketing officer of Virgin Mobile USA. "Faith Evans' fans now have another way to access her music and, by early May, you'll see lots of our customers grooving to ringtones from R&B's 'first lady.'"

"Virgin Mobile's customer base is passionate about music and perfectly aligned with Faith's fan base," said Thomas Ryan, Senior Vice President, Mobile and Digital Development, EMI Music. "We feel that this is a fantastic opportunity to allow fans to connect with Faith in a different way. And the timing couldn't be better given the already incredible response we're seeing to the album. I'm confident that this is the first of many such First Dibs promotional partnerships that EMI's family of labels will work with Virgin Mobile USA on."

Evans' first Capitol Records release, The First Lady, debuted at #2 on the Billboard 200 and is currently in the top 5, with more than 220,000 units sold in the U.S. alone. The first single off The First Lady, "Again," is already a Top 10 hit on Urban radio; in the Top 20 in Urban Mainstream, and is in video rotation on BET, MTV, MTV Jams, VH1 and VH1 Soul.

Easy Access

Virgin Mobile customers can access these exclusive Faith Evans ringtones in two easy ways: either through their wireless handsets or online at http://www.virginmobileusa.com/.

To access the ringtones via their wireless handsets, customers simply go into the phone's menu and select either "VirginXtras" or "VirginXL" (depending on their phone model). Once in the content menu, they select #1 for Ringtones. They then select the "First Dibs" option to scan the Faith Evans offerings.

To access the ringtones from the Virgin Mobile Web site, customers simply go to http://www.virginmobileusa.com/ and click on either the "VirginXtras" or "VirginXL" links at the top of the page. They then click on a picture of their wireless handset, to be taken to a list of all of the mobile content available for that phone. At the top of the content page, they click "Ringtones" and then "First Dibs" to see the list of exclusives for Faith Evans.

"First Dibs" on Hot Tracks

Virgin Mobile users can already choose from thousands of downloadable ringtones from dozens of different genres. But its ongoing "First Dibs" program -- launched in June 2004 -- was the first to score exclusive access to fresh new Superphonic ringtones from major recording artists. Superphonic ringtones offer a true audio clip of an original recording, voice or sound just like you'd hear on a radio or digital music player.

The First Lady

Featuring 12 songs co-written by Evans (plus "Hope," the hit track by Twista featuring Evans from the Coach Carter soundtrack), The First Lady showcases the powerhouse vocalist's versatility and depicts a woman looking back unflinchingly on the chaos of her life, yet emerging stronger on the other side. It features production from the Neptunes, Chucky Thompson, Mario Winans, Brian Cox, Jermaine Dupri, and Carvin and Ivan and guest appearances by Pharrell Williams and Pusha T from the Clipse and Mario Winans. Additional information about Faith is available on her website, http://www.faithevansonline.com/.

About Virgin Mobile USA, LLC:

Launched nationally in July of 2002, Virgin Mobile USA, LLC is the nation's first mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) and first wireless carrier exclusively focused on the youth market. Virgin Mobile is a joint venture between Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group and Sprint. In just two- and-one-half years, more than three million wireless users have rejected long- term contracts and taken control of their wireless spending with Virgin Mobile's Pay As You Go service. Virgin Mobile customers have exclusive access to VirginXtras and VirginXL -- a suite of music, entertainment and fun lifestyle features, including *MTV mobile content created by our strategic partner MTV: Music Television. In addition, J.D. Power and Associates has recognized Virgin Mobile for providing "An Outstanding Customer Service Experience" under its Certified Call Center Program(SM).

Phones are available at more than 20,000 locations nationwide with Top-Up cards available at more than 57,000 locations nationwide. Virgin Mobile products can also be purchased online at http://www.virginmobileusa.com/ or by calling 888-322-1122.

About EMI Music:

EMI Music is the world's largest independent record company, operating in nearly 50 countries around the world. Its record labels include Angel, Astralwerks, Blue Note, Capitol, EMI, EMI Classics, Manhattan, Mute, Parlophone and Virgin.

Source: Virgin Mobile USA, LLC

CONTACT: Sue D'Agostino of Virgin Mobile USA, +1-908-607-4105, sdagostino@virginmobileusa.com; or Adam Grossberg of EMI Music, +1-212-786-8855, adam.grossberg@emimusic.com

Web site: http://www.virginmobileusa.com/ http://www.faithevansonline.com/

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