First Single From 'Planet Earth,' Prince's New Unreleased Album, Available Now - Free And Exclusively - From Verizon Wireless

First Single From 'Planet Earth,' Prince's New Unreleased Album, Available Now - Free And Exclusively - From Verizon Wireless

'Guitar' Pre-Release from Upcoming 'Planet Earth' Album Initiates Prince Collaboration with Verizon Wireless

BASKING RIDGE, N.J., May 31 /PRNewswire/ -- Prince, the legendary artist and music icon, and Verizon Wireless announced they have joined forces to revolutionize the consumer experience of digital music discovery, delivery and download, starting with Prince's new single, "Guitar." Music fans can get the single today -- weeks before the highly-anticipated release of "Planet Earth," his new studio album release -- when they use Verizon Wireless' free new V CAST Song ID to identify the single. The direct-to-mobile relationship between Verizon Wireless and Prince, unprecedented in the music industry, brings the best in mobile music innovation together with Prince's musical genius to deliver an entirely new way for fans to experience music.

The introduction of V CAST Song ID makes Verizon Wireless' V CAST Music the only service in the nation that provides users with a tool that enables them to capture information about a song immediately, over-the-air; then buy either the Ringtone, Ringback tone or full-track song, in one simple process. To get the exclusive track of "Guitar" from Prince, download the V CAST Song ID application for free on V CAST Music-enabled phones, then go to Verizon Wireless' music site, www.verizonwireless.com/music. Once there, play the interactive video online, hold your phone to your computer speaker and V CAST Song ID will identify the song. Customers can then select the "Get Song" option on their phones to download "Guitar" for free. Verizon Wireless V CAST customers also have the option to purchase the "Guitar" Ringtone or Ringback tone.

    Step 1: Download V CAST Song ID for free to your Verizon Wireless phone     Step 2: Visit www.verizonwireless.com/music or licensed sites such as            YouTube (www.youtube.com), Revver (www.revver.com), Veoh            (www.veoh.com) and MySpace (www.myspace.com)     Step 3: Start V CAST Song ID on your phone, select "ID New Song" and then            play the interactive video from the hot new Prince single,            "Guitar" online with your phone close to the PC speaker to ID it     Step 4: Your phone will now give you information about the song, as well            as an option to download it immediately, over-the-air, for free   

V CAST Song ID is yet another reason why both artists and music lovers who want the best quality mobile music service are switching to Verizon Wireless. The company continues to enrich its users' experience by offering V CAST Song ID for free. Verizon Wireless helps customers find the music they love, then make it easy for them to buy.

Before mobile music, fans did not have the opportunity to connect to a song and purchase it over-the-air in a myriad of ways and artists did not have a way to get their music instantly to millions of fans. V CAST Music from Verizon Wireless is changing that landscape, offering artists innovative new ways to reach their fans directly, while offering fans the ability to customize songs -- by selecting the full-track download, Ringtone, Ringback tone, music video and more -- and play their music for others.

John Stratton, executive vice president and chief marketing officer of Verizon, noted, "When Prince, who has consistently been on the cutting edge of music, harnesses innovative technology to deliver his fresh new music, that's a tremendous opportunity for music lovers across the country. At Verizon, we're committed to delivering hot multimedia services to the public in a way that's powerful, direct and relevant."

The relationship between Prince and Verizon Wireless builds on the company's pioneering in the mobile music arena. Since launching V CAST Music in early 2006, Verizon Wireless has extended its leadership, by introducing unique artist relationships, offering iconic music-playing devices like the LG Chocolate, testing cool mobile phone bar-code technologies for concert ticketing, building a massive 1.9 million full-song music store featuring both well-known and indie artists, and promoting music discovery with unique technologies such as V CAST Song ID.

"Prince has always broken new ground, both creatively and the way in which he delivers his music to his fans," said Michele Anthony, former president and chief operating officer of The Sony Music Label Group, and a key member of Prince's team. "Mobile is rapidly changing the landscape of the music industry and Verizon Wireless is providing artists like Prince with powerful promotion opportunities and direct distribution which gets music into the hands of millions, immediately. Now with V CAST Song ID, Verizon Wireless also helps play the role of radio, making it easier for fans to discover and enjoy new music."

Verizon Wireless customers can use V CAST Song ID on select V CAST Music- enabled phones, including Chocolate by LG, The enV by LG, the LG VX8700 and VX9400, MOTORAZR maxx Ve and Samsung SCH-u620. Verizon Wireless plans to add additional devices to the V CAST Song ID line-up. V CAST Song ID is available as a free download in the Music and Tones section of the Get It Now(R) virtual store -- simply go to Get New Ringtones, Get New Application and select V CAST Song ID. Once downloaded, you can use the application for free to identify songs while on-the-go and download a matching Ringtone, Ringback tone as well as the full song with just one click.

Customers who don't have phones with V CAST Song ID can access "Guitar" by searching the catalog either via their phones or via their compatible PCs (running Windows XP and V CAST Music Manager or Windows Media Player 10 or higher; customers must be Verizon Wireless monthly subscribers). Customers can also get the Ringtone and Ringback tone through VZW Tones Deluxe on Get It Now-enabled phones.

For more information on Verizon Wireless' music services, visit www.verizonwireless.com/music.

About Verizon Wireless

Verizon Wireless operates the nation's most reliable wireless voice and data network, serving more than 60.7 million customers. The largest US wireless company and largest wireless data provider, based on revenues, Verizon Wireless is headquartered in Basking Ridge, N.J., with 66,000 employees nationwide. The company is a joint venture of Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) and Vodafone (NYSE and LSE: VOD). Find more information on the Web at www.verizonwireless.com. To preview and request broadcast-quality video footage and high-resolution stills of Verizon Wireless operations, log on to the Verizon Wireless Multimedia Library at www.verizonwireless.com/multimedia.

Source: Verizon Wireless

CONTACT: Jeffrey Nelson of Verizon Wireless, +1-908-559-7519,
Jeffrey.Nelson@verizonwireless.com

Web site: http://www.verizonwireless.com/
http://www.verizonwireless.com/multimedia
http://www.verizonwireless.com/music

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Profile: International Entertainment