The Hindu Business Line : Download music from anywhere to your mobile

CATCH YOUR SONG: Mr Gopal Vitta (left)l, Director, Marketing & Communications, Bharti Mittal Ltd, and Mr Kee Jim Son, Director, Overseas Operations, SK C &,C, at the launch of `Song Catcher"in the Capital on Friday. - Ramesh Sharma

New Delhi , Nov. 17

Bharti Airtel on Friday announced a partnership with South Korean telecom company SKC&C to launch a new value added service, `Song Catcher' which will enable customers to download music of their choice from TV, computer, music system, movie screen or car stereo instantly on their mobile and set it as their Hello Tune. The customer would have to pay Rs 2 for every search and Rs 15 for downloading a song.

Mr Gopal Vittal, Director, Marketing & Communications, Bharti Airtel Ltd said, "Music consumption, especially on mobiles, is impulse-based. Research shows us that our customers don't just want more music, but want it to be more accessible and in the least possible time. `SongCatcher' caters to that intuitive music need. This product will dramatically change the dynamics of music purchase on mobile. For a nation of music lovers, the simplicity and ease of this service is a big boon."

About eight million Airtel users enjoy music on their mobiles every month, which will increase with the launch of this service. The company is expecting 75 million downloads from its database this year," said Mr Vittal.

To avail the new facility, the customers have to keep their mobile near the source of music for 15 seconds and dial 393 to check song's availability in Airtel's Hello Tune database.

The customer would then receive a message confirming its details and after his acceptance, the song would be downloaded as Hello Tune. Bharti has a library of 25,000 songs in 20 different languages.

The service is being provided through SKC&C `s music recognition technology that is capable of identifying patterns in music by matching voice frequencies. The `DNA' of the requested song is matched with the 25,000 songs available on Hello Tunes and is accurate to the point of distinguishing between the music and the chatting of a DJ or a reporter.