EMI and Nokia have announced that the new Best of David Bowie album, scheduled for UK release on the 4th of November, will be promoted using next generation ringing tones, imaging technology and mobile handset downloads in an exclusive tie-in.
In conjunction with Club Nokia UK (www.club.nokia.co.uk), Bowie fans will have the opportunity to download both standard ringing tones and new superior sound quality polyphonic versions of their favourite Bowie songs, like ?Changes? or ?Space Oddity? to handsets including the Nokia 3510, 7650 and Nokia 7210 and will be downloadable via all four mobile networks*.
Full colour handset screen wallpapers will also be available depicting classic David Bowie album covers such as ?Hunky Dory? as well as classic images taken by legendary music photographer Mick Rock.
Always at the forefront of technology, the promotion presents the latest in a long line of firsts for Bowie during his hugely successful career. David Bowie has always been synonymous with breaking new ground from the beginning, creating cutting edge pop promo videos for songs such as ‘Life on Mars?’ and ‘Space Oddity’ as well as staging ground breaking multimedia events incorporating theatrical elements for his Ziggy Stardust tour shows in the early seventies.
As part of this activity, Club Nokia members will be given a free, 30 day membership to BowieNet (www.davidbowie.com), David’s exclusive online fan club. Full details on the free offer can be found at http://www.davidbowie.com/nokia/
One of the first artists to recognise the potential of CD-ROM technology he went on to create his www.davidbowie.com site before most had even heard the word ‘Internet’. His recent album ?Heathen? and a short tour in America and Europe were greeted with great enthusiasm and warmth in the same year that saw him commemorating the 30th Anniversary for the release of his seminal ‘The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust’ album.
Commenting on this exclusive Bowie Club Nokia campaign, Charlotte Fionda, Senior Marketing Manager at Nokia Mobile Phones UK Ltd said, ?We are very excited to be able to join forces with David Bowie and use the latest mobile developments to promote his ?Best of Bowie? album – especially when as an artist Bowie is always at the cutting edge of technology. The digital services are aimed to be fun for music-lovers as well as enabling Club Nokia members to discover how to get more out of Club Nokia and their mobile phone?.
Commenting on behalf of EMI records UK, Andy Melchior, New Media Manager from EMI Marketing said, ?We see David Bowie as the perfect fit for such a cutting edge promotion, which for the first time fully utilises the capabilities of the new generation of colour handsets with polyphonic capability. No other artist has done as much to utilise new technology to consistently afford his fans exciting new opportunities for interaction with his creative input.?
Club Nokia members enjoy a wide range of exclusive benefits including downloadable ringing tones, graphics, screensavers, game packs, the latest information on Nokia products and mobile communications and much more.
* The Nokia mobile phone owner requires the correct SMS and MMS settings to access some services.