TMV are happy to state that Samsung has announced that it is moving in to the mobile music space. Currently this highly competitive space is dominated by the likes of Nokia and Sony Ericsson. According to brand republic Samsung wants to engage with “edgy music loving” audiences. To do this the mobile device manufacturer has teamed up with music Magazine NME to sponsor their Radar Tour that begins on 29th April.
Samsung has until recently been associated with its drive to build brand awareness via its focus on sporting events including is sponsorship of the Chelsea football team. TMV is happy t see another mobile player make a move into the music space as obviously it is good for competition and music retail propositions generally.
Samsung’s previous foray into the music phone space with its high end Serenata mobile launched in conjunction with Bang and Olufsen in 2007 can realistically be seen as a non-starter in comparison to Nokia and Sony Ericsson music propositions. Its more mainstream focused launch of models like the F400 in 2008 music phones have also fallen flat in terms of uptake and could be described as an abject failure.
In the United States to reinforce its move into the mobile music space Samsung is teaming up and sponsoring the “Music As A Weapon IV Tour”. This event is essentially a lifestyle and tattoo festival. Samsung will be using that tour to showcase its Rant and High note mobile handsets. MMM does this mean the word will soon see Samsung phones that have an inbuilt DIY tattoo machine?
Obviously, this push into the music space by Samsung has something to do with its recently appoint marketing Director Mika Martin-Cruz who moved over to Samsung from Sony Music. According to Mika Samsung are planning a serious and long-term move into music in an attempt to take on its stronger rivals in the music space. Expect to see more brand partnerships with music events this year. The aim will no doubt be to promote its new music focused handsets.
In forging its own music identity Samsung will be launching its newest series of music phones “the Beat handsets” in the UK in May this year. Apparently, the Beat DJ and Beat Disc handsets have been inspired by jukebox imagery and also once again involve teaming up with Bang and Olufsen audio technology. In TMVs view the most interesting feature we have heard or seen yet comes in the form of Samsung’s Beat DJ handset where users can ‘scratch” the records on the display to create their own music. Let’s hope the screen is scratch proof in terms of damage…
We are waiting to see when DJ’s start using their mobile phones in clubs to “scratch” their live sets!
