Melodifestivalen in the mobile phone

Aspiro has signed an agreement with Swedish mobile operator Telia to produce ring tones out of all competing melodies participating in the Swedish Melodifestival 2004 (Swedish national contest prior to the Eurovision Song Contest). The ring tones will be offered to Telia's subscribers in connection to each semifinal at Telia’s mobile site "Telia Go" and at the web sites www.telia.se and www.startsidan.telia.se.

The Swedish song contest "Melodifestivalen" has drastically gained in popularity during the last couple of years. The six TV-shows covering last year's contest attracted totally 19 million viewers and is hence ranked as the most popular TV-show in 2003. This year's contest is also divided into six programs and will be shown during February and March, with the grand final on March 20. The Swedish mobile operator Telia will, in cooperation with Aspiro, offer all 32 contesting songs as ring tones for mobile phones. The ring tones, which are produced via Aspiro's subsidiary Mobilehits, will be offered both as mono- and polyfonic tunes. Telia's three million subscribers will easily be able to download the ring tones to their phones after each semifinal at Telia's mobile site "Telia Go" and at the web sites www.telia.se and www.startsidan.telia.se. The contestants reaching the grand final will be available as ring tones first in conjunction with the grand final. "This feels like a really good entertainment offer to our subscribers. Melodifestivalen is a great media event, concerning a great number of TV-viewers. We expect a considerable demand on these ring tones during the spring," says Lars-Göran Wallmark, project manager at TeliaSonera Sverige AB. ”We are really pleased to cooperate with Telia and to receive the honourable assignment of producing ring tones to Melodifestivalen 2004. This agreement also confirms Mobilehits' position as the leading provider of music related content for mobile phones” says Håkan Persson, CEO at Aspiro.