Clarion Prodigium Launch
CLARION CUSTOMERS FIRST TO GET WEB ACCESS TO BUY 18 MILLION SONGS IN SOUTH-EAST ASIA
KUALA LUMPUR, 7 APRIL 2012: Fully licensed, DRM-free online music purchases have not been an available option for consumers in South-East Asian countries until now. Soon, the first people in South-East Asia to get access to 18 million songs from a cloud-based music store will be Clarion car stereo owners.
Today, Clarion Malaysia signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) here with Prodigium Mobile, a US-based cloud services provider. This MoU facilitates a joint "Music for Life" campaign that allows Clarion customers to purchase and download songs from a cloud-based music store.
"We are very excited about this deal because this has never been done before. For the first time in Asia, Clarion, as Prodigium Mobile's exclusive licensee for the automotive industry, will be able to offer its customers fully licensed, high quality music from a cloud-based music store," said T.K. Tan, Managing Director of Clarion Malaysia.
"Your Clarion car stereo will be the only car stereo in Asia that comes with an option to purchase the fully licensed music content that you want, from the Internet," he said.
Mr. Tan said that owners of selected models of Clarion car stereos (such as the Android-based Clarion Mirage launched on 27 March 2012) will automatically receive login access to the cloud-based music store.
"There will be 18 million songs for our customers to buy, download and play in their cars," he added.
Moreover, he said, Clarion customers will also be able to download free songs periodically under the "Music for Life" campaign. "We are collaborating with the London School of Sound, Tonium UK, and fresh, independent talents worldwide to record music to be shared with our customers.
"On the local front, we have built a recording studio in Clarion Malaysia. With this facility in place, we will work with Prodigium to assist independent Malaysian and Asian artistes to make their music available online for worldwide distribution.
"In this way, we will assist to promote our local talents," Mr. Tan said.
Meanwhile, Prodigium Mobile's Chief Executive Officer, Bill Duvall said that his company was a relatively new cloud-based digital media provider. "We are a new company, a young company, that firmly believes in Asia as the market for the future," he said. "Prodigium Mobile is very pleased to sign this MoU with Clarion Malaysia. It is our first bold step into the public limelight."
"There is currently no proper way to buy fully licensed, high quality DRM-free music online in many Asian countries. We plan to change that. We plan to offer a choice of 18 million songs to our Asian customer base, starting with Malaysia," Mr. Duvall said.
"We plan to go into as many Asian markets as possible. We want to offer our Asian customers the convenience of buying these songs at competitive prices in local currencies.
"We intend to provide our customers with high quality downloads in the 320 kbps MP3 files for playback at home, in the car, or wherever you are, and on whatever connected device you are using at time.
"We plan to provide you with the ability to download music to multiple connected devices, no matter what the operating system may be," he said. "This is only the beginning of good things to come for Asia from Prodigium Mobile. I cannot say more than this for now because we are still working on it, people. I look forward sharing more good news with you very soon," he added.
Clarion Malaysia designs and manufactures automotive audio and video products and related accessories. It also serves as the regional sales and marketing headquarters for the Asian, Middle East and African markets.
Prodigium Mobile's mission is to serve as a provider of cloud-based digital media – music, video, e-books and applications – for connected "smart" devices such as smart phones, personal computers, tablets and car stereos.