'Mobile Backstage' Unites Musicians and Fans

'Mobile Backstage' Unites Musicians and Fans

Dizzee Rascal, You Me At Six and Enter Shikari Among Artists to Successfully Trial New Social Music Service

LONDON, July 21, 2010--     Steam Republic, the Finnish mobile tech firm, has today announced the
commercial release of Mobile Backstage, its new social music application that
enables record labels and musicians to build vibrant communities around their
fans' smartphones.

    Mobile Backstage helps artists to quickly and easily create a unique
mobile presence that fans can download for free from either a website or
mobile app store. Once loaded, fans can begin communicating directly with the
artist and other fans, sharing their experiences by uploading content and
'checking in' to gigs using GPS. Mobile Backstage also integrates with major
social networks and digital music stores.

    Janne Airo, CEO of Steam Republic, added; "Rather than merely aggregating
passive content from 3rd party websites, Mobile Backstage facilitates real
social interactions between artists and fans. Our recent trials have
generated data that clearly demonstrates that fans visit and interact with
Mobile Backstage app vastly more often than the artist 's own website or
social page. In some cases hundreds of times more often."

    Mobile Backstage, which is priced at around 1,000 Euros, has recently
completed successful trials with several major acts including international
hip hop star Dizzee Rascal, power pop outfit You Me At Six and post-hardcore
rockers Enter Shikari. Having received incredibly positive feedback and high
user activity from both artists and fans, Mobile Backstage is now being
launched to the wider music sector.

    Josh Saunders, Technical & Creative Projects Manager at EMI UK commented,
"Mobile Backstage offers a powerful and seductive communication and community
tool for artist and fan communication, with great usability on the iPhone.
Furthermore, its Java support takes us beyond the so-called smartphone
markets giving our artists extended reach."

    Mobile Backstage is managed though a central dashboard that can be
accessed from either a website or mobile phone. The app integrates with
social media services such as Facebook and Twitter, reducing the overheads
required associated with maintaining a cross-platform digital presence.
Mobile Backstage also generates vital demographic and analytic data that
provides insights into how fans are interacting with the artist, the content
and each other.

    Steam Republic has stated that it will add Android and Blackberry
handsets this year, along with support for 'in-app' ticket and merchandise
sales.

    About Steam Republic

    Steam Republic combines the power of social networking, smartphones and
the web to provide entertainment brands with ways to create, monetise and
measure fan-based relationships. The company recently raised over $2m in seed
investment and its first product, Mobile Backstage, was the winner of
FinNode's Web-2-Mobile Business Plan competition. Based in Helsinki, Finland,
Steam Republic also owns '360' record label Backstage Alliance.

   
    http://www.steamrepublic.com/
    http://www.backstagealliance.com/
    http://www.finnode.com

    Notes to Editors:

    Press Kit (http://www.mobilebackstage.com/press)

    You Me At Six App (Free in iTunes)
(http://itunes.apple.com/fi/app/you-me-at-six-mobile-backstage/id348601938?mt8)

    Dizzee Rascal App (Free in iTunes)
(http://itunes.apple.com/fi/app/dizzee-rascal-mobile-backstage/id363498552?mt8)

    (Due to the length of these URLs, it may be necessary to copy and paste
the hyperlinks into your Internet browser's URL address field. Remove the
space if one exists.)

   
    Press Contact:

    Chris McLellan - The Music Void
    Email: press@themusicvoid.com
    +44-207-378-4623

Source: Steam Republic

Press Contact: Chris McLellan - The Music Void, Email: press@themusicvoid.com, No: +44-207-378-4623, chris@themusicvoid.com,