Universal Music Group (UMG), the world's leading music company, and Kyte (www.kyte.com), the universal digital media platform, today announced at the MidemNet music conference a global partnership in which Kyte will be an online and mobile video platform provider for UMG recording artists and subsidiary labels worldwide. UMG and Kyte will also partner in the development of new interactive mobile entertainment applications to reach and engage fans on the go.
The branded Kyte channels of UMG artists such as All American Rejects, Pussycat Dolls, Soulja Boy Tell Em and Lady Gaga, have been successful, with the artists using Kyte's online and mobile production tools to easily, and cost-effectively, create and broadcast live and on-demand video content that drives fans to the artists' online and branded mobile web destinations. Fans are engaging with the artists for longer durations through Kyte's unique interactive features, including multimedia chat, and the ability to comment and rate Kyte shows. Fans are also building online and mobile communities by virally sharing branded Kyte channels on social networks, blogs, web sites, and mobile devices.
"We are delighted to be working with Kyte, whose innovative media platform is providing a dynamic new way to create, distribute and monetize branded video content," stated Rio Caraeff, Executive Vice President of eLabs, UMG's market-leading division responsible for digital business strategy, business development and new technology opportunities.
"We are very excited to partner with UMG," said Daniel Graf, CEO of Kyte. "Millions of fans around the world are engaging with their favorite UMG artists through the Kyte Platform. The artists are creating authentic, raw video content that the fans love -- behind the scenes on a music video shoot, candid clips from the tour bus, collaborations in the studio -- and the fans are communicating directly with the artists through our multimedia chat feature. This is what Kyte is all about; providing a platform that enables brands to easily create and distribute video content, engage with fans, and monetize."
Kyte Platform
Kyte provides an end-to-end, online and mobile platform for the production, distribution and monetization of digital content. The Kyte Platform enables media and entertainment brands to:
-- Produce - create or upload live and on-demand, online and mobile video
and pictures
-- Distribute - broadcast content to multiple online and mobile
destinations simultaneously
-- Engage - interact with an audience and build community through
multimedia chat and branded user generated content
-- Analyze - report and measure distribution and user engagement
-- Monetize - create new revenue streams and monetize branded content
About Universal Music Group
Universal Music Group is the world's leading music company with wholly owned record operations or licensees in 77 countries. Its businesses also include Universal Music Publishing Group, the industry's leading global music publishing operation.
Universal Music Group's record labels include Decca, Deutsche Grammophon, Disa, Emarcy, Fonovisa, Interscope Geffen A&M Records, Island Def Jam Music Group, Lost Highway Records, Machete Music, MCA Nashville, Mercury Nashville, Mercury Records, Philips, Polydor Records, Universal Motown Republic Group, Universal Music Latino, Universal Records South, and Verve Music Group as well as a multitude of record labels owned or distributed by its record company subsidiaries around the world. The Universal Music Group owns the most extensive catalog of music in the industry, which includes the last 100 years of the world's most popular artists and their recordings. UMG's catalog is marketed through two distinct divisions, Universal Music Enterprises (in the U.S.) and Universal Strategic Marketing (outside the U.S.). Universal Music Group also includes eLabs, its new media and technologies division; Bravado, its merchandising company; Twenty-First Artists, its full service management division; and Helter Skelter, its live music agency.
Universal Music Group is a unit of Vivendi, a global media and communications company.
About Kyte
Kyte is a universal digital media platform that provides an end-to-end, online and mobile solution for the production, distribution and monetization of digital content. Through strategic partnerships with the world's leading media companies, mobile carriers, and mobile device manufacturers, Kyte is building a global digital content distribution platform with massive user engagement and monetization potential.
The company is headquartered in San Francisco, California, with a European office in Zurich, Switzerland. Investors include Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Telefónica, Nokia Growth Partners, Steamboat Ventures, TeliaSonera, DoCoMo Capital, Holtzbrinck Ventures, Swisscom and others. Visit Kyte online at http://www.kyte.com/