The launch of the song and app occurred at the Nu Metro Montecasino in Johannesburg, yesterday 15 March 2012, attended by many of over 100 South African recording artists who have lent their talent to a new version of the John Farnham classic, "You're The Voice."
The new free app, launched in partnership by Samsung Electronics and vehicle tracking company Tracker, is an Android smartphone application developed as part of the campaign in an aim to assist in making SA a safer place for all. It will be available for download from April 2012.
The SOS feature allows users to call for help quickly, using a 'panic button' built into the application and shown as a widget on the mobile device screen. The application then uses GPS to determine the nearest police station, fire station or hospital.
Crime search and hotspot notification includes a mapping tool that will plot crimes that were reported near the users' current location. By navigating the map and selecting a specific crime, the user will be able to obtain the details of the reported incident. The mobile device's GPS* will determine when the user enters a crime hotspot. Based on the number of reports previously received on a particular area, this feature will then rate the area accordingly on how unsafe it is.
The app also allows users to donate to the campaign, by downloading the latest Shout track or donating directly to Shout South Africa.
"The App not only helps individuals when they are faced with a crime situation, but it turns us all into citizen activists," says Gavin Koppel, chair of Shout. "This is really what is at the core of the organisation's work - giving ordinary South Africans a voice in ridding their communities and country of crime."
The song performers were joined by a number of the celebrities, including Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, making his first appearance in a music video and proving excellent at it too.
Koppel adds, "As we have seen with the success of our first song download campaign, it is also about raising funds for crime prevention and the rehabilitation of offenders and we are confident that South Africans will download the song even more than before, thereby contributing to raising funds for the projects we support."
"You're The Voice" is produced by Crighton Goodwill and Danny K. It reportedly features the who's who of South African recording artists, drawn from the multiple and diverse genres that ensure the country has such a vibrant music scene.
Joining Archbishop Tutu in contributing cameos are Idols judge and SA Music Awards CEO, Randall Abrahams, actor Gail Nkoane of The Wild and television personalities, Bonang Matheba and Lalla Hirayama.
The Shout initiative is driven by local musicians Danny K and Kabelo, who launched Shout after the tragic passing of South Africa legend, Lucky Dube, due to an act of crime. It aims to make South Africa a safer place for all its citizens.
To ensure its commitment to be as all-encompassing as possible, alongside the paid-for, full-track download, the song will be available at a later stage as a ring back and ringtone in a few months, at a significantly reduced price.
The song is available now for download by SMSing VOICE to 49300 at a cost of R20 and the video, produced by Velocity, can be seen on the website www.shoutsa.com. For more, go to the Facebook page or follow @SHOUTSA, hashtag #SHOUT2012.
*Keeping the GPS on permanently can reduce battery life; therefore, the application will periodically poll to determine whether the user is in a crime hotspot. This can be done in conjunction with cell phone tower triangulation to keep up to date with the users' location and minimise battery implications.
