The service will be launched in partnership with South Africa's largest commercial station, Metro FM, in early November 2002. This follows successful trial implementations in which thousands of users have discovered music the Mybeat way.
Mybeat Interactive Technologies was recently funded by Shuttleworth's innovation fund, HBD Venture Capital. Mybeat aims to revolutionise the way consumers discover music by allowing an unprecedented level of interactivity between the station, listeners and advertisers.
Mybeat's patented technology enables radio listeners get more information about the current song, advert of promotion on their favourite radio station. Information is received instantly via SMS and is also logged on the Mybeat website. Gone are the days of wondering what song you just heard and the frustration of forgetting that vital competition number!
Industry watchers have touted Mybeat's mobile music service as a revolutionary way for consumers to find, remember and purchase the music they enjoy.
Over the past few months, Mybeat has been piloting its mobile music service nationally with Metro FM and regionally with Classic FM and a number of other stations. To date thousands of users have tested Mybeat ahead of the imminent full-scale launches on these stations. Rodney Kuhn, Mybeat's marketing director and co-founder, notes "the results from our pilots have been extremely positive and we anticipate that Mybeat will be a huge hit with consumers and advertisers."
Mike Ford, station manager of Classic FM says, "Mybeat is an excellent development for radio. We are extremely pleased with the way it's working on Classic FM and are delighted with the feedback that we have received from our listeners. I have no doubt that Mybeat will be a success on other radio stations."
Wayne Silbermann director of business development highlights, "The Mybeat launch will open the door to a revolution in music and we expect that it could potentially transform interactivity on radio."
Years of research have gone into Mybeat as Jarrod Hermer, Mybeat's technology director describes, "Mybeat's technology has been specifically designed with today's consumer psychology in mind. We wanted to keep it simple, fun and slick for the consumer and concurrently build a strong value offering for the radio, music and advertising industries."
The unequalled opportunities for interaction with audiences and audience measurement are also of great interest to advertisers. Mybeat recently launched StudioSMS, which is already drawing widespread interest from radio stations and advertisers. Popular Western Cape station KFM will be the first to go live with StudioSMS, enabling the launch of interactive SMS shows, competitions and voting in time for the Christmas season.
Mybeat Interactive Technologies was founded by entrepreneurs Jarrod Hermer, Rodney Kuhn and Wayne Silbermann. Shuttleworth invested in early 2002 after being impressed by the Mybeat team and technology. In a videotaped message from Russia, played during Mybeat's May 2002 launch, Shuttleworth commented "Mybeat is a very exciting product. It's one of those things that everybody including me wishes that they'd thought of. When these guys launch, everyone will be saying, 'Why did we never have this before?'."
Vicki Shaw, CEO of HBD Venture Capital, highlights that "Mybeat's compelling solutions not only stimulate consumer purchasing trends but could potentially reverse the year on year declines that have impacted the music and radio industries."
