SONGBOOST ANNOUNCES

THE FUTURE OF MUSIC TECHNOLOGY

PATENT-PENDING (SINCE 2002) LEGAL TRADING SYSTEM FOR SECURE PACKAGES OF DIGITAL MUSIC ASSETS

BOSTON: SONGboost, a provider of software solutions to the music industry, is pleased to announce it's forthcoming Fan-Artist Trading Decks (FAT Decks), which enable musicians, record labels, and media companies to quickly create and syndicate digital music assets that can be shared by fans across any Internet-enabled device including mobile phones, desktop computers and set-top boxes. 

 
Based on combination of SONGboost technology, and patent-pending technology licensed from SQGO, a technology firm also based in Boston, FAT Decks provide consumers with a mechanism to legally consume and share "decks" of digital music assets, while at the same time ensuring that the integrity of the digital assets remains intact.

FAN-ARTIST TRADING DECKS 

 
PACKAGED FOR CONVENIENCE
Fan-Artist-Trading Decks (FAT Decks) enable music fans to conveniently consume music, videos, ringtones, artist blogs, location-based social networking & event messaging, advanced discount ticketing and much more; all within a simple device/network agnostic interface.

VIRAL DECK TRADING
FAT Decks are the evolution of music collecting.  FAT Decks use mobile phones as a token to authenticate and assign FAT Deck capabilities to a single user.  To swap or transfer a FAT Deck, a user simply enters a mobile phone number to initiate a deck transfer.  Whenever a fan promotes a deck he receives time credits to interact with his copy without ad intrusions, and recipients can pay to turn off the advertising that accompanies every transferred deck.

TWO MODES: WITH ADS OR NOT
FAT Decks can be operated in paid-mode with zero ad intrusion or in ad-mode.  In ad-mode, targeted audio, video and text ads are strategically inserted as the user interacts with the deck.  Artists and labels have complete control over ad placement and advertiser integrity. Content owners keep 100% of the advertising revenue generated from every deck.  Content owners can also set the ad-free time credits that are awarded to fans when decks are promoted and shared.

FLEXIBLE PRICING & HIGH MARGINS
FAT Decks are the high margin product that the music industry has been searching for since the demise of the CD.  Consumers can purchase buckets of ad-free time at prices that are set by content owners.  Content owners keep 100% of the revenue generated from the sale of commercial-free time and from the sale of un-sponsored features.  All pricing does not include ISP or wireless network operator airtime charges.  

FAT DECKS ARE PERMANENT
Every FAT Deck tied to a mobile number is stored on the FAT Deck Network.  If a fan looses a device or changes his phone number, all of his FAT Decks can be accessed from any Internet enabled device where a user can authenticate himself.

OPEN TO EVERY ARTIST
A web application for rapidly creating, configuring, securing and updating FAT Decks, and for managing advertising and sponsors, will be available to anyone that creates music.  Prior to the sale or transmission of any deck, all music is submitted for intellectual property validation; thus ensuring that every song is unique and legally marketable.  Users of the FAT Deck Builder application are shown unobtrusive ads while using the Builder application.  Every content owner also has the option of keeping decks securely bundled, or allowing them to be unbundled so fans can extract specific content.

PRICING – NO PERCENTAGES!
Artists and labels pay initial charges for publishing and validating content; initial charges include some storage and bandwidth; additional storage and bandwidth is sold at ultra competitive rates.  An unsigned band with 12 songs, 2 videos, and 500 fans can expect to pay under $100 per year; depending on bandwidth usage and advertiser uptake.  Every artist selling decks can expect to generate a profit; no sales percentages are deducted.

DEVICE FRIENDLY
SQGO’s technology will enable FAT Decks to look, feel and behave identically on every advanced and open device in the marketplace.  Depending on the capabilities of the device, storage of decks can occur on the device or on the FAT Deck Network.

CARRIER FRIENDLY
Each mobile network operator can set the price of the FAT Deck Player that consumers initially download to their devices.  Additional bandwidth charges will be included in the data plans offered by carriers. Moreover, Fan-Artist-Trading Decks will drive the consumption of advanced devices and data services offered by carriers.

FAN DESTINATION WEBSITE
The website where fans go to trade, organize, configure and play FAT Decks will be an open platform that other developers can build applications upon.  Banner ads will be shown on this site; however, audio ads are only played when running in a deck set to ad-mode.

FAT DECKS AS APPLICATION CONTAINERS
Another additional benefit of FAT Decks is the ability to use a deck as an application container.  Simple messaging apps, games or widgets can be developed to ride inside a deck; therefore adding value.

SECURITY
FAT Decks use patent-pending SQGO technology to ensure that digital assets and advertising remain bundled as intended.  In addition, it will be impossible to use a deck to convey a virus, or to initiate an assault on a mobile device.