MELBOURNE – 29 June, 2005 – Australia’s No 1 Digital Music Network, destra Music, wholly owned by destra Corporation Limited (ASX:DES), has signed an agreement with Legion Interactive (wholly owned subsidiary of The Photon Group – ASX:PGA), Australia’s leading provider of interactive communication services, to provide mobile ringtones and album covers (known as wallpapers) in conjunction with destra Music’s online music catalogue. Legion Interactive will provide destraMusic.com with mobile content (ringtones and wall papers) which will be included on the destraMusic.com partner sites and destraMusic.com will provide digital music downloads for Legion’s mobile site BlueSkyFrog.com, Australia’s largest mobile content retailer. Additionally, the connection between destra and Legion facilitates an Australian first with Premium Rate SMS being offered as a billing method for digital music downloads. Consumers, particularly people without access to a credit card, will now be able to pay for music downloads via their phone bill. “As music becomes more and more mobile, combining full music tracks with ringtones and wallpapers is a logical step forward,” said destra’s CEO, Domenic Carosa. ”Mobile content forms an integral part of destra’s digital convergence strategy.” According to a recent study by Baskerville/Informa Media (Mobile Music, 2nd Edition, Baskerville Communications, Management Report), the ringtone industry, currently valued at about $3 billion world-wide, is expected to make up 12 per cent of total music sales by 2008. In 2003, Australians spent approximately $20 million on ringtones. According to APRA (responsible for keeping track of music royalties), the Australian ringtone market is estimated to reach $42 million in 2005, signaling significant year-on-year growth. destra Music (destramusic.com) was the first company in Australia to launch a legal digital music service in December 2003, offering music through its network of online retail partners. Today destra Music has access to over 500,000 tracks from major record companies including EMI, SonyBMG and FMR, while digital music delivery is managed through retail partners such as Sanity.com.au, Harvey Norman, JB HI-FI.com.au, three ABC online outlets (ABC Shop, triple j, ABC Classic FM) and Chaosmusic.com.au.
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