We’re not sure that it is a GOOD idea, but the new Orange Monkey service from Orange UK cellular service is at least a new idea. At least we THINK it is.
Orange has come out with a youth targeted bundle for pay as you go customers which has free music. We’re not sure just how much free music it has, but by dialing a special number (247) Orange customers can listen to 8 themed playlists which are changed daily. They can also go to the Orange Monkey website and make their own playlist from what the partners say are hundreds of thousands of songs (but presumably are all Universal Music tracks). And we also presume that the calls themselves, to download the songs, cost money, though it is unclear.
You sign up for Orange Monkey and then when you pay £10 to top up the service gives you 300 free texts and access to the free music. If you pay £20 it gives you 600 texts etc.. Playlists can be shared by simply sending the name of your playlist to someone else.
We tried going to the web site www.orange.co.uk/monkey but it’s not open until tomorrow so we couldn’t clarify any of this.
Channel 4’s 4Music which has quite a lot of viewers aged 16 to 34 years (like – all of them) will be pushing the new bundle and sharing in the proceeds using traditional advertising and some mentions in programming, starting in September. It will also act as the editorial voice of the Monkey website and carry news, artist features, playlists, exclusive content and competitions.
The customer just needs to press 5 whilst listening to any track to receive a free text message with the artist name and track title for what they’re listening to, and it is saved in their favorites on the Monkey website.
Obviously it is an attempt to come up with a formula that works for all three partners ‘ gives content to the TV channel, publicity for Universal Music’s bands and attracts people to the Orange pay as you go bundle. If it works expect copycats galore.