Nokia's South African online music store

28 April 2009

Global cellphone giant Nokia has opened the virtual doors to its South African online music store, which will offer buyers a huge range of local and international tracks, including those by South African artists Prime Circle, Karen Zoid, Proverb and Simphiwe Dana.

The South African Nokia Music Store will also boast exclusive download rights for the MNet Idols season 5 winner track for a week, from 4 May onwards.

"South Africans have waited a long time for a local store offering both international hits and local favourites," Nokia's head of music for the Middle East and Africa, Jake Larsen, said in a statement last week.

"The Nokia Music Store caters for a variety of tastes and with just one account music lovers can access the store via any desktop computer or directly from optimised Nokia devices such as the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, Nokia N96 and Nokia N95 8GB."

Buying music made easy

Music on the Nokia Music Store can be purchased through a variety of payment options, including credit cards and pre-paid vouchers. Individual tracks cost R10, and an entire album can be purchased for R100. Customers to the store will also be able to listen to a 30-second clip from any track in the store prior to purchasing.

The store's intuitive user-interface makes downloading full-length tracks easy, and offers customers the options of create customised playlists and adding tracks to a wish-list before deciding on buying.

Tracks purchased can also be transferred via a PC to compatible Nokia devices, and the music collection can then simply be synchronised between the PC and a mobile device using the Nokia music PC client.

Record label alliances

To ensure the Nokia Music Store is kept up to date with the latest tracks, Nokia has aligned globally and locally with major record labels such as Sony Music, Universal, EMI, Warner and local independents including African Cream, Coolspot, Sheer and Next Music.

The store boasts a variety South African artists, including rock bands The Narrow, Snotkop and Springbok Nude Girls; electronic acts Kalahari Surfers, Goldfish and Felix Laband: a full Afrikaans genre including the likes of Kurt Darren, Piet Botha and Karen Zoid; hip hoppers Prophets of da City; Judith Sephuma; kwaito guys Tzozo and Professor; MCs like Teba; and even traditional artists like Ladysmith Black Mambazo. /p> South Africa is the 16th country to see a local launch of the Nokia Music Store. Most recently, the store was launched in Ireland and the United Arab Emirates.

SAinfo reporter