Motorola buys BigPond music content provider

Mobile phone vendor, Motorola has signed an agreement to acquire Soundbuzz, a privately held, Asian-based music provider.

Soundbuzz operates its own store, www.soundbuzz.com, as well as providing content and technology infrastructure to partners such as Hutchison 3, Motorola, Airtel, SingTel, M1, Optus Zoo, Telstra BigPond Music, Windows Media Player 10, Creative Technology and SONY BMG.

Although the terms of the transaction were not disclosed, the deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2008.

The acquisition of Soundbuzz allows Motorola to expand its MOTOMUSIC beyond China and into India, Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand. Soundbuzz’s multi-region music delivery platform enables the purchase and distribution of digital content through over-the-air and wired broadband connections.

Bill Werner, senior vice president, future solutions and technology for mobile devices at Motorola, said the company’s end-to-end system includes subscriber management, content management, payment, client software and media delivery technologies.

“This transaction with Soundbuzz will provide Motorola with extensive music libraries in the Asia Pacific region,” he said.

According to Werner headquartered in Singapore, Soundbuzz has access to a large music library through licenses from Sony BMG, EMI, Warner Music International and Universal Music Group, as well as over 45 independent record labels in Asia, the US and Europe.

“Motorola intends to maintain Soundbuzz’s Singapore headquarters, which will be a part of Motorola’s digital music development strategy in Asia,” he said.