Mumbai: Sony Ericsson announced deals with 10 major record labels at the recently concluded Midem conference in Cannes, France, adding over five million new tracks to its catalogue.The company also launched PlayNow Uncut, (formerly M-Buzz) a music promotional space for new, unsigned and developing artists. PlayNow Uncut showcases selected, previously unreleased tracks, videos, artwork, interviews, tour dates and other artist information on Sony Ericsson mobile phones and the web at www.playnow-uncut.com.

The international and regional labels that Sony Ericsson has tied up with include Sony BMG, Warner Music Group, EMI, The Orchard, IODA, The PocketGroup, Hungama, X5 Music, Bonnier Amigo and VidZone, adding over five million new tracks to its PlayNow arena. Sony Ericsson is currently negotiating further deals with a host of regional labels to further broaden the variety of music available and bring more localised content direct to the consumer, says the announcement.

Sony Ericsson introduced PlayNow in February 2004 as an easy way to pre-listen and then purchase polyphonic ringtones directly to phones. The service is now available in 32 countries, with annual free and premium downloads through both PlayNow and Fun & Downloads having reached more than 200 million. Since launch, the scope of the service has expanded to include mastertones (MP3 ringtones), games, full music tracks, themes and wallpapers.

In November 2007, the company further developed the PlayNow service with PlayNow arena, offering unique applications like TrackID, which identifies songs and allows them to be downloaded directly to your phone or PC.

The PlayNow arena will launch in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland in May 2008 with more European markets to come at the end of Q2 2008 and further expansion in Europe, Americas and Asia during Q3 and Q4. Sony Ericsson predicts that the PlayNow arena will be active in close to 30 markets by the end of 2008.