www.voeveo.co.uk celebrated its launch in the UK with the announcement of an international mobile content competition.

voeveo is an online solution for people in the web environment who want to sell mobile phone content (audio, images, games, videos, films, software) directly to buyers.

Annabel Youens, voeveo's Community Director says, "We believe in empowering independent artists to create and sell directly to their community. The voeveo incubator competition invites musicians, graphic artists, game and application designers to submit their entries. The community will vote for the best and the winners receive mentorships with some of brightest minds in the digital space."

Audio grand prize sponsor, Alex di Savoia, Head of Communications of Aardvark Records says, "Sponsoring the voeveo incubator competition reinforces our belief in the opportunity for artists to connect directly with their buyers in the mobile space. voeveo provides us with a direct channel to the global mobile market for our artists' music. This is the way of the future, no barriers and no constraints - a true free market."

Competition entries close 17 November and voting begins 23 November. "We're really excited to empower independent artists," says Annabel Youens. "We know the time is right for independent artists to get involved and get creative on mobile phones."

voeveo Director Jane Pollitt says, "voeveo provides a community space for buyers and sellers to come together to create, transact and connect. Buyers and sellers conduct business on their own terms and conditions. "There are no hidden costs and no subscription fees. Buyers choose content that matches their phone, at the prices they want to pay. Content is delivered direct to mobile phone. We know UK buyers are tired of the old models and ready to embrace freedom of choice."

UK sellers have been very receptive to our independent model. We've signed up well known brands such as V2, Telco Games and Aardvark Records. And there are more to come."

voeveo sets itself apart with its focus on: commerce with high quality content, interactive communities, and reliable information.

voeveo entered Beta in December 2006. On October 17 2007 voeveo began its first phase of commercialisation with its launch in the United Kingdom. voeveo is owned by TradeMobile Limited, a private company registered in the United Kingdom and New Zealand.


More info:
media@voeveo.com
Competition: www.voeveo.com/competition

Darcy Menard's album "In Flight" blends all the best elements of funk, blue-grass, jazz, country and blues, with a solid rock and roll backbeat. Claiming influences as diverse as Jimi Hendrix and Paul Simon, as well as Jazz greats like Charlie Parker and Miles Davis, the album combines all of the above, a testament to Menard's musical ability.

Born in Sudbury, Ontario, Menard grew up as the son of a school music director, learning first the ukulele and then guitar before playing local bars by the early nineties whilst still in his teens. He later formed the rock band Cassius King, before moving to San Francisco and going solo with "In Flight". The beauty in Menard's music lies in his obviously love of the styles he is playing, his unique voice and his ability to convincingly sway between music styles whilst still remaining within the verse-chorus-verse template of a modern pop song.

Sounds Like: Son Volt, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Muddy Waters, Tom Waits

Check out his CDbaby Artist page here, and make sure to check out all his songs for mobile at voeveo.

September 14th, 2007

There has been some grumblings by iPhone users who have experienced the ridiculous adventure in money making called 'roaming data charges'
http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2007/08/another-crazy-a.html

But it looks as if bad press and consumer pressure (yay!) have led AT&T to introduce an international data plan.
http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2007/09/att-introduces-.html
Wow, imagine being able to use your mobile phone in a mobile manner.

This is a great example of the continuing evolution of the mobile market, breaking down barriers, and what consumer pressure can do in controlling the service offerings.

Jeff Mitchell
Lead Developer

Train Go Sorry is the creation of Portland, Oregon singer songwriter Chad Bault. Much like fellow Portland local, the late Elliott Smith, Bault's work started as a solo effort before growing to include an ever changing line-up of local musicians, eventually resulting in "Souvenir", his collaboration with drummer Adam Mack and bassist Wayne Miller.

Chad grew up in eastern Washington State at the height of the early 90s grunge explosion, playing in many garage bands and covering the likes of Nirvana and Alice in Chains. Having developed a gritty edge to his voice, he began drifting towards more acoustic based rock, as well as drifting south to Portland in 2002. He credits his diverse sound to his wide range of influences and his desire to seek out the musician behind the labels given to their music: these influences range from Kurt Cobain, to Nick Drake to Jeff Tweedy. Train Go Sorry's unique yet instantly familiar sound is intensely personal, honest and emotive, with songs such as the brilliant "Alive" displaying his immense talent and knack for catchy songwriting.

Sounds Like: Wilco, Elliott Smith, Jeff Buckley, John Vanderslice

Check out their CDBaby page here, and don't forget to check out all their content for your mobile at voeveo.

Formed in 1981, the Toasters are officially America's longest running ska band. Singer/ guitarist and founding member Roger "Bucket" Hingley formed the band after arriving in New York from the UK to find that England's huge Two-Tone ska scene had made little to no impact in America. Forming the now legendary Moon Ska Records (at one time America's largest record label dedicated entirely to Ska music) to promote their records, The Toasters released their first single in 1983 and never looked back. With ten studio albums under their belt, and more than 25 years as a band, it is impossible to mention American Ska music without mentioning the Toasters. Their sound is heavily influenced by the second wave of ska that swept England in the late 1970's, while combining the best elements of first wave (early 1960s Jamaica) and third wave (late 1990's America), and have proved an important influence to many of America's current batch of ska acts, such as Less Than Jake, Rancid, the Slackers and the Mighty Mighty Bosstones.

Sounds Like: The Selecter, Madness, The Specials, Operation Ivy, The Slackers, Reel Big Fish.

We have over 60 of their tracks for mobile here

Bad reviews are a thorn in every musicians side. Some bands take it all in their stride, others take it to heart, while a select few retaliate: $1000 Wedding have dedicated an entire album to the latter. "Nadine's Probably Right", recorded in 2001, gets its title from a reviewer who was so appalled by one of the bands live performances, she actually wrote to the venues' owner to complain.

Nadine, however, couldn't have been more wrong, as the album's bright, sarcastic and superbly written alt-country sound demonstrates. Often bringing to mind the first two uncle Tupelo albums (hell, what alt-country bands don't?), but with a style that is uniquely theirs, from the Lemonheads-ish "Whats Wrong With Mrs Ray?" to the accomplished Neil Young-like twang of "The Great Unknown".

$1000 Wedding - whose name is derived from the Gram Parsons song of the same name - write great modern country thats not to be missed, so be sure to check out their content on voeveo.

Sounds Like: Uncle Tupelo, The Lemonheads, The Jayhawks, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Neil Young.

A leading independent UK records label, Aardvark Music, has signed with New Zealand-based voeveo.com to make its music available directly to mobile phone users worldwide.

The chief executive of voeveo, Maurice Stilwell, says the Aardvark deal shows that voeveo's open marketplace for delivering content to mobile phones is an increasingly important channel for the music business.

"Further announcements will follow as we finalise deals with other major music labels and publishers in the UK who want to make their material available to buyers through voeveo.com," Maurice said.

"Our site is now recognised as the ideal online application to enable creators and owners of mobile content to sell directly to customers and participate in a mobile content marketplace."

Mr Stilwell said that since going live nine months ago, voeveo.com has signed up North America's largest on-line seller of independent music titles, CD Baby, as well as global games distributor Tracebit, a subsidiary of MobileMail.

"More than 6,000 mobile content producers from 22 countries currently feature on the site and those numbers are increasing rapidly as we gain traction in overseas markets such as the UK.

"Britain has the world's highest user rate of mobile to internet connectivity at over 60 per cent, and our website-to-phone delivery model is designed precisely for this emerging market."

The communications head for Aardvark, Alex di Savoia, said voeveo enables songs and videos by artists such as Yahel and Zetan Spore to be accessed by mobile phone users on a global basis.

"We are committed to making our catalogue of popular and new music available to music lovers everywhere and traditional distribution methods are often difficult, slow, or too expensive," she said.

"The voeveo open market concept is an important new channel for wireless delivery of music in the digital age."

For many, the Seattle music scene still brings to mind flannel shirts, long hair and guitar based rock. As Seattle-based MC Tulsi demonstrates, the current musical climate in the Emerald City is far more diverse than such stereotyping would suggest. Tulsi has spent over 15 years perfecting his craft, with his experience shining through on his debut LP, Fresh Points on Life, released in 2006. In a genre whose mainstream artists work is rife with cliche, Tulsi's Hip Hop is a breathe of fresh air, recalling a bygone era in which artists like A Tribe Called Quest, the Beastie Boys and Big L reigned. Thats not to say that he doesn't have his own unique flavour and influences: his favourite albums range from The Wu Tang Clan (36 Chambers), to The Clash (Sandinista and London Calling), to Sublime (Robbin' the Hood).

Sick of mainstream hip hop and need something fresh? Fresh Points on Life is exactly that.

For fans of: A Tribe Called Quest, Boogie Down Productions, The Pharcyde.

Check out Tulsi's CDBaby page here.

Or check out all of Tulsi's tracks for your mobile at voeveo.com.

Smart Money comments on "The Curse of the $4.14 Text Message" this week. A trap that's damaged the mobile industry. However, Smart Money points out that new regulations like "double opt-in" do protect buyers.

As with most emerging industries the first market players tend to write their own rules and ignore standard fare trade practices. We're left with destroyed buyer confidence. This makes it tough for new companies, but also creates an opportunity for us to show what's behind the curtain.

A key part of our philosophy at voeveo is to be transparent. Tapping into new technology isn't an excuse to use fine print and technical jargon. In fact we take the opposite approach; we want to be educators.

Data charges, especially in North America, are often inflated and operator language can be complex and, well, confusing. So we take a stand and say on our cart checkout page (dangerous indeed) "Don't Get Duped by Your Operator!" We explain what data charges mean in plain english and link to David's Story (read about his horrendous experience with data charges in Canada). We clearly list the price for the mobile content, plus our delivery and handling charges. We follow e-commerce best practice for a reason.

Our team is passionate about being clear, transparent and open to new ways of working. Let us know if you have any questions about your operator, your charges or terminology - we're here to help.

Annabel Youens
Community Developer

Formed in 2003 in New York City, Kite Operations create beautiful guitar-based pop music. The band name relates to the imagery of "the illusion of control one has over one's life, mirrored in the activity of 'flying' a kite while one merely holds onto a thread." Their music is diverse, veering from distorted overdriven guitars reminiscent of sonic youth, to shimmering and haunting ballads reminiscent of the late Elliott Smith, yet always featuring a catchy melody and creatively structured arrangement.

For fans of: Elliott Smith, Teenage Fanclub, The Shins.

Kite Operations released their debut LP on their K.O.A. imprint in April 2005, which you can listen to on their CDBaby page.

Get their fulltracks for your mobile at voeveo.com.

Formed in 2004 in the crowd at a Mars Volta concert, Missing Score believe their music is so original that they've invented a new genre to describe it: Rocktagonol Rock. With a sound that brings to mind bands like At the Drive-In and Trail of Dead, as well as the sonic Noisescapes of My Bloody Valentine, Missing Score's goal is to re-ignite the Chicago hard rock scene from which they hail.

For fans of: At the Drive-In, Sunny Day Real Estate, The Mars Volta.

In 2005 the band released its debut EP, "Space Found!", which you can check out on their CDBaby artist page.

Get their fulltracks for your mobile at voeveo.

This weeks featured producer is Zeroin, who has been busy over the last few weeks uploading a new batch of their great content to voeveo. Zeroins work includes the Gangsta Hamster and Asian Flare Squad series' as well as loads of other humorous content. Check it all out here.

"[I'm] a graphic designer by trade but concentrate mostly on mobile phone comedy content now (animated short clips, truetones, wallpapers etc) aired on vodafone comedy network uk, Australia always looking to grow. Stuff I've done: Gangsta Hamster, Road Trash, Dr Rickets Medical Rescue, hikikomori.tv and currently working on Mall Goths and Asian Flare Squad short mobile series... "

Zeroin also releases music under the name Krackatoa, which you can check out here.

Or read our Q&A session with Zeroin here.

This weeks featured producer is also one of our newest - dexter from Malaysia.

dexter is responsible for uploading the first mobile applications to voeveo.com: some great flash-based analogue clocks, with backgrounds that appear as wallpapers on your phone. dexter, who runs a motion graphics studio at www.mireillec.com has also uploaded some fantastic wallpapers, as well as voeveo's first videotones!

dexter is inspired by "the people and environment around me. If you observe things around you with a little imagination, you will be surprised to see and find a lot of interesting stuff."

See all of dexter's work on voeveo.com

Read our Q & A time with dexter

Meet this weeks featured producer - dcw, who creates wallpapers on voeveo using beautiful original photos of Asia, from his base in Hong Kong.

"I have travelled to many destinations in Asia, and China in particular. This has given me the opportunity to capture images of the region and voeveo.com has created an opportunity for me to share some of these with others.

I try to get into the Hong Kong countryside as often as possible, usually once a week. Hong Kong has an extensive network of country parks and these are criss-crossed by well formed trails, some of which date back centuries."

Read our full Q & A time with dcw, and check out his full range of images for your mobile at voeveo.com.

Meet this weeks featured producer - Scorpio, creator of uniquely New Zealand pictures and videos on voeveo.

"I work as a Television Producer and Director, making shows for TVNZ to the BBC. I work for myself sometimes and freelance to other Producers for some shows. Every job is different and in a different place usually!

I love the craft of television and photography and the creative freedom of experimenting with new ideas and techniques that suddenly spark a whole new flow of creativity."

Find out more about Scorpio Productions, on our Q&A page, or by visiting www.scorpio.co.nz.

And don't forget to check out Scorpio's work on voeveo.com.

Meet this weeks featured producer - DayOut, creator of audio guides to interesting places to see and be throughout New Zealand.

DayOut is making a making a guide to New Zealand which can be accessed from a mobile device anywhere via the internet. You can find things to do and see, places to eat and be entertained and places to stay by visiting www.dayout.mobi from your mobile, or www.dayout.co.nz from a computer.

"I enjoy getting around the country exploring and taking photographs, particularly of architecture which can be loaded on the DayOut site."

Check out our Q&A Time with DayOut, or check out all of DayOut's audio guides here at voeveo.com.

The NZ Herald has published a great article about Tracebit's recent upload of over 60 games to voeveo:

"A Kiwi company making big inroads in the mobile games content industry has been given a boost by a top European developer.

Games company Tracebit will make its impressive Java games portfolio available through open market website voeveo.com.

With titles like Scott Dixon Racing, Williams F1, The Village and Aquastrike distributed to over 50 countries, the Kiwi company will surely reap the benefits."

Read the entire article here, and check out Tracebit's games at voeveo.com.

Meet RingFX, our featured producer of original ringtones with a distinct New Zealand twist.

"Having given up doing location sound work for TV and Film, I now do sound mixing in the studio for TV documentaries and Films.

I was walking round Lake Wakatipu with my sound equipment one day when a Tui (a beautiful bird native to NZ) just sang right into the microphone. Situations like that are so rare and keep me on the look out for unusual, unique or fascinating sounds that I can use in my sound mixes and for voeveo content.

Other things that inspire me are high quality soundtracks/ well sound designed films and, people - if they like what you do then it totally inspires you to keep creating!"

To find out more about RingFX, visit her website, www.ringfx.co.nz, or check out our Q & A time.

And don't forget, you can get RingFX's ringtones on your mobile here courtesy of voeveo!

Meet RyFly, this weeks featured producer and creator of original artwork.

"I am a professional graphic artist and illustrator. I create original artwork for the music site, Daytrotter.com. I live in Chicago and currently I am showing artwork in galleries around the city."

Check out our Q&A session with RyFly, or visit his website here for more info on his fantastic artwork.

Or get his pictures of Johnny Cash, Daniel Johnston, Neil Young, Eddie Vedder and more on your mobile at voeveo.com.

Meet our featured producer of original ringtones: bangbang productions.

"I'm primarily a musician/producer and am currently compiling work on an Album of some of my material for release.
Everything I see and hear around me inspires me. I look at the good and also bad, and the just what is, and draw my inspiration from that."

Check out bang bang productions artist blog, and then click here to get his unique tunes on your mobile!

Arik Roper was one of the first Producers to join voeveo. It's a pleasure to feature his work and introduce him to our members.

Roper is inspired by "nature, the mind, space, the subconscious and mythology."

This blend of ideas, colour and style gives Roper a unique, dream-type quality to his wallpapers.

See all Roper's Works

Meet our latest Producer d'agostino from the US.

Award winner video artist/musician Julyo has released during 2006 the double award winner music video 'Photosonic'; check the online video and the MySpace page to know more!

d'agostino's video is pretty wicked! Check it out on his MySpace page and then get it for your mobile!

Meet onnoknuvers one of our favourite Producers.

Hello friend, my name is Onno Knuvers. I'm a freelance illustrator / animator / artist and I like to draw and create new characters.

I began my career in the animation industry and ended up working on exciting projects for Disney, Nelvana and other great studios. Unfortunately, the studio boss ran off with every one's wages and everybody lost their jobs. But as the saying goes as one door closes another door opens. And so it did, I began to work as a freelance artist and that just suits me fine because I gets to draw pictures all day.

Looking for a cute horoscope mobile wallpaper? Check out the Scorpio Starsign.

Hypnoteis hails from the Netherlands and is also an early member of our site.

I'm a illustrator/graphic/motion designer from the Netherlands. Working with a broad range of clients on illustration/motion projects. All from my home in 's-Hertogenbosch, a nice city in the south of the Netherlands.

Check out one of our favourite mobile wallpapers called Astronauts from Hypnoteis.

A new weekly feature - meet and greet with our Producers.

Weirdomusic is one of our earliest Producers.

WM Recordings is a netlabel from Heerlen, the Netherlands. We do not specialize in one style, but instead we bring you music which is a little "different". Our releases are only available in downloadable formats (on iTunes, eMusic, etc.) WM Recordings is related to Weirdomusic.com, your portal for weird and wonderful music.

Check out Weirdomusic's latest upload, a funky ringtone called the CircleMaker.