KDDI Corporation
Okinawa Cellular Telephone Company
May 15, 2012
KDDI and Okinawa Cellular have announced plans to launch Uta Pass, a music service for au smartphones that lets subscribers listen to an unlimited amount of music content on channels spanning a variety of genres, while facilitating a shared music experience between users. The service, which will be offered for a monthly fee of 315 yen (tax included), is scheduled for launch in the middle of June 2012. Initially, a pre-release version of the service with no additional fees will be available to au Smart Pass members from the middle of June to August 31, 2012.
The Uta Pass service features "Select Channels" that play a wide variety of pre-programmed music, as well as "My Channels" that play a customized selection of music based on each user's preferences and listening history so users can enjoy even more music tailored to them. In addition, the service has a function that allows multiple users in separate physical locations to enjoy chatting while listening to the same music simultaneously. This provides a completely new way to experience and enjoy music.
The service, which is a follow-up to the "LISMO unlimited powered by RecoChoku" streaming music service launched in 2011, uses a platform developed by KKBOX Inc. (CEO: Chris Lin), one of Asia's leading cloud-based music service providers, and is provided in cooperation with RecoChoku Co.,Ltd. (Director and CEO: Yoichi Kato), Japan's largest music service provider.
