Hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons’ Def Jam Enterprises and greeting card company American Greetings are rolling out several new wireless services under the name Def Jam Mobile.
The wide-ranging offerings include hip-hop ring tones, but also a new application the companies are calling “sportz tonez,” which allow sports fans to hear the sounds of their favorite games when their phone rings.
In addition, the company has signed licensing deals with an array of sports stars, including the Knicks’ Stephon Marbury, the Red Sox’ David Ortiz, the Dallas Cowboys’ Roy Williams and the Minnesota Twins’ Torii Hunter.
“It’s a comprehensive list of applications for the hip-hop consumer,” said Brian Biniak, senior vice president and general manager of AG Interactive’s mobile group, a subsidiary of American Greetings. “Not only do we have content that is coming from Def Jam, but we have licensed content from other labels and new music.”
While most ring tones are based on already released music, Def Jam Mobile has signed artists to produce new tunes solely for mobile phones. These include the rapper Chingy, George Glinton and the rap icon Method Man.
Def Jam Enterprises is owned by Simmons and co-founder Lyor Cohen, and is an umbrella for all businesses with the Def Jam name other than recorded music. The record label Def Jam Records, the largest hip-hop label in the world, is owned by Universal Music.
Def Jam Enterprises – which is now a subsidiary of Simmons’ Rush Communications – is run by Kevin Liles, whose day job is executive vice president at Warner Music Group, where he works under Cohen.
—
Cell cred
Def Jam is looking for a slam dunk in mobile-phone services – with celebrity content from the likes of rap artist Chingy and Knick star Stephon Marbury – to suit the hip-hop savvy.
Hip-hop apps
* Ring tones of basketball sound bites
* Ring tones of hip-hop hits from more than 100 music publishers
* Hip-hop e-greeting cards
* Art and hot photo downloads