"Coca-Cola has a long and rich heritage in music, from memorable advertising tracks to grassroots support to big live events. In Summer 2006 we started an innovative new partnership with iTunes," said Chris R. Burggraeve, group marketing director for the European Union Group. "Coke+iTunes aims to reinvent the ways young people create, listen to, and experience music every day. Thanks to Coke+iTunes, European youth will enjoy this Summer 2007 the biggest pan European music experience ever. And what better way to build bridges among European cultures than through music?"
"iTunes is the world's most popular online music store selling 58 songs every second at a rate of 5 million tracks a day," said Eddy Cue, Apple's vice president of iTunes. "We've already had great success working with Coca-Cola over the past year and this new pan-European initiative gives music fans across Europe the ability to download free music all summer long."
The Coke and iTunes summer concerts will see big name headline acts playing with newer acts from Coca-Cola's grassroots programme that allows undiscovered artists to upload their music on Coke's website (www.coke.com/music). All of the concerts will be recorded and made available as downloads and podcasts exclusively on iTunes. Previous co-branded concerts have included Elisa (Italy), The Fratellis (Denmark), The Rapture (Ireland) and Deichkind (Germany). The 17 countries where the concerts will take place are: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK.
With Apple's legendary ease of use, pioneering features such as integrated podcasting support, iMix playlist sharing, seamless integration with iPod, groundbreaking personal use rights and the ability to turn previously purchased songs into complete albums at a reduced price, the iTunes Store (www.itunes.com) is the best way for PC and Mac users to legally discover, purchase and download music and video online.
