New ZOOZbeat Jackson 5 Remix iPhone App and Contest With Over $6,000 in Prizes Launched Today on Apple iTunes App Store

AUSTIN, Texas, March 19 /PRNewswire/ -- SXSW Music Conference -- Easy as 1-2-3 – Starting today, Jackson 5 fans can remix five multi-platinum Jackson 5 songs and win over $6,000 in prizes. Universal Music Enterprises and EMI Publishing teamed up with ZOOZ Mobile, Inc., developers of the first mobile music studio, to launch ZOOZbeat Jackson 5 Remix for Apple iPhone and iPod Touch users. ZOOZbeat Jackson 5 Remix – the second in a series of custom branded ZOOZbeat music apps – features five Jackson 5 signature songs that helped sell more than 250 million albums worldwide in 40 years: "Dancing Machine," "ABC," "I Want You Back," "Mama's Pearl" and "The Love You Save." ZOOZbeat Jackson 5 Remix transforms the Apple iPhone or iPod Touch into a mobile music studio, enabling anyone – with or without music training – to remix and re-create their own tracks with beats and samples from pop sensation Jackson 5  featuring Michael Jackson and brothers Jermaine, Jackie, Tito and Marlon.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20100319/LA73405)

"The Jackson 5 international phenomenon started with their first four major label singles on Motown all reaching #1 on the pop charts and the next three years every single they released made the Billboard Top 20," said ZOOZ Mobile CEO & President Scott Geller. "Now, the Jackson 5 will help change how fans experience the Jackson 5 music; by enabling their fans to actively participate in remixing the Jackson 5 music.  The new ZOOZbeat Jackson 5 Remix app gives a whole new generation of fans a way to express themselves musically and connect with the Jackson 5 in a personal, interactive music experience."

"The Jackson 5's phenomenal catalog of songs remains as relevant today as it ever was, and we're delighted that fans will now have this exciting opportunity to enjoy their music and interact with it in a wholly new way," commented Eric Shaw, VP of Music Resources at EMI Music Publishing.

The ZOOZbeat Jackson 5 Remix iPhone app works by shaking, tilting or tapping the iPhone screen to create and combine Michael Jackson's amazing isolated vocals with funky rhythmic tracks, and soulful harmonies that can then be uploaded to the web for listening on ZOOZbeat.com and sharing with friends via Twitter, Facebook, and other social media.  ZOOZbeat Jackson 5 Remix is accessible to the visually impaired using Apple's VoiceOver feature (available on the iPhone 3GS).

"ZOOZbeat Jackson 5 Remix iPhone app is also the next generation of ZOOZbeat," says ZOOZ Mobile Founder and Chief Technology Officer Dr. Gil Weinberg. "As easy as ZOOZbeat 4.0 already is for anyone to remix music regardless of musical ability, ZOOZbeat Jackson 5 Remix has new ways to make learning how to remix music easier. First, we added a step by step tutorial to show different ways the Jackson 5 beats can be remixed, we also made the music recreation experience more intuitive and richer – including adding more loops and longer samples from the original Jackson 5 songs as well as reverb, filters and other music remixing tools."

The ZOOZbeat Jackson 5 Remix app ($4.99) is available for sale today, March 19th, in the Apple iTunes App Store.  Click here to view the video:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQQEdrSnSNg

Over $6,000 in prizes available to contest winners

ZOOZbeat Musicians will have until May 1st to submit their contest entries, and voting will be open until June 1st on the ZOOZbeat.com website.  Winners will be announced by July 1st, 2010.  One Grand Prize Winner will receive a check for $1,500, a Jackson 5 "hoodie" sweatshirt, t-shirt and tote bag, and a premium 3-CD Michael Jackson Hello World: The Motown Solo Collection, three (3) Second Prize Winners will receive $250 checks and a Jackson 5 "hoodie" sweatshirt, t-shirt and tote bag; and thirty (30) Honorable Mention Prize Winners will receive a Jackson 5 "hoodie" sweatshirt, t-shirt and tote bag. Cash prizes courtesy of ZOOZ Mobile, apparel prizes courtesy of Swagger Like Us, and Michael Jackson CD collection courtesy of Universal Music Enterprises. Please see www.zoozbeat.com for contest rules and eligibility.

Featuring Five Jackson 5 Favorites:

• "I Want You Back" – sold 6+ million copies worldwide; the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999. It was number one on Billboard Magazine's Hot 100 single chart for the week ending January 31, 1970. Motown Records historian Don Waller called the song, "probably the best pop record every made."
• "ABC" – knocked The Beatles song, "Let It Be," out of the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1970. It was on the Billboard Magazine Soul chart for four weeks. "ABC" and "I Want You Back" are among The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.
• "Dancing Machine" – sold 3+ million records and received a Grammy nomination in 1975 for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. The song popularized the physically complicated robot dance technique (devised by Charles Washington) and immortalized by Michael Jackson.
• "Mama's Pearl" – it was one of six consecutive top 5 singles for the Jackson 5; reaching number two on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.
• "The Love You Save" – held the number one position on the Billboard Hot 100 single chart for two weeks in 1970; replacing "The Long and Winding Road" by The Beatles.
• Additional Jackson 5 Songs – Later in 2010, Universal Music Enterprises and ZOOZ Mobile will offer additional Jackson 5 songs within the ZOOZbeat Jackson 5 Remix in-App Store and at ZOOZbeat.com.

ZOOZbeat Jackson 5 Remix is the second strategic alliance between ZOOZ Mobile and a major entertainment brand since it launched the new ZOOZbeat app in October 2009.  ZOOZbeat Jackson 5 follows the December release of ZOOZbeat Sprite®: the first iPhone app to be offered through Sprite's ongoing 'Under the Cap' promotion where people enter Sprite cap codes via text message to unlock Artist beats from Dallas Austin, Khayree, Alex Christie, Sy Scott, Novel, Sheed, Laron Brant and Spree Wilson.

ZOOZbeat 4.0 features Artist beats from: Too $hort, Easy Star All-Stars, Kutiman, Richard Devine, Street Lotto, and Cato. ZOOZ Mobile is in negotiations with major and indie labels to provide beats from more artists as well as exploring other potential ZOOZbeat custom branded apps.

Various versions of ZOOZbeat have been downloaded more than 1.4 million times since its initial launch on the Apple iTunes App Store. For more information about ZOOZbeat Jackson 5 Remix, visit www.ZOOZbeat.com.

About Jackson 5

The Jackson 5 – Michael, Jermaine, Jackie, Tito and Marlon – sold more than 45 million albums in 40 years. They were the first musical act to have their first four major label singles reach the top of the American charts ("I Want You Back," "ABC," "The Love You Save" and "I'll Be There").  Several later singles were Top 5 pop hits and number-one hits on the R&B single charts ("Mama's Pearl", "Never Can Say Goodbye", and "Dancing Machine"). The Jackson 5 were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997 and Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1999. They released 13 albums between 1969 and 1989. The Jackson 5 reunited in 1989 for one last album, 2300 Jackson Street.  For more information, visit the official Jackson 5 website: www.jackson5.com.

About ZOOZ Mobile

Founded in 2008, ZOOZ Mobile's mission is to enable everyone, anywhere, to express themselves musically.  ZOOZ Mobile is the developer of ZOOZbeat™, a Music reCreation Studio™ that is simple enough for non-musicians and children to immediately become musically expressive and to remix music from their favorite artists, yet rich enough for experienced musicians to push the envelope of mobile music studio creation.  Since ZOOZbeat was first made available on the iTunes App Store in November 2008, there have been over 1.2 downloads of various ZOOZbeat apps. ZOOZbeat.com is the company's platform for sharing music created on mobile devices with the world.  For more information, visit www.ZOOZbeat.com, follow ZOOZbeat on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ZOOZbeat or go to www.facebook.com/ZOOZbeat to friend ZOOZbeat on Facebook; and www.myspace.com/ZOOZbeat to friend ZOOZbeat on MySpace. ZOOZbeat has multiple patents pending for gestural generation, sequencing and recording for music on mobile devices, including patent application number: 12/178,499 filed with the United States Patent & Trademark Office.

About Universal Music Group

Universal Music Group is the world's leading music company with wholly owned record operations or licensees in 77 countries. Its businesses also include Universal Music Publishing Group, the industry's leading global music publishing operation.

Universal Music Group's record labels include A&M/Octone, Decca, Deutsche Grammophon, Disa, Emarcy, Fonovisa, Interscope Geffen A&M Records, Island Def Jam Music Group, Lost Highway Records, Machete Music, MCA Nashville, Mercury Nashville, Mercury Records, Polydor Records, Show Dog – Universal Music, Universal Motown Republic Group, Universal Music Latino and Verve Music Group as well as a multitude of record labels owned or distributed by its record company subsidiaries around the world. The Universal Music Group owns the most extensive catalog of music in the industry, which includes the last 100 years of the world's most popular artists and their recordings. UMG's catalog is marketed through two distinct divisions, Universal Music Enterprises (in the U.S.) and Universal Strategic Marketing (outside the U.S.). Universal Music Group also includes eLabs, its new media and technologies division; Bravado, its merchandising company; Twenty-First Artists, its full service management division; and Helter Skelter, its live music agency.

Universal Music Group is a unit of Vivendi, a global media and communications company.

About EMI Music Publishing

EMI Music Publishing's Music Resources division provides free creative, music supervision and licensing services to content producers in the advertising, TV, film, video game, stage, karaoke, ringtones and merchandising communities.  Comprised of 20+ music professionals with an obsessive knowledge of popular music and years of experience in music supervision, production, and licensing, Music Resources can create expert, customized song searches tailored to meet any creative, demographic, or budgetary need. They also act as the production liaison between EMI's writers/artists and the creative community for the creation of original, custom music content for projects of all types.  With over 1.3 million copyrights spanning every style and genre form the 1920's to today, and a roster comprised of some of the biggest names in contemporary popular music, musicResources has the means and the knowledge to satisfy any creative music need. For more information please visit www.emimusicpub.com.

About Swagger Like Us

Swagger Like Us, Inc. is a unique new brand that recognizes consumers' personal taste in music reflects their choice in fashion.  With this understanding Swagger has developed a line of clothing that transforms song lyrics from "Yesterday and Today" into wearable art.

Swagger is excited to be the designer of choice for ZOOZ Mobile with the launch of ZOOZbeat Jackson 5 Remix, where music, fashion, and technology will merge --revolutionizing the way music is heard, seen, and developed. For more information please visit www.swaglikeus.com.

SOURCE ZOOZ Mobile