Cricket Launches Muve First Artist Challenge, Empowering Fans to Select Muve Music's Next Breakthrough Artist

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SAN DIEGO, Nov. 1, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Cricket today announced its inaugural Muve First Artist Challenge. The challenge, set to run for six weeks on the Cricket Wireless Facebook page, will profile seven up and coming artists and encourage fans to vote for their favorite. The winning artist will be named the official January 2013 Muve First Artist of the month. As a Muve First featured artist on Muve Music, artists gain instant recognition and engagement with branded call-to-action banners in "Get Music"- the music discovery application for Muve Music- that link directly to their album or tracks on the service. Additionally, Muve First artists are promoted on Cricket's website and through its social media channels, helping to increase the artists' visibility among fans as they work to achieve their personal music aspirations.

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Cricket Wireless Facebook fans may vote for their favorite of the seven artists through December 3, 2012. Voting is easy: fans can visit the Cricket Wireless Facebook page and find the Muve First Artist Challenge tab, where each artist will have a designated voting button next to their profile. Each week, new video and audio content will be added to the individual artist pages to help Muve Music fans decide the top performer. Every two weeks, two artists will be eliminated. At the end of six weeks the remaining artist with the most votes will be declared the January 2013 Muve First Artist of the month. This is Cricket's first fan-elected Muve Music artist competition. The company plans to conduct future challenges and explore additional music genres that reflect the diverse music tastes of its rapidly growing customer base.

About the Muve First Artist Challenge

For this challenge, Cricket chose seven of the most buzzed-about artists across the R&B and hip hop landscape, which happen to be two of the hottest genres on the service. The complete roster of artists who accepted the challenge and are competing for the January Muve First spot includes the following:

• Former X-Factor finalist Marcus Canty
• Lyricist and video game track-maker Skyzoo
• Harvard-educated, Grammy-nominated artist Ryan Leslie
• New Orleans rapper and scene-stealer 3D Na'tee
• R&B phenomenon Jonn Hart
• R&B singer-songwriter Tarvoria
• Radio DJ and rapper Tex James

The challenge is now open. All Muve Music and Cricket Wireless customers are encouraged to start voting for their favorite artist today. Upon casting their ballot, Muve First Artist Challenge voters will be entered to win a weekly giveaway from Cricket. Fans are encouraged to vote every week during the six week promotion.

For more details on the Muve First Artist Challenge and other exclusive music content, follow Cricket Wireless on Facebook and Twitter (@Cricketnation).

How to get Muve Music

Muve Music's mobile music service is available on the HTC One V, HTC Desire C, ZTE Engage, Huawei Mercury, Huawei Ascend Q, Huawei Ascend II, Samsung Vitality, ZTE Score and the ZTE Chorus at Cricket company-owned stores, online at www.mycricket.com and through select partner retail outlets. Additional accessories are available for purchase, including premium headphones, an audio jack and Bluetooth adapter to connect to home and car stereos, either wired or wirelessly.   

With the ever-growing Muve Music song catalog, customers can choose from millions of songs featuring the hottest artists from thousands of record labels, which are distributed through Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, EMI Music and global rights agency Merlin, as well as independents CD Baby, IODA, INgrooves, The Orchard and TuneCore.

Muve Music, now included in Cricket's unlimited nationwide talk, text, and data plus music rate plans, provides customers exclusive access to artist commentary, music and video through Muve Music's monthly artist programs.

About Cricket

Cricket is the pioneer and leader in delivering innovative value-rich prepaid wireless services with no long-term contracts serving approximately 6 million customers. Cricket offers nationwide wireless voice and mobile data services over high-quality, all-digital 4G (LTE) and 3G CDMA wireless networks. Cricket's innovative products and services including the award-winning Muve Music^® - the first music service designed for a wireless phone, are available nationwide at Cricket branded retail stores, dealers, national retailers and at www.mycricket.com. For more information about Cricket, please visit www.mycricket.com.

SOURCE Cricket