Cricket Returns to SXSW to Showcase its Muve Music Artist Programs and Bring Artists and Fans Closer Together

AUSTIN, Texas, March 8, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Cricket Communications today announced the return of its innovative Muve Music service to SXSW. Highlighting Muve Music's growing influence in the music industry, Cricket will be at SXSW showcasing its growth over the last two years and spotlighting its monthly Muve Music artists programs: Muve Headliner, Muve First, Muve Spotlight and Muve Icon. Through these exclusive programs, Cricket connects fans to their favorite artists and introduces them to new ones, a key focus of SXSW activities.

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"We're excited to bring Muve Music back to SXSW this year to celebrate Muve's popularity," said Jeff Toig, senior vice president of Muve Music. "We also look forward to showcasing Muve Music's passion for connecting fans and artists through our exclusive programs at such an influential music festival such as SXSW."

Muve Music Trade Show

To demonstrate the success and influence of Muve's artist programs, Cricket will illustrate the "History of Muve Music" at its trade show booth at the Austin Convention Center from Sunday, March 10 through Wednesday, March 13, while connecting several of its March Muve First artists directly with fans. Muve First artists will be stopping by Muve's trade show booth (space#519) throughout the week for exclusive performances and fan meet & greets. In addition, by using the hashtag #SXCricketMuve, attendees can snap a photo in Cricket's photo booth or from their mobile phones in Austin, and upload to Instagram for a chance to win tickets to a VIP event – Rhyme & Reason, signed artist memorabilia and other giveaways. Artists expected to stop-by the booth include:

• The Virginmarys – Tuesday, March 12 at 3:00 p.m. –  for a performance, fan meet and greet and press interviews
• ZZ Ward – Wednesday, March 13 at noon – for a performance, fan meet and greet and press interviews

Muve Music and The Source Present Rhyme & Reason, an Exclusive Music Event on March 13th

In partnership with The Source magazine, Cricket is sponsoring a VIP press and tastemaker event featuring headlining hip-hop artists Ghostface Killah and Joey Bada$$¹. To promote their recent albums, Ghostface Killah and Joey Bada$$ will provide commentary on their latest projects and perform some of their new music. Press is invited to attend the private event on March 13 at 404 Austin in downtown Austin at 8 p.m. A ticket give-a-way to this event will be hosted at Cricket's SXSW Trade Show booth #519 and the winner will be announced on Wednesday-March 13 at 2:00 p.m.  For more information about this contest, visit the Official Contest Rules on our website.

The Muve Music Lounge

Muve Music will also be hosting artists, bloggers, and influencers at the Muve Music Lounge, a private space where Cricket and Muve will be capturing unique content from artists such as exclusive video interviews, Q&As and acoustic performances. Fans at the festival and at home can follow Cricket on social media for up to date news from SXSW and the Muve Music Lounge throughout the music festival using #SXSWmuves. These social channels include:

• Facebook: www.facebook.com/cricketwireless
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/cricketnation
• YouTube: www.youtube.com/cricketnation
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/cricketwireless

Follow Muve Music's Correspondents on the Ground

Three Muve Correspondent winners, Mathew, Megan and Cynthia, will be joining Muve in Austin. They were chosen as the ultimate music fans by Muve Music's Facebook community who voted and selected them to serve as on the ground reporters. The Muve correspondents will be attending and blogging about Cricket's PR booth, Rhyme & Reason with The Source, blogger showcases, exclusive artist performances and meet and greets from a fan perspective. Fans can follow the correspondents on any one of Cricket's social channels by searching with #SXSWmuves.

The Recharge Lounge

March 8 through March 16, Cricket will co-host The Recharge Lounge downtown, where attendees can relax, charge up their devices, purchase snacks or drinks, and enjoy music. Open from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 a.m. at 307 E. 2nd Street, The Recharge Lounge will feature music from hot, new, up-and-coming bands between 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 a.m. daily. Additionally, with clean, air conditioned bathrooms, three full bars and interactive opportunities to win prizes, The Recharge Lounge will provide festival goers a unique home base just outside the convention center in downtown Austin.

Muve Music Monthly Artist Programs

Muve's exclusive programs promote music discovery of up-and-coming and established artists from independent to major labels. The programs are unique to the Muve service and create a 360-degree approach to amplify the artist brand while facilitating intimate fan engagement opportunities for a full month. Through the programs, featured artists offer Muve service subscribers exclusive tracks, album commentary and chances to win artist merchandise and access to meet & greets. These featured artists see significantly more engagement than non-featured artists. Additionally, Muve First or up-and-coming artists often benefit from user engagement that is on par with Muve Headliner or established artists.

How to get Muve Music

Muve Music is included in Cricket's unlimited nationwide music, talk, text, and data rate plans² at no additional cost. Cricket offers Muve Music on a range of smartphones, including the recent addition of the HTC One SV. Starting at $50 per month, Muve Music is included in Cricket's 3G or 4G LTE unlimited nationwide talk, text, and data plus music plans. Muve Monthly Artist Programs such as Muve Headliner, Muve First, Muve Spotlight and Muve Icon were designed to promote music discovery and new music from up-and-coming and established artists.

About Cricket
Cricket is the pioneer and leader in delivering innovative value-rich prepaid wireless services with no long-term contracts. 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.

¹ All artists are expected to perform at the VIP event; however, due to the nature of music festival schedules, it is possible that the artist lineup may change without notice.

² Muve Music^® is currently only available on select Cricket Android smartphones

SOURCE Cricket