“Fender Songs we believe will enable players to easily and dramatically expand their song repertoire,” said Andy Mooney, Chief Executive Officer of Fender. “Goldman Sachs forecasts the number of streaming subscribers to hit 700 million in three years and top 1 billion by 2030; these are staggering numbers that bode well for Fender’s success in both the digital and analogue worlds.”
Former WMG exec Ethan Kaplan, now General Manager of Fender Digital, added: “We’re excited to expand our digital products offering with Fender Songs. Songs will allow our players to access practically any song they want and provide quick and easy-to-learn chords they can practice directly on the app. Working with Apple Music, publishers and record labels, we’ve been able to ensure artist songs are fully licensed, taking our relationships with them to a new level.”Fender has also inked deals with major publishers including Sony/ATV Music Publishing, Warner Chappell Music, Kobalt and BMG to support artists and songwriters and ensure they are paid for the use of their chords on the app. Fender has also made deals with master rights holders, such as Warner Music Group, to ensure the chords in the app are accurate to the actual music as performed by the artists. Additionally, Fender has partnered with key service providers such as 7Digital, LyricFind, Music Story and Music Reports as well as Amazon services such as API Gateway / Lambda Serverless, Dynamo DB, AWSCognito, ElasticSearch and more.Available in the US at launch, via a subscription-based model, Fender Songs can be downloaded exclusively for iPhone and iPod touch in the App Store with plans for iPad and other platforms in the future. Beginning today, users can sign up for $4.99 per month or purchase a 12-month subscription for $41.99 per year and get 10 percent off guitars, amps and gear on Fender.com and at participating retailers (with a 7-day free trial for both).– CelebrityAccess
