MTN scoops exclusive Caller Tune rights to Adele's upcoming single

MTN has clinched a landmark deal that gives it the global exclusive rights to caller ring back (CRBT) to Adele's much-anticipated single: "Hello", which will be released on 23 October.

Larry Annetts, Sales and Marketing Executive for MTN South Africa, says MTN is the only telco that has exclusive CRBT (CallerTunez) rights globally. This is the first time ever that Adele has sanctioned the use of her music through this format.

"Hello" is the single taken from Adele's highly anticipated new album: '25' set for worldwide release on 20 November this year. "'Hello' launches as an exclusive Caller Tune on MTN on Friday 23 October in South Africa, Nigeria and Uganda, and will be exclusively available to MTN subscribers for downloading on MTN's music platforms; customers will be able to download it by dialling *123*53# at 50c per week."

The rights give expression to the company's ongoing commitment to promoting music as an art form.

"MTN has a proud track record of promoting the development of music on the continent, and our collaboration with renowned artists such as Mafikizolo, Nigeria's Praiz, Tiwa Savage, Davido and Don Jazzy is indicative of our quest to use our expansive footprint to give our customers the best music in a digital format.

"We have done a lot of work in promoting music in the digital space, with Music+ being one of our key offerings that has given artists across the continent a bigger platform to market their music. We are humbled and pleased that our efforts in the music space are being acknowledged and recognised, and we are looking forward to similar partnerships of this nature going forward," says Annetts.

Adele is the first woman in the history of the Billboard Hot 100 to have three simultaneous top 10 singles as a lead artist, and the first female artist to simultaneously have two albums in the top five of the Billboard 200 and two singles in the top five of the Billboard Hot 100. During the ad break of British X Factor on Sunday night, Adele teased fans with snippets of the much-awaited album.

"These exclusive rights we have secured with Adele will set us apart from the competition and reaffirm our commitment to delight millions of our customers and provide them with a distinct MTN customer experience," Annetts concludes.

This landmark deal was accomplished through MTN's content aggregator, Content Connect Africa.