EMI Music has signed a strategic alliance that covers digital distribution in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh with Hungama Digital Media, a leading digital entertainment company in South Asia.

The agreement covers the distribution across multiple digital platforms and formats, via Internet and mobile. It also includes Warner Music's digital content as EMI and Warner had a licensing partnership covering these countries.

Hungama will be making this content - full length music tracks, videos, mobile wallpapers, live concert footage, ringtones, caller ring back tones and other digital entertainment formats - available through its entire distribution network, which includes all telecom operators in the region, partner sites such as BSNL.Hungama.com, and home-grown portals such as Hungama.com, an Indian premium digital entertainment store. EMI Music previously had various deals in South Asia, including arrangements for pre-loading of music with handset manufacturers.

"We are very pleased to announce this new partnership with such and innovative and progressive company as Hungama," said Stefan Blom, EMI Music's EVP of commercial development for the region, in a statement. "The digital music market in South Asia is still in the early stages of development, with new products and services being developed and network speeds increasing, offering great potential for our artists on Hungama's platforms."

Neeraj Roy, managing director and CEO at Hungama Digital Media, added: "It will allow us to expand our repertoire and make internationally popular content more accessible to consumers in South Asia. With access to a rich catalog of music content, consumers in the region will have more options to [access] great digital entertainment."

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