STAGE360 mobile music and content service now available on BBM

The concept of STAGE360 is to empower musical youth within South Africa, says STAGE360 Founder, Julian von Plato: "We have identified the best possible partnerships to reach this goal and ensure dreams become reality. BBM Messenger's content and services target the urban youth market with its robust technology platform and social community, making it the perfect home for STAGE360. With the support of BBM Messenger and our media partners, the service gives everyone the opportunity to engage with the youth."

Within a three-month cycle, 20 artists will be selected, provided with challenges and six will go through to perform at South Africa's top events across the country. One final artist will receive a produced single and music video that will be distributed across the STAGE360 network of partners. They will also receive their own channel on BBM. This cycle of finding South Africa's best talent will be repeated each quarter.

STAGE360 Music sits as an icon within BBM Messenger's Discover ecosystem of content and services. It is accompanied by categories such as News, DiscoverTV (soccer, kids, life, planet, animals, extreme, fitness, food, cars), Football365 (Live Scores), Rewards, Channels, Subscriptions, Stickers, Games and many more to come.

STAGE360 Music Launches on BBM Messenger

Market First Mobile Music Service for the Urban Youth Exclusively on BBM

Johannesburg, South Africa – 5 July, 2017 – Stream.Digital in partnership with Creative Media Works, operating as BBM Messenger, today announced the launch of STAGE360 Music, a South African first mobile music and content service. Designed for the urban market, this 360° view into music and urban culture, is completely mobile, social and live.

Artists and fans alike simply need to download BBM Messenger – offered free from any App store on Android or iOS devices – to access STAGE360[1] from the BBM Messenger Discover menu.

The concept of STAGE360 is to empower musical youth within South Africa, says STAGE360 Founder, Julian von Plato: "We have identified the best possible partnerships to reach this goal and ensure dreams become reality. BBM Messenger's content and services target the urban youth market with its robust technology platform and social community, making it the perfect home for STAGE360. With the support of BBM Messenger and our media partners, the service gives everyone the opportunity to engage with the youth."

Within a three-month cycle, 20 artists will be selected, provided with challenges and six will go through to perform at South Africa's top events across the country. One final artist will receive a produced single and music video that will be distributed across the STAGE360 network of partners. They will also receive their own channel on BBM. This cycle of finding South Africa's best talent will be repeated each quarter.

STAGE360 Music sits as an icon within BBM Messenger's Discover ecosystem of content and services. It is accompanied by categories such as News, DiscoverTV (soccer, kids, life, planet, animals, extreme, fitness, food, cars), Football365 (Live Scores), Rewards, Channels, Subscriptions, Stickers, Games and many more to come.

Music fans can quickly and easily browse all uploaded content on STAGE360 Music including access to exclusive events, artist video uploads, interviews, highlights, vlogs, behind the scenes footage, and more. For the artists, once identified, they will begin their journey towards exposure, development, live performances, mentorship and revenue opportunities, enabling them to pursue their dreams in the music industry. These artists will then be amplified across multiple other digital and social platforms to provide exposure to a wider audience, including MTN Play, Slikour onLife, TRACE TV digital, and other sponsored platforms.

Matthew Talbot, CEO of Creative Media Works, the company which operates and runs BBM Messenger globally said that STAGE360 Music is dedicated to aspiration and empowerment of our youth, offering a new service dedicated to discovery and development through a pool of established artists and scouts that include Slikour onLife and TRACE Urban South Africa: "STAGE360 is unlike any other music service available. It is not a music competition that comes and goes, but instead provides a long term solution for musicians to sustain their careers connecting with their fans in an engaged environment."

As part of the ongoing roll out of the new and improved app, BBM Messenger now offers far more than just chat. It has become the ideal social network to drive artist and fan engagement within its Discover menu and Channels. "We are providing artists the tools, functionality and features to create a profile, share their music and engage with their fans in an organic social environment, something that is missing locally," Talbot explained.

Siya Metane aka Slikour explains why he got behind this project. "The Slikour onLife platform was built for marginalized artists who find solace in digital. BBM Messenger's objectives are aligned with all the reasons that we wake up and do what we do on our site. We see it as an additional platform to widen the voice of the artists."

Leo Manne, Senior Vice President, Trace Southern Africa says one of their key objectives as TRACE is the support and development of our entertainment industry through shows such as #BTB (Bout To Blow). "This service is geared at giving undiscovered but promising acts a good look. The partnership with STAGE360 is an extension and an enabler to achieve this. We have been encouraged by the kind of feedback we've already received from developing and established artists alike, regarding this initiative. We look forward to unearthing the next generations' icons together with BBM Messenger."

Download BBM via Google Play or the App Store. For more information, visit Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/stage360live/?ref=br_rs

About Stream.Digital

A division of Mortimer Harvey (Pty) Ltd, Stream.Digital is a direct-to-market mobile video distribution platform that allows you to get your brand straight into the hands of your customers, wherever, whenever, on the mobile platform of their choice. We stream live and on-demand audio and video content directly to any digital device, anywhere in the world. Our white label offerings allow you to brand your own mobile video content platform and deliver customised, brand-relevant content to your audience. Our content, marketing and digital technologies provide your brand with the best, cost-effective, end-to-end video solution, including mobile apps, and digital and social media marketing strategies.

About BBM Messenger

On 27 June 2016, Creative Media Works, a division of PT Elang Mahkota Teknologi Tbk. (Emtek, IDX:EMTK) – one of Indonesia's largest media, content and technology businesses – announced a long term strategic alliance with BlackBerry Limited to accelerate consumer BBM's research and development in offering new and exciting features, services and content to the global consumer market. As part of this strategy, BBM is making its APIs available to expedite the growth of partners and consumer services such as:

• Content – music and video streaming, games, sports, news, celebrity blogs, horoscopes and more
• Commerce – shopping, gifting and coupons/vouchers
• Online to Offline Commerce – booking movies, travel, health services, real-estate or job postings
• Finance – P2P payments, money transfer, mobile phone re-charge, and utilities billing

Creative Media Works now operates under the BBM banner as a stand-alone consumer focused business with teams operating from Waterloo, Mississauga, Ottawa, Singapore, Jakarta, UAE and South Africa. For more information, visit www.bbm.com.