Stage.cz: Over 1,100 artists in eight months

• Rock, hip-hop and heavy metal dominate
• The most popular artists won a total of 40 days in a professional recording studio
• Stage.cz allowed promising artists to play on the Vypsaná fiXa tour or at the Electronic Beats festival

Prague, 26 February 2008 - Over 1,100 artists have found a home on the www.Stage.cz website in the first eight months of its existence. The portal now offers several thousand songs and videos made by well-known bands such as Vypsaná fiXa and Ready Kirken as well as by new, unsigned artists. The most popular genres are currently rock, hip-hop and heavy metal. The rising visitor rates further confirm the positive reputation that the website now has among music fans.

"The Stage.cz portal has built a very good name for itself over the past eight months. We are glad that we can offer musicians not only some space for their presentation but also the possibility to record in a professional studio or to perform at concerts by famous acts," says Michal Němec, Vice President Mobile Portal and Content Services at T­Mobile, adding: "The Czech music scene can look forward to our support in future too."

Rock is the dominant genre on the portal. However, it is closely followed by hip-hop, which also contributed the biggest Stage hit to date, Sen (Dream) performed by Str8 Union; it has been played more than 18,000 times.

In addition to providing space for artists to address their audience, the Stage.cz portal also allows the best of these artists to enter the world of professional music. Eight acts have received a total of 40 recording days at Chicsound, a professional studio, and thirteen bands (such as zakázanÝ ovoce, Odnaha and Apatheia) were selected as opening acts on the Vypsaná fiXa tour. Each member of Vypsaná fiXa chose three bands that struck a chord with him. "There are four of us in the band so each of us chose three cities, listened to the profiles and selected those he liked best," says Márdi, lead singer of Vypsaná fiXa.

Electronica artists have also taken advantage of the possibilities offered by the portal. Thanks to his interesting profile available there, a young drum'n'bass producer from Ostrava called Andels was picked to play at the Electronic Beats festival, alongside such stars as the legendary Underworld. This is clear proof that, with a little help, talented people can appear at prominent events even if they are not well known.

Even though some would tend to think of Stage as a starting place for mostly amateur musicians, well-known Czech bands such as Vypsaná fiXa, Ready Kirken, Skyline, United Flavour and Doga have also posted their profiles on the website, for example. Their fans can not only listen to their songs but also download them to their handsets - either as whole songs, using the t-music PLAY! site, or as ringtones and Caller Tunes.

The portal also contains songs by contestants featured in the SuperStar television show. Soňa Pavelková is currently the most popular of them, followed closely by Martin Ševčík and David Spilka with his James D.S. band.

The Stage.cz portal is preparing a range of innovations to be launched in March. For example, artists will gain more space for presenting their music and will be able to post more songs and videos on the portal. New web-based features will also significantly ease communication not only between bands and their fans but also between the artists themselves. In addition to the existing cooperation with the Chicsound recording studio, which will continue in future, there will now also be a possibility to win tickets to concerts and festivals, as well as CDs and DVDs.

T-Mobile Czech Republic, a member of the international telecommunications group Deutsche Telekom, has almost 6.2 million customers, the number-one operator in the Czech market. T-Mobile is an integrated operator: in addition to telecommunications services, it offers comprehensive ICT solutions not only for companies, but also for other organizations and individuals. It provides outstanding services in the high-speed network, which was proved repeatedly by benchmark testing performed by umlaut (former P3) with Best-in-Test seal.

T-Mobile Czech Republic places emphasis on taking a responsible approach to the environment and society. It adheres to fair business practices, helps beneficial applications and services to see the light of day, supports non-profit organizations, small businesses and individuals, and lends a helping hand whenever crisis situations arise. The company’s employees serve as volunteers in many places across the entire Czech Republic.

More information about the company is available at www.t-mobile.cz, www.t-press.cz (the portal for journalists) and www.t-mobile.cz/pomahame (information on the company’s CSR activities).

Contact details of the press unit: press@t-press.cz.