Wrigley?s 5 Gum has signed as the first brand to sponsor MTV?s Music Meter application and Web properties.

5 Gum will be sponsoring MTV?s Music Meter for the next two months. MTV claims that the Music Meter app has been downloaded more than one million times for iOS and Android devices.

?We want users to come to the app every day to find new music on a daily basis,? said Mark Mezrich, senior director of product development at MTV, New York.

?Since launching in 2011, we have listened to users and a lot of the new features of the app were based on direct feedback we got,? he said.

Top the charts
The MTV Music Meter tool ranks music artists on a daily basis based on MTV?s algorithm of what is being talked about on the Web and songs that are being downloaded.

5 Gum was chosen as the launch sponsor because the chewing gum brand is targeted at young, tech-savvy consumers who are looking for the next big thing, similar to the audience MTV is aiming for.

When users open the app, banner ads for 5 Gum read, ?Stimulate your senses.?

Consumers who tap on the banner ads are taken to 5 Gum?s YouTube page where they can watch the company?s commercials.

Additionally, the 5 Gum logo is included in the top right-hand corner of the app that takes users to Wrigley?s mobile site where they can learn more about 5 Gum.

Users can filter music artists by genres in a prominently placed navigation tool at the top of the page.

To help users quickly find music that they might be interested in, each artist has its own section of the app, including song previews, photos, news and a bio.

The music previews are powered by Rhapsody with a call-to-action below where users can download the Rhapsody mobile app.

After sampling music tracks, users can buy music depending on which type of device users have. For the iPhone app, users are redirected to Apple?s iTunes store to buy the music.

Giving consumers the option to buy music via the app is a smart way to let music lovers find and download music while they interact with a piece of content.

MTV has partnered with online music destination Songkick to power the new tour tab of the app. Consumers can see a list of upcoming shows and buy tickets via Songkick?s mobile site.

Based on a user?s picks, the app can recommend similar artists to music fans, which is a smart way for an app with so much content such as the MTV Music Meter app to become more personalized for users.
 
Music discovery
MTV has centered much of its mobile strategy around helping consumers find entertainment that they might be interested in by aggregating content from across the Web.

For example, the publisher?s WatchWith app pulls in relevant social media streams to let users follow along on Twitter and Facebook during their favorite TV shows (see story).

One of the biggest challenges in the digital music industry is getting users to find and download music, and by using an app as a daily resource, the MTV Music Meter app helps music fans stay up to date on the newest music trends.

By curating content in one place, the app eliminates the need for consumers to scroll the Web to search for the next big artist in an MTV-branded experience.

?The app came from a need to give users more context to the world of music,? Mr. Mezrich said. ?Everyone has all of the access to music, but we are trying to provide context by telling users who is hot and buzzed about every day. 

?We want to support artists and let users forge a new connection with music,? he said.

Final Take
Lauren Johnson is editorial assistant on Mobile Marketer, New York