Sony Music Entertainment plans to optimize the Web destinations of its artists for mobile and the first mobile site to roll out is for the late King of Pop himself, Michael Jackson.

The music giant is partnering with mobile media company Azuki Systems Inc. to create mobile versions of its artist Web sites, offering video, photos and news for music fans on the go. A mobile version of Michael Jackson's official Web site is the first site to launch under the initiative, marking the first fully mobile-optimized Web site for a Sony Music artist.

"Michael Jackson is one of the most popular artists in the world and growing numbers of his vast fan base are looking for Michael Jackson content on the go,? said Adam Block, senior vice president and general manager of Sony Music Entertainment?s Legacy Recordings, New York.

?We want visitors coming to MichaelJackson.com through mobile Web browsers to have the best viewing experience possible with all the rich content the site has to offer," he said.

Sony Music Entertainment, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Corp. of America, is a global recorded music company that is home to record labels such as Epic, Columbia, RCA, Arista, American Recordings and Jive Records.

Sony Music Entertainment recently partnered with mobile media company SendMe Mobile to offer mobile phone users access to the music label?s roster of artists through SendMeMobile.com (see story).

Azuki Systems offers a software platform for media companies to deliver mobile Web sites and applications that include video, community features and other consumer experiences.

Michael goes mobile
After the death of performer Michael Jackson on June 25, mobile Web traffic skyrocketed by about 350 percent?and tempers flared between supporters of two SMS search services (see story).

In the wake of Michael Jackson's tragic death, more than 100 million mourning fans tapped into mobile to view the memorial service on July 7 via the GoTV Network, the only mobile provider to distribute live coverage (see story).

Sony Music Entertainment?s official Michael Jackson mobile Web site at http://m.michaeljackson.com features Michael Jackson news, photos and streaming access to videos such as "Billie Jean," "Beat It" and "Thriller."

The site lets mobile music fans experience Michael Jackson's celebrated musical artistry, which has left an indelible mark on music history and will continue to inspire and influence pop, soul, R&B and hip-hop for generations to come.

Sony Music will roll out mobile versions of other artists' Web sites in the coming months.

Sony Music's mobile sites are being developed in Azuki's rapid Web production environment and powered by the Azuki Wireless Platform, which works in conjunction with the Akamai content-delivery platform.

Sony Music artist sites will serve up mobile video along with dynamically updated photos, news and other content.

The Michael Jackson mobile Web site is available at http://m.michaeljackson.com for Android, BlackBerry Storm, iPhone, iPod Touch and Palm Pre users.

Azuki and Sony will roll out full support for all Web-enabled handsets by the end of the year, as well as one-hundred-plus mobile-optimized artist sites over the next six-to-nine months.

?It?s a great partnership, because what we have with the Azuki platform that Sony recognized is the ability to quickly cookie-cutter hundreds of artist sites, and that?s what you need for a major media property like Sony,? said Jim Ricotta, CEO of Azuki Systems, Acton, MA. ?As far as mobile advertising, we have a partnership with Velti, which has a platform called AdInfuse that connects to other ad networks, or if a company has their own ad server, we can hook up to that as well.

?We?re giving Sony the capability to put in ads on the mobile site if they want by the end of the month,? he said. ?The type of video streaming we do is based on http-adaptive streaming?we break up the video into segments, big or small depending on the amount of bandwidth available, and we can also insert ads dynamically.

?We have the ability to put in video pre-rolls or mid-rolls?publishers can charge more for a context-relevant ad versus a stock one lying around.?