Avicii's 'X You' track unleashes the power of networked, social entertainment

• DJ/producer and artist Avicii curated nearly 13,000 submissions from more than 4,000 people in 140 countries, then created the final song in his studio 
• Ericsson is participating in the project as an example of new business models and collaborative environment in the Networked Society
• The song is now available at www.aviciixyou.com

Illustrating the full effect of a collaborative, networked society, the DJ, producer and artist Avicii has released the crowd-sourced song, created out of the world's largest music collaboration of its sort. The collaboration is in partnership with Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC), At Night Management, and Universal Music Sweden.

The Avicii x You project ran for nearly seven weeks and hosted online submissions of musical snippets from more than 4,000 artists from around the world. Avicii selected weekly semi finalists and fans voted for the final sounds and beats, which Avicii used to create a finished track in his studio in Los Angeles. Sounds on the site have been played almost a million times.

The project demonstrates the full transformation of the music industry in a Networked Society.  Until now, the entertainment industry has relied on the fundamental assets of mobility, broadband and cloud for distribution and consumption. This project shows the relevance of those assets also in creation and production.

At the world premiere event at Mobile World Congress 2013 in Barcelona, Ericsson President and CEO Hans Vestberg presented the project.  He said: "I am excited to see the possibilities and the creativity come alive into one song crafted by Avicii and all the fans. It starts a flow of thinking for all industries to re-invent the way they collaborate across time and borders. Music is one of the first industries being transformed by networking, collaboration and new technologies. We now see TV, publishing and the whole entertainment industry going down the same path."

Social technologies are now a central part of everyday life and work. Crowdsourcing is a strong trend which leads to change in organizations and enables new ideas to turn into products, according to Ericsson's ConsumerLab insights.

Onstage, Avicii said: "I think it's cool that people will be able to hear this track on the radio and know that they've all been part of creating it. Five years ago, this would not have been possible and now we have the whole world collaborating. Imagine what will happen in five, ten years from now when everyone everywhere is connected."

Per Sundin, Managing Director of Universal Music Sweden, says: "I am proud to be a part of the Avicii x You project, a project that shows what we can do by working together and using the technologies to push the boundaries in our industry. It will be very interesting to continue to follow this project as we release the track."

During Mobile World Congress 2013 in Barcelona, Ericsson showcases its combined technology and services leadership for the Information and Communications Technology industry. Our solutions deliver superior network performance in the field, enable complete customer experience management, simplify and automate operations workflows thereby leading to operational excellence. We show how the Networked Society comes to life - what it will mean for the industry and how it will enable our customers to capture growth opportunities.