Fans Who Vote for the Winning Band Will Get a Chance to Attend Sold-Out Show; Premier FreeFest Sponsor Kyocera Sponsors "Book the Band" for Third Consecutive Year

WARREN, NJ -- (Marketwire) -- 07/27/09 -- The Virgin Mobile FreeFest, one of the largest and most critically acclaimed music festivals in the U.S., has built a reputation for bringing together the world's best bands with the world's newest. Along with Kyocera, Virgin Mobile USA (NYSE: VM) is launching "Book the Band By Virgin Mobile" -- an opportunity for five emerging bands with different sounds to vie for a slot in the Virgin Mobile FreeFest lineup. FreeFest is scheduled to take place August 30th at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland. Headliners include Weezer, Blink-182, Franz Ferdinand and Public Enemy, along with a dozen other acts.

As an added twist to this year's festival, fans of the winning band will have a chance to snap up tickets to the "Free'd out" festival.

The bands participating in this year's "Book the Band" are:

--  ALESANA, Raleigh
--  BLACK GOLD, Brooklyn
--  IGLU & HARTLY, Los Angeles
--  THE BIRTHDAY MASSACRE, Toronto
--  THIS PROVIDENCE, Seattle
    

Information about the five contending bands debuts today on the FreeFest website, www.virginmobilefestival.com.

"Last year's 'Book the Band' was an amazing success, with hundreds of thousands of fans voting and selecting Hollywood Undead, a band that had never even played a live show before they appeared at the Virgin Mobile Festival," said Ron Faris, Senior Director of Brand Marketing and Innovation at Virgin Mobile USA. "We're very excited to host this program again with Kyocera and look forward to giving fans the opportunity to choose who they want to see rock out at this year's Virgin Mobile Freefest."

Fans checking out the videos at www.virginmobilefestival.com will also be able to stream original MP3s, read bios and vote for their favorite band. Voting will take place from today through August 14. The band receiving the most votes will be announced on August 17 and appear at Virgin Mobile FreeFest on August 30.

Kyocera, the premier sponsor of the Festival, is making "Book the Band" possible for the third consecutive year. "Music inspires such a passionate response from fans and we've loved empowering those fans to put their stamp on the Festival lineups," said Tom Maguire, head of global marketing at Kyocera Communications, Inc.