Nokia to Host Concerts in Five Cities, Webcast by MSN

Nokia is hosting and sponsoring a five-city bash this New Year’s Eve, and plans to stream the festivities online.

The party, dubbed Nokia New Year’s Eve, will happen in Hong Kong, Mumbai, Berlin, Rio, and New York. MSN will act as the exclusive online distributor for the event. MSN has been active in providing live and on-demand streamed concerts and music events. In September, it brokered a deal with Control Room, a firm founded by the producers of AOL’s Live 8 programming, to organize and support the back end of those events. MSN could not confirm whether or not Control Room was involved in this particular event, though it resembles Control Room’s earlier projects.

Each city will host artists of both local and international appeal. New York performers include Rihanna, Ludacris, and KT Tunstall. In Hong Kong, Atomic Kitten and Hacken Lee will play. Mumbai will have Nelly Furtado; Berlin will have The Scissor Sisters; and Rio will have the Black Eyed Peas, Sergio Mendes and John Legend. The full shows from each of the five cities will be available online through the partnership with MSN.

Prior to New Year’s Eve, online Webcasts such as interviews with the Black Eyed Peas and Scissor Sisters will be available on demand. Nokia also plans to post artist lists and updates for the event as it gets closer.

Nokia expects more than 1.3 million attendees to the live events, and sees partnering with MSN as a way to expand its global reach.