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Mobile phones are where the music's at
MOBILE PHONES will increasingly become the favoured device on which to buy music, research suggests.
Tunes beamed to mobile phones currently represent around 13 per cent of global recorded music retail value. And an industry report forecasts an increase to almost 30 per cent by 2011.
By then, according to research by Dunstable-based Understanding & Solutions, mobile music will be worth some $11 billion annually.
“Alongside online, mobile music is essential to the future of the music industry,” says Understanding & Solutions consultant, David Sidebottom.
“Looking to emerging markets, mobile could become the number one platform for music, where packaged CDs haven’t gained traction due to piracy and lack of hardware ownership.”
Japan and the USA are the most sophisticated mobile music markets. Both have a concentrated operator base and a large pool of potential subscribers, providing economies of scale for the music companies.
“In the fragmented European market, some operators have become less aggressive," said Sidebottom. "They can’t make money directly from selling full track downloads, but this will pave the way for ‘off-portal’ and third party service providers.”
Handset interfaces and software need to continue to improve to make the mobile music experience comparable with online, reckons the researcher. µ
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They already are. The ringtone market is already bigger than the music download market.