Music services head for the cloud

MONTHLY SUBSCRIPTION music services will draw users away from established players like Apple's Itunes web store.

Juniper Research said that the number of mobile phone users who pay a recurring fee for music downloads will increase over the next four years to reach 178 million, or three times as many as are currently doing so.

The prediction is much higher than that made by ABI Research last month, where analysts said that users will increase to 161 million by 2016.

ABI said that the Asia Pacific region will drive sales, while Juniper argued that eemerging markets will have the biggest impact. India, for example, is expected to embrace mobile music services that offer Bollywood content.

Juniper report author Daniel Ashdown said, "While streaming is the buzz word in developed markets, we should not forget that it is in markets where a combination of a large population, rising mobile subscriber penetration, and developing economies that represent a golden opportunity for mobile music services."

Ashdown added that subscription services will be a welcome alternative to a pay per track option because they offer "more affordable access to large catalogues of music".

While music services will increase in use the same cannot be said of the ringtones download market, which Juniper said is very much in decline. µ