(Credit:
Crave UK)
Nokia launched a new music service Tuesday in the U.K. that bundles free access to music with the purchase of a phone.
The new service called "Comes with Music" offers users of certain Nokia phones a year's subscription to the company's music service. The program will initially be offered through Carphone Warehouse in the U.K., but Nokia has plans to eventually roll it out globally.
Nokia first announced the Comes With Music service last year. The service essentially bundles access to digital music with the purchase of a new handset. The first phone to use the service is the 5310 XpressMusic device. With the free one-year subscription to the service, Nokia users can download as many songs as they want and keep the songs even after the subscription expires.
This is a clear differentiator from other music stores and services. Apple's iTunes requires users pay for individual songs or albums. Verizon Wireless and Real have launched the new Rhapsody music store for mobile phones. It also allows subscribers to download and listen to as much music as they like for $15 a month. But once users stop paying the subscription fee, access to the music disappears.
... Read moreRingback tones, those songs that play on the line while you wait for someone to pick up, are music to the ears wireless operators. And the tune is only going to get sweeter, according to a new report out Tuesday.
By 2012, ringback tones are expected to generate $4.7 billion in revenue for mobile companies, according to the research firm MultiMedia Intelligence. That's triple the revenue that this service generates today. The research group said that ringback tones are on track to becoming the most attractive premium mobile content category for wireless operators, falling just short of revenue generated from mobile games.
"Ringback tones are quickly becoming the 'golden child' of the mobile music market, due to a winning combination of consumer popularity, and minimal impact from DRM or piracy," Frank Dickson, chief research officer with MultiMedia Intelligence said in a press release.
Ringback tones have proven to be a goldmine for mobile operators, but it's also an important component to the music industry's overall digital music strategy. The music industry, is in dire straits with sales of CDs plummeting over recent years. Digital distribution and mobile in particular can help boost sales, especially when consumers are willing to pay separately for full track songs, ringback tones and ringtones.
For example, Verizon Wireless sells standard ringtones for $2.99, ringback tones for $1.99 and full music tracks for 99 cents if they're downloaded onto a computer. (Verizon also offers a 20 percent discount for subscribers buying the song as both a ringtone and ringback tone.)
But ringback tones and ringtones, in particular, provide wireless operators and the music industry multiple opportunities for monetizing the same piece of content.
 |
Business supplies and services can get expensive. Get smart spending tips and learn about new cost-saving opportunities for your business
|
 |
- prev
- 1
- next
