Only mentioned briefly yesterday (the email arrived just minutes before the morning business post went live) the deal between Warner Music Group and SK Telecom of South Korea deserves another post and additional info.

While Coolfer is on the record as saying WMG and Edgar Bronfman haven't done much to live up to the hype, this move shows a forward-thinking strategy that may belatedly earn the major music company its reputation for digital innovation. This deal, though, is for South Korea only. But consider it a test for other markets.

Yesterday's Wall Street Journal underscored the magnitude of the development. Wrote Ethan Smith:

"The deal is unprecedented: No major music company has ever fully merged its operations with those of a communications network. The move hightlights the growing importance of mobile phones as a buying platform for buying, storing and listening to music. In South Korea, sales of music to mobile devices now far outstrip CD sales. As CD sales have fallen world-wide amid piracy, competition and other problems, digital-music sales over the Internet have been slow to catch up. But mobile phones have proven to be an unexpectedly rich source of music sales, particularly in Asia and Europe."

Digital Music News pulled a few striking quotes from Bronfman speaking during a Music Matters keynote address:

"To those cynics and skeptics who keep telling us that consumers who can buy tracks individually will buy only one or two tracks on an album and that our profits will plummet...to those people I say, the unbundling of the album will drive consumption, not impede it."

That's a bold prediction, but one the industry needs to believe is true. The alternative, playing the protectionist with the album format, isn't an alternative.

A PDF of the address is here.