An interview with Omniphone CEO Rob Lewis at paidContent:UK offers a peek at the MusicStation mobile subscription service. I'm terribly interested in this particular mobile service, which looks to have a better than average chance of moving the needle. (Keep in mind that an average chance for a mobile service is still pitifully low.) Half a million downloads in ten days is a decent start.

The juicy stuff is in the "How It Works" paragraph:

The handset maker pays Omnifone a fee for including its service. The mobile network then pays the phone maker and could add a specific 'music plan' alongside data tariffs. Royalties are paid on a per-play basis rather than for each download (Lewis reckons it’s fairer) - tunes plucked from free-access services count in a separate UK 'play chart'. Tracks take an estimated 30 seconds to download over 3G and can start playing before the download finishes. The number of tracks users can download is limited only by the size of their memory card. Users also get their song library on the desktop because new tracks downloaded to the mobile (AAC+ format) are also pushed down over wired broadband (format yet to be announced).

Lewis predicts a record industry resurgence in the next 12 to 18 months. "All of the music labels are definitively of the view that their time has come and this brave new chapter of delivering unlimited services over the network is the key to that revival."

We shall see.