A few specifics on Nokia's "Comes With Music" initiative came to light today. (Read this December 2007 press release for more info.) Comes with Music is a plan the mobile operator to allow subscribers access to a large catalog of music. Nokia would pay a fee for access to a music company's catalog of music. The fee would be absorbed by Nokia and presumably passed on (at least in part) to the consumer.

The Hollywood Reporter's Mark Halper says an unnamed, "well-informed mobile industry executive" put the per-handset amount at $35.

paidContent's James Quintana Pearce did a bit of digging and found a source that said the per-unit fee starts around $33.50 for the first 2.5 million units and scales down at higher volumes. The plan is said to include "a limited but relatively high number songs." The most interesting tidbit is the source's claim that Comes With Music is based on a download -- not a subscription -- model.

For those of you doing some quick math on the back of the nearest envelope, UMG had 28.8% of the global recorded market in 2007. Divide the market share into the per-unit fee of $33.50 and you get $116.32. That's what access to all music would cost if the other majors and all indies negotiated equivalent rates on a pro-rata basis.

Posted by Glenn at 9:41 PM | Link
|Comes With Music||Nokia||Universal Music Group|

Interesting post at MocoNews from the World Mobile Congress. Rob Wells, Universal Music Group SVP of Digital, talked about the goals of the company with an almost cinematic flair.

The start and endgame for Universal and, indeed, the industry worldwide, is providing consumers with blanket access through a celestial jukebox anytime, at home, in the car. This is the next step in the utopian future for music...

And this about temporal pricing:

If an artist has just delivered an album from studio, we could potentially deliver it to a limited number of users for a higher price. It’s something we’re quite keen to develop; for example, through our own B2C channels - artists websites.

There are different definitions of "utopian future." UMG sees paid services as the future, as evidenced by its Total Music plan and Nokia's Comes With Music mobile service.. Others see the best route as unhindered P2P, which would certainly have more content and would be closer to a true celestial jukebox.

The pricing comment is worth taking a look at. Labels have yet to do a whole lot of direct-to-consumer stuff (other than merchandise) but that should change. Fan clubs and artist websites offer ways to deliver music and bring a sense of scarcity to digital downloads. If the iTunes and the Amazons of the world won't raise their prices for time-sensitive releases, artists and labels can go it alone.

Posted by Glenn at 2:37 PM | Link
|Comes With Music||Mobile Music||Total Music||Universal Music Group|

For those of you wondering what will become of all-you-can-eat music services in the next few years, mosey on over to this post at paidContent that quotes Sony BMG's global digital music president Thomas Hesse.

This idea of bundling music or access ... enjoying music on a fairly large scale with either a device or with access, be it a cell phone contract or a cable contract ... to me, that’s the next frontier. We feel quite optimistic about it. ...

Access to music so that music becomes something you can access in a very free way with very little encumburences.

Last October, reports surfaced that Universal Music Group was working on an industry-owned music service called Total Music plan, an unlimited (but presumably tethered) music service whose fees would be embedded in the price of compatible hardware. In addition, UMG is working with Nokia on Comes With Music, a music service for Nokia handsets. The service's costs will be embedded in the device's price.

Coolfer is optimistic about this kind of embedded service. A great number of people don't put much value on digital music, and they care little about subscription services. The best way to frame the cost of such a service, in order to take it to the masses, is to render it as invisible as possible. Labels would receive income from the sale of every device, which is far better asking device purchasers to take a second step and opt in a music service. Maybe then would consumers embrace music services in light of their inability to work with Apple products, their DRM, their catalogs that don't dig as deep as the illegal options.

One thing is for sure: Either subscription services have done a horrible job marketing their products, or consumers just flat out don't want them.

Posted by Glenn at 11:49 PM | Link
|Comes With Music||Sony BMG||Total Music|

A Nokia executive vice president offered some information on the company's Comes With Music service at the MIDEM conference. Bloomberg has the article.

• Nokia will share revenue with mobile operators. Said the executive, "In those cases where we cooperate with operators, there will be an arrangement so they can get a piece."
• Downloaded tracks will come with DRM. Users will be able to transfer tracks from handset to PC, but will not be able to transfer tracks between PCs.
• The service will not be available on existing phones. "You actually buy a device that is complete," he said. "You can't buy the same device without the content."

Posted by Glenn at 1:43 PM | Link
|Comes With Music||Conferences||Nokia|