Europe
: In a move that sees the battle for the digital music market hot
up further, mobile media company 3 today announced that every audio
track its customers download to mobile handsets will also be available
online for no extra charge.
Until now, customers buying tracks on their mobiles have not been
able to access their music on other devices.
On 3’s new music service, called dual download - customers who
buy their music over the air will not only get their track delivered
to their handset, but will be able to get a copy of their track online.
They can then play it on their laptop or PC, transfer it onto an MP3
player, or burn it onto a CD.
3 believe that offering dual downloading as standard will provide
an additional incentive to encourage consumers to buy more of their
digital music over mobile. The latest figures from the International
Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) show that the digital
music market has now overtaken the value of the global singles market,
and recent research from Forrester predicts the revenue from digital
music sales in the UK will top 204m euros by 2007*.
Forrester research also points to the importance of music portability
for consumers - as the majority of people (53%) who download music
to their PC then burn it onto a CD to play elsewhere.
Gareth Jones, 3’s Chief Operating Officer, said: “Until
now, a track downloaded onto mobile hasn’t been yours to enjoy
on other devices. We are launching a service that lets the customers
decide how they want to listen to their music.”
k Now, we not only offer the convenience of buying music wherever
and whenever you want, but also the ability to integrate your mobile
music library with the rest of your collection.”
3’s music service will sell tracks at a flat rate of £1.50,
with each track available on both mobiles and also as a PC download.
Customers buying a track over the air will automatically be sent a
text message with a PIN code to access the same track as a PC download.
Jon Davis, Director of New Media at Sony BMG, said: ‘Over the
last eighteen months, via 3, music on your mobile has morphed into
rich music content propositions such as video, audio downloads, live
m-casts and now, dual downloads. The results over the last year have
been phenomenal so we’re extremely excited about the prospect
of dual downloads. We’re confident that this additional value
will drive the sales of digital downloads via mobile phones.’
3’s new music service was unveiled at a press briefing which
saw 3 outline its plans to bring the latest in information, entertainment
and communications to over 3.2million customers.
At the event, 3 also announced a series of mobile video premieres
over the coming months. These include the first track from Madonna’s
new ‘Confessions on a Dancefloor’ album, the next track
from The Pussycat Dolls, and James Blunt’s Christmas single.
Mercury nominated band Hard-Fi, are working with 3 to produce the
first made-for-mobile music video for their track ’Cash machine’.
3’s dual download service has been developed in conjunction
with Musiwave. Handset limitations may apply to audio track downloads.
