Sony Bmg Gets Big In Mobiles

Sydney Morning Herald

Thursday November 17, 2005

Julian Lee

Within three years Sony BMG expects a quarter of its annual revenue to come from mobile phone users either listening to songs, watching videos clips or even replacing their ring tone with a song.

Last week Sony announced a deal to allow Telstra 3G mobile customers to download full-length music tracks into their handsets. It follows similar deals with Hutchison 3 and Vodafone. A deal with Optus, which launched its 3G service this week, was imminent, said general manager digital services Gavin Parry.

Sony's $2.99-a-track charge makes it significantly higher than other music downloads but Mr Parry said people were prepared to pay more for the convenience of using a mobile phone to do it.

Since the launch of its digital download service in Europe in April, Sony says it has sold 4.5 million video and audio tracks to mobile phones and that video downloads are outselling music two to one.

"If people have the phone they want the full experience," Mr Parry said.

He said that Sony's dispute with Apple, which has led to the recording company's absence from the Japanese, Australian and Swedish iTunes sites, was unlikely to be resolved by Christmas.

"We are getting a hard time in the press but we've licensed more than anyone else," he said.

Rival EMI agreed. "They are always the quickest out of the blocks," Gareth Isaac, head of business development at EMI conceded. "We are in discussions with a number of companies but nothing is imminent."

The push into digital comes as Sony BMG reports "harsh market conditions" in Europe, America and Australia. At the last quarter it posted a loss of $US60 million ($82 million) on revenue of $US936 million. In Australia digital represents just 3 per cent of Sony's revenues, well under the global average of 10 per cent.

Later this month, Vodafone 3G users will be able to access a special website to get exclusive content ahead of Jamiroquai's Australian tour, including five four-minute clips of the making of the latest video, latest tracks and interviews with the singer.

Artists are now asking Sony how to get on the phone.

© 2005 Sydney Morning Herald

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