Mobile music downloads

Mobile music downloads

They're noisy, they cost a bomb, and they can really upset commuters. But mobile phones, says Chas Jenkins - head of LSO Live, the London Symphony Orchestra's own record label - may be about to trigger 'one of the most significant breakthroughs for classical music'.

According to manufacturing giant Nokia, two billion people now own a mobile phone. Add to that the fact that people are more likely to own music-enabled phones than personal music players like iPods and MP3 players, and it starts to look like mobiles are set to become a force to be reckoned with in the music world.

Last year new mobile models with iPod-like storage capacity appeared from Motorola, Sony Ericsson and Nokia, and future models will feature digital radio, video, and near CD-quality streaming services. But what does this mean for classical music?

'A lot of people are literally scared about going into a classical music department in a music shop,' says Jenkins, who instigated the use of iTunes software and online samples to market London Symphony Orchestra recordings. 'That's really what excites us about digital - that there's a much larger audience than is normally perceived.'

Industry reps at the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) - who fight music piracy and monitor how music is distributed - share this sentiment. 'We know a lot of people don't buy classical music because they basically don't know where to start,' said Keith Jopling, head of research. 'There are problems with the way conventional stores section off classical and world music, and sometimes you don't get much help from the staff.'

In 2005, ringtone sales overtook sales for CD singles and accounted for 40 per cent of the $1.1bn total revenue made from digital music. Reflecting on IFPI research that suggests one in five mobiles are used for listening to music, Jopling said, 'We're predicting that by 2010 global sales of digital music will have jumped from five per cent to 25 per cent.'

And as the market grows, retailers are beginning to re-think classical music branding. Boosey & Hawkes (B&H), for example, has launched a new classical ringtones service offering downloads from £3 on a dedicated website. It sets composers out in user-friendly categories like 'scary', 'romantic', and 'film and TV'.

'Clicking "comedy" takes you straight through to Bernstein, though the user doesn't need to know that,' explains Natasha Baldwin, B&H's head of music consultancy. 'They just click and, well, if they like it, there's plenty of background on Bernstein and other material,' she says. 'I think it will really help open up classical music, because people will begin to make informed choices,' she adds.

One immediate challenge for manufacturers is to design phones that are user-friendly as well as incorporating the technology to make this kind of listening possible. Currently users generally transfer music from a PC, rather than downloading it directly to the phone. But with the launch last year of music browsing and buying on phones - and more recently of 'dual-delivery services' (simultaneous PC and phone downloading) and legal mobile peer-to-peer networks (akin to internet file sharing technology) - users will be able to pick and choose which listening style they prefer.

'Working with record labels is always very political,' says Orlando Kimber, head of research at 24/7, one of the latest dual-delivery services. 'We're basically trying to completely change the way people buy music.

'For me the major thing is perhaps that you can follow an impulse much more easily than you can in the physical world,' he adds. 'Personally, I think the big opportunity for classical music will be in radio on demand, where you select a track and it is streamed with other similar items directly to your phone. The point is that music will not be regarded as a physical product but as an intellectual property product. The ultimate idea would be to have a big "locker" online where you can access the world's whole library, wherever you are, on any device. The format really doesn't matter.'

Web links

Getting started: some good sites for downloading classical ringtones
www.booseytones.com
www.lsoringtones.co.uk
www.classicfmtones.com
www.ringtonesgalore.co.uk
www.ringtones2go.co.uk

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