Why Skype is right to sell ringtones
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IF you have doubts on Skype’s new idea of selling digital music through its software, you might be right. The place is already well crowded by behemoth players, Yahoo Music, Apple iTunes, or Real Networks to tell a few. But Skype will not look for online music selling. Instead, as confirmed by the recent buy-out of Sonory, it’s heading on mobile communications.
Now, look what is happening in India and in China, where both national mobile phone markets are blooming and the potential of growth of wireless music are huge.
In India, mobile music is going to overtake legal conventional music by the end of this year. That’s what assured the Cellular Operators’ Association of India, the Indian mobile telecoms lobby, to United Press International. Over there, mobile music downloads just inflate at “a scorching growing pace”, over 50% per year, topping $170 million at the end of 2006, exceeding revenues from compact disks and audio cassettes, combined.
In China, similar trends are coming. Mobile music is exploding, and guess what is the most popular of mobile music? Ring tones. According to the Wall Street Journal, ring tones and wireless music services generated $247 million in revenue last year.
China Mobile recently unveiled its intentions to jump into this market. A forthcoming Central Music Platform will provide ring tones and mobile phone music downloads, but may struggle from Chinese weak policies on copyrights.
Skype’s chances are pretty big to dominate the South-East Asian market. First, it ranks among the most popular chat clients over there. Second, it already partnered Warner and EMI, the former to provide ring tones and the later to sell both ring tones and songs downloads.
Apr 26, 2006 | By Nuno
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