Musicians Turn To Mobile Phones To Bypass Labels

BBC News writes that "musicians have begun looking to mobile phones to reach fans directly, bypassing the record label.

"Andy Cato of dance act Groove Armada has teamed up with O2 in the UK to offer tracks for download to mobiles. "If this works, it’ll give left-of-centre music a presence in a potentially large market place," he said."

"Mobile operators and handset makers are scrambling to provide music to mobiles, turning them into portable jukeboxes. Sony Ericsson is bringing out a range of Walkman-branded phones, while Motorola is working on an iTunes-compatible mobile with Apple."

"While many people own digital music players, often the one gadget they carry all the time is the mobile phone."

"As mobiles become more sophisticated and offer more storage space, the industry is looking at ways of tapping into people’s appetite for digital music on the go…"

ARTISTS LOVE THE REVENUE AND THE IMMEDIACY:

"…With labels, it is impossible to calculate how much you get per song," he explained. "When you do, you weep."

"Cato is going to offer two tracks a week for download to mobiles from Friday 8 July, costing £1 each."

"Working on a new track on a Monday and releasing it on a Friday is an adrenaline-fuelled way of working," he told the BBC News website.He is also planning to work with other music producers to help them distribute music by mobile."

The future:

"Just about everyone in the mobile industry seems to be making plans to jump on the digital music bandwagon."

"Sony Ericsson has joined forces with online music service Napster to develop a service for mobiles…rival Motorola has partnered with Apple…Handset manufacturers such as Nokia are working on mobiles designed for digital entertainment. ..And Sony  Ericsson will launch the first of its Walkman branded phones, the W800i, in August."

"…But there still some hurdles in the way of music on mobile…people may have trouble transferring tracks from mobiles to a PC, and there are also issues about competing file formats for mobile downloads."

"Analysts say that mobile phones still have some way to go before they replace more established music players like the iPod."

Hypebot says WATCH OUT Apple.
Read the full BBC article here.