Apps, Mobile & SMS

It’s Official: Mobile Is The Future Of Music

It's a trend to important to ignore. Smartphones adoption is soaring. Pandora, MOG. Spotify, Rdio and almost every other music service is rushing to release and improve their mobile apps. In fact, any artist, label or music company that lacks an aggressive mobile strategy may soon be left in the dust.

According to Nielsen, smartphones were currently used by 25% of the US mobile phone audience and will overtake other cell phones by the end of 2011.  By 2013, penetration will reach 50%, and by 2014, 142.1 million users, representing 54% of the US mobile user population, will access the internet using mobile browsers or applications.

image from www.emarketer.com


image from www.emarketer.com

 

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5 Comments

  1. The statistics only shows mobile internet and smartphone usage. It fails to show actual music-listening behavior. Yes, people will use smartphones. No, it doesn’t indicate how consumers will be listening to music.
    I still use iTunes/iPod on my iPhone. I have Pandora, Last.fm, and others, but still 95% of my listening comes from iTunes/iPod. The other 4% comes from terrestrial radio station streaming apps, such as WGN, Q101, 93X.
    Twitter: @meandre

  2. As John B says above… how is that “official” ?
    You’re taking facts (the mobile usage data chart) and personal observation (Pandora, Spotify etc. releasing mobile apps) and mashing them together to come up with an assumption… as I mentioned a ways back, Hypebot shines best when you stick to the facts and leave the personal spin or opinion to the comments thread. Thanks.
    IMO, I think music consumption methods will be diverse (as they are today), and will continue to be such as new products emerge in the future. I don’t believe mobile phones will become a single method of consumption ala CDs in the 90’s.

  3. Y’all are haters.
    It’s showing trends and predictions. If you want change in the industry – you need analysis and a path to go by. A chart like this shows potential for change. It’s showing an increase in smartphone usage – which opens up the gates for more focus on music being served via mobile phone.
    It’s weird music will inevitably end up… live with it.

  4. The article then implies that if you are an artist or record label and do not have a mobile strategy, you’re dead in the water.
    You are correct by saying you need analysis and a path to go by for changing the industry. I am saying this is poor information to base your decisions upon. (It’s like saying it’ll rain tomorrow because your dog doesn’t want to go outside today.) It does not account for variables-e.g., how consumers listen to music via smartphones. Apps? iTunes? Pandora? Tell me that and I’ll confidently endorse a strategy that focuses on apps. This just tells me consumers are buying more smartphones and using mobile internet more.

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