SonyBMG yesterday announced it had signed up to Nokia's Comes With Music venture, the thing where special Nokia phones come 'pre-loaded' with a one year subscription that gives the device's owner free access to music via their mobile.
As I understand it, consumers can download tracks for free from the Comes With Music platform, to their mobile or PC, for a year after first buying their phone. Unlike, say, a Napster subscription, the customer can keep the songs at the end of the year, though they are DRM encrypted so will only work on Nokia devices. While that last bit is a bit limiting, the phone firm says customers will be able to transfer their Comes With Music track collection over to any new Nokia device they buy, so they won't completely lose the tunes when they get a new phone, providing the new phone is a Nokia.
The package launched last year but only Universal Music is currently participating (although EMI have reportedly expressed an interest in getting involved). SonyBMG's participation, announced in London yesterday, will considerably expand the catalogue of music available to Comes With Music users.
Confirming SonyBMG's involvement, Nokia Exec VP and Head Of Entertainment, Tero Ojanperä, told CMU: "As one of the leading major music companies in the world, our collaboration with SonyBMG means we can offer a huge range of fantastic music from both international and local artists via Comes With Music. It's great to have them on board as we move forward with bringing our unlimited music bundle to the market".
SonyBMG's digital chief Thomas Hesse added: "This initiative represents a critical new way of gaining access to music, through which fans will be able to explore SonyBMG's vast catalogue of recordings for an entire year. We think this business model will encourage users to sample a wide range of material, expand their musical tastes, and listen to more music than ever before. In the process, we think it will provide new opportunities to artists from every genre of music, and increase demand for music overall".
So, there you go. As previously reported, there has been much speculation as to how much money Universal has been receiving per handset as part of their Comes With Music deal with Nokia. Gossipers at one point suggested Nokia was foregoing its whole profit margin on the devices in order to get the music deal off the ground, while more recently it was speculated that Universal was getting $35 per phone sold, though Nokia have denied that, and remain tight lipped on their deals with the record companies regarding Comes With Music.
There is not, as yet, any timescale for EMI's catalogue being added to the mix, despite them have expressed an interest in participating. Asked about other label deals yesterday, Ojanpera told Billboard that there was no news on any other deals, but that "we've seen a lot of interest with bigger and smaller labels".