Mobile to account for 30% of music retail value by 2011, leading to increased demand for .mobi domains

Mobile music is on the rise, currently representing around 13% of global recorded music retail value according to a new industry report from Understanding & Solutions. The report forecasts an increase to almost 30% by 2011, amounting to US$11 billion and helping to offset some of the decline in packaged music revenues. This rapid growth is no doubt reflected in the recent sale of music.mobi for US$616,000.”Alongside online, mobile music is essential to the future of the music industry,” says Understanding & Solutions Consultant, David Sidebottom. “Japan, closely followed by the USA, has the most efficient mobile music landscape: both countries have a concentrated operator base and a large pool of potential subscribers, providing economies of scale for the music companies.”In the fragmented European market, some operators have become less aggressive, as they can’t make money directly from selling full track downloads, but this will pave the way for ‘off-portal’ and third party service providers.”In emerging markets, the rapid growth in mobile handsets, often without the user’s access to a personal computer, means there will be an even greater reliance on music, and other forms of entertainment, downloaded to mobile devices.Also, when “[l]ooking to emerging markets, mobile could become the number one platform for music, where packaged CDs haven’t gained traction due to piracy and lack of hardware ownership,” continues Sidebottom. “Both China and India are showing large revenue gains, which are being driven by strong mobile subscriber growth and the status associated with music-related personalised mobile products.”A news release from Understanding and Solutions is available at www.uands.com/downloadarticle.asp?id=57 while Information Week has also published a report on this at informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=204801067.