Steve Jobs may have stepped on Nokia’s toes with the advent of the iPhone, which competes with the N95 in functionality and features, but the Finnish phone company is vying for a piece of the digital music market pie with a serious addition to the Comes With Music download service: Sony BMG.
Now consumers who purchase a Nokia Comes With Music handset will have access to Sony BMG’s entire back catalogue for a year following purchase of the device. After this period, they can subscribe to an unlimited download service or buy additional tracks.
Comes With Music, which is set to launch later this year, also has Universal music on board, with artists including the Killers, Gwen Stefani and the Kaiser Chiefs.
Apple iTunes, on the other hand, has licensed the rights to sell music from the ‘big four’: Universal, Sony BMG, EMI and Warner.
While Sony is rumoured to be developing its own digital music subscription service, the company is clearly enthusiastic about the possibilities of partnering with Nokia.
Thomas Hesse, president of global digital business and US sales for Sony BMG, said the music company thinks this new business model with Nokia “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,” he added.
Meanwhile Nokia recently launched the Nokia Music Store on 2 April in Ireland with over 2.5 million tracks available to download straight to Nokia handsets or via a user’s PC. Individual tracks cost €1, while albums cost from €10.
By Marie Boran
