For the consumer the offer of a service allowing you to download an unlimited number of tracks by almost any group or artist for nothing is too good to be true, well Nokia the world’s largest phone company is doing just that, with the new Come With Music contract that stipulates that you have to pay a one off fee for the handset of £130 and sign a contract for 12 months, but you can only continue downloading if you buy another Nokia product when your contract is up.
But this is not sitting so lightly with artists who are unhappy with the deal. Artists feel that they will not get what they are entitled too as the big corporate companies use the power of music to sell more of its products. Warner Music, Universal, Sony BMG and EMI have all signed up with Nokia as well as independents like Ministry of Sound. Although no information has been disclosed about the deal, industry spectators assume that Nokia pay a very nominal fee to the music companies for each song, so unless a user abuses the Nokia downloads it shouldn’t break the bank of Nokia.
But presuming the industry analysis are correct Nokia’s profits will see a huge increase with boosted handset sales due to the Come with Music service, this will act as a marketing tool to increase another revenue stream, we will be keeping a close track on Nokia’s share prices over the coming weeks to see how the launch of the Nokia 5800 Xpress Music will influence its stocks.
Source: Guardian
