Full track mobile music replacing ringtone revenues
27 February 2008
Full track mobile music replacing ringtone revenues
Mobile music passed the tipping point in 2007, with music rental services and full track downloads finally on route to oust ringtones as the mobile content king.
The total value of the global mobile music market is expected to rise to more than $17.5bn by 2012, according to figures released by Juniper Research on Tuesday.
The research firm believes that current prices for ringtones are unsustainable and that the market for such services may already have peaked in a number of developed markets.
Indeed, global ringtone revenues are now expected to gradually decline, to be replaced by full track downloads. Ringtones, which accounted for 62 per cent of the mobile music market in 2007, are forecast to account for just 38 per cent by 2012
Juniper analyst Windsor Holden said, "I think it's fair to say that 2007 marked the tipping point as far as mobile music adoption was concerned. Far more subscribers began downloading and subscribing to music content in developed markets, and it must be said that that the publicity surrounding the iPhone launch undoubtedly contributed to consumer awareness of mobile music services per se."
The analyst expects more operators to emulate the Vodafone model and introduce similar subscription-based music rental services such as Voda did with Omnifone last year.
"With some operators now offering full track downloads at a comparable price to iTunes, there is little justification for a ringtone retail price point that is in many cases two or even three times this level," said Holden. "Furthermore, those aggregators whose portfolios are largely dependent upon the polyphonic ringtone will be unable to survive in the medium term unless they both rethink their pricing strategies and substantially diversify their product portfolios."
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