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IS YOUR MUSIC LIMITED?
SONY’S MUSIC UNLIMITED SUBSCRIPTION STREAMING SERVICE LAUNCHED TO LITTLE FANFARE LAST FRIDAY, AS A CYNICAL INDUSTRY SEEMS TO DOUBT ANYTHING WILL WORK. IT’S NOT WHEN SOMETHING WILL WORK, NOW IT’S IF IT WILL. BY SCOTT FITZSIMONS.
LINE to work on and will come down to working with the Government to make it harder for people to do the wrong thing.”
SONY’S TECHNOLOGY COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER PAUL COLLEY (LEFT) WITH CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER OF SONY COMPUTER ENTERTAINMENT, MICHAEL EPHRAIM.
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ast Friday Sony announced their intentions for the digital music market in Australia with the launch of Music Unlimited and Qriocity – a ‘cloud’ based subscription service. Anyone even remotely interested in the music industry will have been, over the last couple of years, inundated by discussions of the future of the industry, whether subscription models or any other plan were the future or the answer. While there’s been an abundance of talk there’s been very little action, the reason seeming to be that no one has ever actually been convinced that they had the answer or has the money to implement them. Apple’s iTunes has undoubtedly been the dominant distribution service for online tracks and they’ve enjoyed a monopoly because of the lack of strong competition, particularly in Australia. Sony hope that Music Unlimited will be the first big challenger to that standard download platform, but speaking to The Front Line, Sony’s Technology Communications Manager Paul Colley was realistic about what immediate effect the launch will have. He’s hesitant to comment on the battle between the two and it seems that earlier reports that Sony would pull out of iTunes are untrue. “I’d say for a while both download to own and streaming services will compliment each other,” he said, “but really the way that, particularly young consumers, nowadays are
SONY’S MUSIC UNLIMITED SERVICE
accessing content, it’s ‘I want it now’. They don’t think about where they’ve got it.” There he’s referencing the ‘cloud’ model of Music Unlimited. For the $12.99 monthly fee, users will get access to the six million-plus tracks available in the cloud (all four majors are involved as well as ‘leading’ independent labels, although Sony couldn’t provide The Front Line with an exact list) across their internet-enabled Sony devices. At the moment that’s TVs and PlayStations, but will extend into mobile devices such as phones and the next PSP model, whenever they appear. The beauty, so Sony claim, lies in the ability to streamline those tracks across the devices, allowing playlists and other managers to be accessible from whichever platform. Looking long term, Colley is confident that they’ve got the correct model. “The ease of use and access is critical… A lot of the services [available] at the moment are bound to the PC. Unless you get third party technical gadgets to expand it over devices, it’s not very consumerfriendly. So the fact that you can now stream music straight to your home stereo system rather than having to manage it off your PC… makes it a much more seamless experience. Additionally the sound quality and range of content is also critical.” In a statement, Kazuo Hirai, Sony’s President of Net-
worked Products & Services Group said Music Unlimited, “signifies a paradigm shift which redefines the existing music listening experience by revolutionising music access, discovery, integration and personalisation.” Colley carried the line saying that the way that new releases will be instantly available at no additional cost “changes the way we explore music and discover music”. Still, it means little at the moment because unfortunately for copyright holders, that’s the way that most people already consume music, through illegal downloads. And they’re rarely worried about trivial things like release dates, as these days it’s harder to find an album that hasn’t been leaked before release than one that hasn’t. Reports released by ARIA last week of the wholesale sales figures for 2010 proved that digital track and albums sales are on the rise, but they’re still not compensating for the huge losses being sustained by the physical markets. While digital revenue was up 31.94 percent and physical was down 23.83 percent, together the market suffered a loss of 13.92 percent. Singles are virtually dead and the promising vinyl rejuvenation has faltered. Speaking on the reports, PPCA and ARIA CEO Dan Rosen said, “Clearly it’s not entirely replacing the reduction in physical, so that’s something we need to continue
There are international rumblings worth remembering as well. European-based Spotify recently signed a deal with EMI that boosts their launch into the United States and Google’s music service is rumoured to be closer than ever after plenty of speculation and ‘insider sources’ regarding their dealings with various labels. What Google have launched this week is their paid subscription service for magazines, apparently rushed through the day after Apple launched in order to have theirs directly compared – the big difference is that Apple are going to take 30 percent of the takings, whereas Google are offering it for ten percent. “[It’s] a fascinating time,” says Rosen. “Apple came out with their subscription, not for music specifically but I think [it’s the future] and Google came the next day. It’s going to be a very, very interesting time.” In a statement from a spokesperson to The Front Line, copyright protectors APRA|AMCOS were “pleased to have concluded a licensing agreement for the Qriocity – Music Unlimited service in Australia and New Zealand,” given that the service pays songwriters, artists, publishers and labels. “We are extremely pleased that Sony has included Australia and New Zealand in the initial rollout of the service as this demonstrates their confidence in our markets and represents yet another positive step in bringing music creators and consumers together,” they said. Even though Sony have made one of the first moves of the new year, there’s still a long way to go in their model. “We’re focusing on the home devices at launch, but obviously its critical to be able to consume music especially on mobile devices. So you’ll see the platform expanded out to Android, PSP, all those sorts of devices,” says Colley, but there’s little he can provide by way of time frame. “We can’t – we don’t have any information on timing at this stage, but this is one of the fastest global rollouts of a music service and that’s obviously a critical piece.” What’s critical for the music industry is that plans like this are carried out this year and not just discussed.
blue mountains music festival 18-19-20 March 2011
Join us in the reat ag mountains fo’sr Day St Patrick weekend
the waifs Justin Townes Earle (USA) Luka Bloom (Ire) The Backsliders
Martin Simpson (UK) Tony McManus (Scot) Tim O’Brien (USA) / chain Alan Kelly Quartet (Ire) Les Chauffers À Pieds (Can) Rosie Flores Trio (USA) Katie Noonan & The Captains sale now The cottars (can) / christof (ned) tickets on u a . Crooked still (USA) / Ajak kwai (sudan) b m f f . o rg Mama Kin / tinpan orange 100 concerts on 9 stages over 3 days And many More! twitter.com/drummedia
THE DRUM MEDIA 22 FEBRUARY 2011 • 25 •