Mobile phones are increasingly proving to be saviors for the troubled music industry and could represent the crucial springboard needed for its eventual recovery, as assessed at the fair that gathers key players in the global music industry every January in Cannes.
"I believe that a large portion of future revenues for the music industry will certainly come through mobile phones," said MIDEM director Dominique Leguern on Thursday, the last day of the fair. Considering that in 2007 the number of mobile phone users is expected to reach a critical figure of three billion, and the expectation that by 2010 a total of 90 percent of the world’s population will have access to mobile phones, this could prove to be an extremely strong asset in the hands of the music industry.
Given the decline in revenues from CD sales, while revenues from digital recordings account for 11 percent of the current global market with an expected growth to 25 percent by 2010 – interest in developments in the mobile phone sector was certainly quite significant at this week’s fair. Sales of Sony Ericsson’s latest model from its Walkman multimedia device series – a music phone compatible with MP3 players – are rising, reaching 60 million in 2006, far surpassing the 39 million sold Apple iPod players, said Sony Ericsson CEO Miles Flint.
