Chinese Mobile Music Boom

Written By Daniel on July 19, 2007 at 7:14 am | In uncategorized

The market for digital music publishing is ripe for development in China
Trend description

The “nomad chinese generation” wants its music mobile and instantly;
what is driving technology and technology is answering to this demand. The spread of devices such as mobile phones, music portable devices and iPods shows the changes in the urban landscape and the development of the “nomad generation”. The music-mobile phones are extremely convenient for music lovers, who can anywhere access to their favourite music without having to carry an extra device. Mobile devices and music are developing a new consumption model. Digital music provide consumers with more customized value-added services and enrich their music experiences.

Cases

Aigo Music

Aigo Music, a digital music downloading website, announced on April 3, 2006 that it has entered into a strategic partnership with Warner Music, one of the world’s four major music companies, to develop a market in China for legal distribution of digital music.

The Aigo site, aigomusic.com, was created last October by Beijing-based Huaqi Information Digital Technology, China’s largest producer of MP3 players under the Aigo MP3 brand. Huaqi is seeking to make its Aigo MP3 player and the Aigo online music store into China’s iPods and iTunes.

MotoMusic

Motorola launched an ad campaign to publicize Motomusic , a China-only Web site that sells music downloads and ring tones for Motorola cellphones.

Motomusic is the largest legal music download site in China. The site will function as a promotional tool to build the Motorola brand in the future — a much less costly alternative to relying largely on TV advertising.

Motomusic is similar to Apple Inc.’s iTunes online music service — but without the iPod — and aims to reposition the Motorola brand as “desirable and attractive” in terms of style in the world’s largest mobile-handset market.

The Budha Machine

The Buddha Machine is not a CD release, or even an MP3 release – it’s a gadget. The Buddha Machine is a little plastic box that plays music. Specifically, FM3 constructed nine drones, varying from two seconds to 42 seconds, which repeat endlessly in the listener’s ear until the “track” is switched to the next drone. The machine has its own built-in speaker and there is also a headphone jack for more personal meditative experiences.

The initial pressing was 500 units, but until now, more than 10.000 have found their way to collectors. FM3 has been called “the most prominent experimental act in China

Trend impact

While mobile music dominates more than 99% of China’s digital music market, it is Internet music that threatens the existence of the traditional music publishing business. Ironically, if traditional music publishing is pushed out of business, the Internet music industry probably won’t be able to survive either — without the content that the traditional business provides. Internet music publishing will need to find its own unique operating model and niche so that there’s room for its growth. The 2005 launches of digital music sites, including A8, Aigo Music, Shangda’s EZ Pod, Top100.cn and Taile, marked the Internet music publishing business’s first step in China.

Links

http://cn.aigomusic.com/
http://www.motomusic.com.cn/
http://www.fm3.com.cn/