Sony launches music-less music service for mobiles

Mobile music services have long been mooted as the potential answer to the problems of global telcos and record companies looking for lucrative new revenue streams. There is, however, one problem: none of the services have yet to feature any actual downloadable music. On Wednesday the world’s second largest record company, Sony Music Entertainment, launched the much anticipated Sony Music Mobile (SMM) service for subscribers of AT&T Wireless’ mMode service. But Sony has made it clear that it will not be making its extensive music catalogue available for download and is instead merely offering subscribers access to ringtones, screensavers and music news updates. Subscription to the service costs between USD4 and USD11 a month, with the cost of ringtones extra, placing it in direct competition with AOL’s Music Mobile Club, launched on mMode earlier this month. Both will soon face competition from a joint venture between handset manufacturer Motorola and music TV group MTV, which yesterday signed a USD75 million deal to develop a music content service of their own, though it is not yet known whether this service will feature any music beyond ringtones either. The lack of audio content is made all the more bizarre considering that the necessary technology is readily available and most major US carriers are already selling downloadable games powered by Qualcomm and Sun Microsystems software. Until downloadable audio is made available, it is doubtful whether mobile music will prove to be the answer to either the telcos’ or the record companies’ revenue problems.