July 6, 2005
Musicians go mobile to reach fans
Musicians are looking to mobile phones to reach fans directly, bypassing the record label, explains BBC News.
Artists such as Andy Cato see in mobile phones an opportunity to sell tracks to fans quickly, without relying on a record label. He has teamed up with O2 in the UK to offer tracks for download to mobiles. It means he will get a far greater share of the revenues, which will be shared with the operator.
"With labels, it is impossible to calculate how much you get per song," he explained. "When you do, you weep."
Cato is going to offer two tracks a week for download to mobiles from Friday 8 July, costing £1 each.
"What appeals in terms of dance music is the speed of the turnaround," he said, recalling the early days of dance music when new tunes made their way to the clubs within days of being produced. "Working on a new track on a Monday and releasing it on a Friday is an adrenaline-fuelled way of working."
Unlike other tracks offered by the O2 music service, Andy Cato's tunes will not have any digital rights protection so fans will be able to transfer them without constraints to a PC or burn them to a CD.
The whole mobile industry seems to be making plans to jump on the digital music bandwagon. Sony Ericsson has joined forces with Napster to develop a service for mobiles. And Motorola has partnered with Apple to create a mobile tied in to iTunes, while handset manufacturers such as Nokia are working on mobiles designed for digital entertainment.
But analysts say that mobile phones still have some way to go before they replace more established music players like the iPod.
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