FACE-OFF | VINEET TANEJA "Rahman fits in with our music strategy"
Posted: 2009-01-27 00:37:51+05:30 IST Updated: Jan 27, 2009 at 0037 hrs IST : Mobile devices have emerged as one of the most preferred mediums for tuning in to music and revenues from mobile music is expected to grow to nearly 23% of overall music revenues by 2010 (source: KPMG India). There are currently about 31 million subscribers (source: Trai) in India who are avid consumers of music on the go (a figure that includes music downloaded from the internet), while IDC projects that mobile music is poised to become a $720 market in India by 2008. Already, consumers expect their cell phones to be multi-functional devices that can provide them immediate access to all forms of information and entertainment, wherever they may be. In a freewheeling interview to FE's Radhika Sachdev, Vineet Taneja, head, marketing, Nokia India, talks about the category leader's mobile music strategy from the device and services perspective, explaining Nokia's aspired positioning in this segment. How much of the mobile music market is Nokia targeting in India? What is the size of this market in terms of hardware sales and in terms of revenue generated from music downloads? A big chunk, I would say. We are the leading developers of mobile music globally. We have sold over 300 million music-enabled devices till date. This makes us the world's largest manufacturer of digital music players. We also have Nokia Music Stores live in 12 markets globally. Across the world, sales of recorded music (in CD format) are declining and the digital market is not picking up fast enough to capture this fall (as per a recent, e-Marketer survey). What are the impediments? We don't see any impediments in the growth of digital music. In fact, we feel, given the bandwidth constraints, it is picking up a lot of momentum. In addition, our surveys and figures indicate that mobile devices have emerged as one of the most preferred media for listening to music. Your tie-up with record labels (IMI and Universal) reflects the latter's search for alternative markets when sales at home have begun to plummet. Your comments. Also, with the rampant music piracy in India, will record companies and artists be able to generate the kind of revenue from digital music that they once did from recorded music? In India, the pattern of music consumption and distribution has shifted radically in recent times and the future growth is likely to come from non-traditional forms of listening to music. Therefore, the entire ecosystem is coming together finally to create newer business models. Our tie up with IMI and Universal is a significant step forward in shaping this digital music ecosystem and aligning the interests of music companies with telecommunications. Through this association we will not only be able to create the most comprehensive music offering designed to meet the increasing consumer appetite for mobile music, but will also create a new revenue stream for the music industry at large. Initiatives such as Comes With Music, which offers one year of unlimited access to the entire Nokia Music Store catalogue is one such attempt. These have evolved out of our discussions with the music industry for a viable idea that would give listeners an exciting new music experience besides generating alternative revenue stream for the music industry, including artists, labels and other stakeholders. Camera phones sell more than digital cameras. When do you foresee such a thing happening for music phones? It is happening already. The consumer now wants a single device to replace multiple devices. Media reports predict that over 280 million MP3-enabled devices are expected to be sold by 2010. According to some estimates, there will be a nine-fold increase in mobile music purchases (compared to any other format) by Indian consumers by 2009. Nokia recently launched the 5800, which has a new album, Connections, by AR Rahman. The album Connections has nine special tracks available only on the phone. Is AR Rahman your answer to Samsung's Aamir Khan? Our association with Rahman indeed dates back to 2005 when we first worked with him to launch the music optimised Nokia N91. Then in the last three years, we associated with Rahman for some of the most special music initiatives such as the launch of our first vertical format video, Pray For Me, Brother, on Nokia N91, N70 and N73 or Nokia XpressMusic remix contest for Rahman's musical "Ada". We recently launched an album, Connections, with AR Rahman. This is the first time that Rahman has cut an album for a device maker. Featuring nine original scores from different parts of India, the composition is inspired by our brand proposition, "Connecting people". The title track Jiya se jiye is an amalgamation of these different genres of music. In our opinion, Rahman is a legend who has redefined contemporary Indian music and due to those attributes our association with him is strong and long term. He fits in beautifully with our music vision and strategy. Tell us some bit more about XpressMusic XpressMusic handsets are dedicated music-optimised devices. They come with dedicated music key(s), music pause/resume features on incoming calls, support for 3.5 mm connectors and extended battery life for undisrupted listening. With this portfolio, we recently launched the much-awaited Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, a touch device with human interface. Some other devices launched under this range include 5610, Nokia 5310, Nokia 5700, Nokia 5300, Nokia 5200 and Nokia 3250. What is your marketing plan for an experiential product like a music phone? We are using playlists to make messages. The names of song titles are being used to convey key product messages. For example, "I" "AM" "Touch" "Music" "Phone"all these are songs by key bandslike Touch is by U2. What's interesting here is that we're creating innovative properties on radio, television, on-ground etc where consumers will use song titles to send SMS to each other. For all you know, it may just start a new way of communicating among the youth. In addition, we are co-sponsoring Campus Rock Idol (CRI), a rock band competition spanning over 300 campuses across India, with rock shows in 10 key cities. We're leveraging this CRI association for Nokia 5800 specifically. We've already associated with Euphoria for this. They have composed a song (in English) for us based on the power of music. This is uploaded on the CRI website, from where rock bands can download it and make their own version of it. They get to perform it on stage during the CRI rock shows and each of the 10 cities has a winner for the best rendition of this song. From these 10 city winners, the winner band will be selected by Palash Sen. They will get to visit the Euphoria studio and spend time with Euphoria (they also get Nokia 5800s) in the deal. Nokia is an established leader in the GSM space, although within that, Samsung, Sony Ericsson (Walkman series) are better known for the quality of their music phones than Nokia is. Can you tell us why? We don't accept that assertion. As I mentioned before, we are the world's largest manufacturer of digital music players and that wouldn't be possible without gaining an incredible amount of knowledge and insights into what people want in their music device and without tracking trends on how they consume music. You may not be aware but we are one of the few players in the industry that offer two unique music sub-brands, XpressMusic, an entry-level devise targeted primarily at the youth and the Nseries, a multimedia device that comes in a special music edition. The music experience in this series is enhanced through better sound quality, a larger memory base, local content and other features. http://www.financialexpress.com/news/rahman-fits-in-with-our-music-strategy/415511/0
