A panel on mobile music Tuesday afternoon gave a glimmer of hope to an industry battered by illegal downloading. While the largest portion of music revenues still come from CDs sales, which are badly slumping, digital sales are picking up in the US, though still far from the boom in places like Japan and Korea. The momentum is in full-song download sales for cell phones, according to Rio Caraeff, General Manager, Universal Music Mobile, N.A. Nonetheless, most of the mobile music business is still based on the sale of ringtones.

New devices and services launching this year open up a new world of possibilities in mobile entertainment. Having music on your cell phone instead of carrying two devices seems like a no-brainer in the long run, with improved battery life, compatibility, and DRM issues resolved. Mobile streaming services, for example, are on the rise with the potential to grow music sales through personalized recommendation engines and connectivity to community sites such as MySpace and YouTube.

However, from a personal user perspective, I  don’t see a must-have mobile entertainment experience available on the US market…yet. But judging by the positive tone of this panel discussion and the widespread realization of the potential in this medium, I’m sure we’ll see some really cool stuff coming out soon.

Joakim Baage

Related Links:

http://www.digitalmusicforum.com/east07.html