Sony Music sets sights on mobile market
Published: 21 Nov 2002 10:37 GMT
Record label Sony Music Entertainment said on Wednesday that it purchased a small New York wireless entertainment company as part of a broader move to expand its products for mobile phones.
Start-up Run Tones and its executives will form the core of Sony's new Mobile Products group, which will manage products such as ring tones and online listening services aimed at users of mobile phones and other mobile devices.
"This is an interesting way for us to bring some of the technology into the company and flesh out our efforts," said Thomas Gewecke, Sony Music senior vice president of business development.
Sony and other record labels are increasingly looking toward the wireless arena as a promotional vehicle, a potential source of revenue, and ultimately, even a means of distribution. New mobile phone network technologies and audio compression techniques make it viable to listen to streamed audio on a mobile phone that's as good as FM radio or even near-CD quality. Promotional materials such as mobile phone ring tones are also growing in popularity.
Like other record labels, Sony already has a few wireless experiments in operation, although the most extensive of these are overseas. Recently the company announced a "listening party" service, in which fans can call a number and listen to 30-second samples of albums before release dates.
A few labels have toyed with more ambitious projects, such as the now-defunct HitHive's online music storage service, which mobile phone subscribers could tap into to listen to previously stored songs. The crash of the Internet market took its toll on that and other wireless content services, however.
Gewecke said Sony's new division could ultimately look at distribution of music over mobile phone networks as well as promotional products and services, depending on how quickly network and handset technology evolved.
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