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For further information. John Enser Lucy Chapman
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Next generation iPods are set to lose out to mobile phones incorporating digital music players, reveals The 2006 Digital Music Survey released today by music and entertainment research specialists, Entertainment Media Research, in association with law firm Olswang. The findings strongly suggest that the mobile industry is winning the battle for affections in the strategic contest for command of the developing integrated phone market. The 2006 Digital Music Survey, currently in its third year, is an independent survey of 3,000 UK consumers. It reveals that music lovers are 2:1 in favour of a mobile handset incorporating an iPod/MP3 player over a music player with mobile phone; 46% and 21% respectively. The preference amongst teenagers is even stronger, with 52% preferring an integrated mobile phone. Interestingly, even amongst current iPod owners there is a surprisingly strong preference towards the concept of mobile handsets incorporating music players rather than vice versa, with 40% selecting a mobile compared to just 27% choosing an iPod. Is the Mobile Downloading market growing? With the concept of integrated mobile phones proving so popular the results further reveal growth in the mobile downloading market. Half of all respondents who expressed an interest in downloading to mobiles a year ago are now doing so; 11% currently purchase and download to a mobile, which represents 52% of those who stated a potential interest 12 months ago. However, despite the industry’s very significant investment in raising consumer awareness, early interest in the mobile downloading market has started to stall. The proportion of people who claim to be interested in this activity has only risen from 21% to 25% over the last 12 months and currently just 4% of music consumers consider themselves very likely to start mobile downloading in the future. The results highlight that the mobile industry has done a good job educating early adopters on the downloading process but the second wave of consumers is just not keen on downloading music; 44% claim not to be interested and 36% prefer to download music using their home computer. Mobile industry needs to maximise downloading opportunities According to the survey, the mobile industry needs to do more to convince consumers, even savvy Internet downloaders, of the benefits of mobile downloading to stimulate interest and, ultimately, demand. So far the failure of the mobile industry to create a mass market is down to a perception that consumers find mobile downloading an unattractive option. On the appeal of using a mobile to buy a song just heard on the radio the survey found:
Indeed, consumers appear far more attracted to the idea of purchasing downloads through a radio. The concept of a “Buy Now” function on a radio appealed to 19% of music consumers surveyed compared to only 11% who found mobile downloading very appealing. Even though the popularity of mobile downloading has stalled, the survey discovered there are still opportunities as consumers are keen on purchasing music downloads, just not from their network operator. The typical behavioural response of only three out of 10 mobile downloaders on hearing a song they wanted to buy and download to their mobile, is to purchase it immediately from their network operator. Commenting upon the research findings Russell Hart, Chief Executive of Entertainment Media Research, says, “The consumer preference for a mobile phone that incorporates a music player rather than a mobile-enabled iPod/MP3 player gives the hand-set manufacturers a powerful early advantage in the forthcoming titanic battle for control of the integrated mobile and music player market.” He adds, “Although the mobile downloading market is still very young it appears to be in danger of stalling having failed so far to generate mass appeal.” John Enser, partner and head of music at Olswang, says, "The mobile industry, with support from the music industry, must look for more ways to excite the public about accessing music wirelessly. The concept of an integrated mobile handset is proving popular but people still want to acquire their music on physical discs or by fixed line downloads. While early adopters are exploring these gadgets, the industry needs to create new ways to drag the mass market away from downloading on their home computers and burning CDs, to ensure they are reaching and influencing the second wave of consumers in this young market." The full report also examines: How consumers access music
Community websites
Legal downloading
Illegal downloading
Notes to editors: The 2006 Digital Music Survey was carried out in July 2006 using an online questionnaire by music research specialists Entertainment Media Research. This is the 3rd year in which Entertainment Media Research has reported upon the state of the digital music industry. (http://www.entertainmentmediaresearch.com) The sample comprised over 3,000 music consumers aged 13-60 drawn from Entertainment Media Research’s UK database About Entertainment Media Research: Entertainment Media Research is Europe’s foremost research consultancy for music & entertainment, founded in 1997 in anticipation of the digital entertainment revolution. Today, Entertainment Media Research is an international research business headquartered in London serving the music, broadcast and advertising industries in the UK, Continental Europe, Scandinavia, USA and Australasia. The company is independent and privately-owned. What does Entertainment Media Research do? In short it supplies the research intelligence that enables entertainment decision-makers to push their creative boundaries and increase their marketing effectiveness to achieve the greatest financial return. It achieves this by possessing unrivalled expertise in music and entertainment research, a large and continuously refreshed database of music and entertainment consumers representative of all popular music genres and a suite of ground-breaking research methodologies that have become the industry standard across Europe. Entertainment Media Research is widely recognised as being one of the leaders in forecasting consumer trends in the music industry. For example it was the first organisation to correctly predict the UK population of legal downloaders would exceed that of illegal downloaders in 2005. About Olswang: Olswang is a leading law firm renowned for its work in media, communications, technology, real estate and more recently, biosciences. Founded in 1981, the firm has grown to a staff of more than 500 and has offices in London, the Thames Valley and Brussels. Olswang has an alliance with US firm Greenberg Traurig LLP extending the firm's international capability and is acclaimed as a leading employer in The Sunday times Best 100 Companies to Work For 2006, the top London law firm for the second year running. In its silver jubilee year Olswang is proud to support Fairbridge, a charity working with young people to give them the motivation, confidence and skills they need to change their own lives. The firm's music team has established itself as a leading adviser to the industry through its work with major record companies, trade bodies and music exploiters such as film producers and website operators. The firm's client list features several of the biggest names in the business, including record companies, collection societies and industry figures. We offer these clients a broad-based service that takes in corporate and commercial advice, dispute resolution, intellectual property, competition and e-commerce.
To speak to Olswang please contact: Lucy Chapman |
