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Comes With Music, Comes With Problems

MySpace isn't the only company that sees unlimited access to music as the wave of the future: handset maker Nokia is partnering with Universal Music Group (also a MySpace Music stake holder) for a new initiative called "Comes with Music," in which consumers pay an added flat fee for access to Universal's catalog of music.

The plan has been in the pipe for sometime, but what hasn't been known is how big Universal's cut would be. According to separate reports, the record label is set to take $35 per phone, "a big number" says Ars Technica, because the other labels would certainly demand a similar figure. All this adds up to a phone that could be prohibitively expensive for most consumers. Nokia has already disclosed that it won't pass on the entire added cost for consumers, but it would certainly have to raise subscription rates if other labels jumped on board.

Meanwhile, paidContent also reports that "Comes With Music" won't come with an unlimited supply of music. Instead, users will have access to a "relatively high" number of tracks for a one-year period, after which time they'll have to either buy a new phone or pay for another subscription. Music will also be protected by digital rights management software, and there will be an added charge for burning tracks to CDs. Yuk. As Ars says, kudos to Nokia for trying something different "but as things stand now, this is little more than a marketing initiative with a tenuous basis in reality."

Read the whole story at Ars Technica »

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