The news that 3 UK is now accounting for 10% of all UK singles downloads is interesting.
Now, first off, there’s no denying that the singles market has collapsed from its heydays. So there’s an argument that 3 is merely helping itself to a slice of a pie that’s getting smaller all the time. But when you consider that the 10% is a proportion of all sales, downloads and physical, that’s still impressive going for an operator in an industry that only thee years ago looked to have ruined its relationship with the music business. Of course, the music industry needs new channels (legal ones that make money) to market as much as mobile operators need cool content. So it was probably only ever a trial separation than a full on Mills-McCartney break-up. But how has 3 made the most of music? Well, first off it is aware of its mobile status. It focuses on charts, the top ten to twenty songs. It is less interested in the long tail, which is where internet vendors make up much of their sales. By doing so, 3 can keep menus short and its inventory fresh. It’s so confident in its music store now that it has recently run a very high profile outdoor and print campaign for it. Vodafone too is working on its portal, moving away from its previous structure to a site centred around songs and artists, rather than product categories. Because it’s not just about full track downloads, of course. (3 itself sells almost as many video tracks as it does audio singles) But however you skin it, mobile music is now beginning to fly as a service. There is one element of concern however, and that is that the rate of growth is now slowing. Sometimes that’s inevitable as a product matures and you approach mass market volumes. But some think that the reason for this slowdown is that the current user experience has now done about all it can do in terms of attracting usage. Early adopters are prepared to use the service, but to get to the next level operators need new approaches in their marketing and UI. Of course, another way to ramp up usage is to offer something for free. And with 3 now offering IM free to its users (with a fairly roomy usage policy) we can see the operator continuing to be disruptive in other areas too. The ugly duckling may yet turn into the swan. We may even see it successfully IPO. Stranger things have happened.
