Finland’s Nokia, the world’s largest maker of mobile handsets, has announced it has made a deal with the world’s second-largest music label, Sony BMG, to include music from Sony BMG artists in Nokia’s forthcoming Comes with Music service. Announced last December, Comes with Music will offer purchasers of selected Nokia handsets free, unlimited access to music tracks from a wide range of artists for a period of one year; once the year is up, customers will be able to keep music they’ve acquired through the service.
"As one of the leading major music companies in the world, our collaboration with Sony BMG means we can offer a huge range of fantastic music from both international and local artists via Comes With Music," said Nokia entertainment and communities executive VP Tero Ojanperae, in a statement. "It’s great to have them on board as we move forward with bringing our unlimited music bundle to the market."
Financial terms of Nokia’s deal with Sony BMG were not disclosed.
Nokia expects to launch Comes with Music in the second half of 2008; Nokia already has Universal Music on board as a partner, and says it expects to have all the major labels participating in Comes with Music by the time the service launches.
Comes with Music could be a major risk for Nokia, which is the only handset maker (other than, arguably, Apple) to make a major play as a provider of mobile content. While Comes with Music may appeal to record labels—who will no doubt receive money for every phone sold—the service may run afoul of mobile operators seeking to increase revenue streams from selling music to mobile users via their wireless networks.
