Om Shanti Om Music To Be Released Digitally; How Much Of Mobile Music Is CRBT?
Music from Bollywood film Om Shanti Om is being released by T-Series and Hungama Mobile as mobile downloads across 23 countries, and on iTunes, reports Business Standard. Carriers including Du and Etisalat from UAE, Vodafone, O2, Singtel and Verizon will be carrying the music. While the iTunes price is 99 cents, the mobile downloads are priced differently for different markets: 2-3 dirhams in the UAE, 1.99 pounds on the O2 network, and Rs. 25 per song in India. I assume the content will be protected by DRM, though the content is just as likely to be available on P2P networks.
Just wondering: how much of the Indian mobile music market is caller ring back tones (CRBT)…I suppose it must be a major component since CRBTs are controlled by the operators and hence can’t be pirated. The rest – songs and ringones – is endangered.
12 odd songs in the soundtrack , at 25 per track its 300 Bucks…much more expensive than a tape and a hindi cd as well. Forget P2P , buying it on these formats will be more economical.
Do music companies think that simply by releasing something to the Internet for download under payment that it will work? At these prices whats the advantage?
I second to that
Except the crbt monies coming in through operators rest is free to the internet user…
it isnt difficult i suppose just type bollywood free song downloads on google u have access to 10000 sites and simply downloadable
from ringtones , full songs to even music video's
One thing more every content owner runs to itunes
Just a question to these guys is itunes in the business of selling songs or HARDWARE
the make money on selling ipods which is not shared by any content owner
apart from that content owners thought their video uploaded on youtube was just promotional so the were ok with it
but guys understand today everybody is on tube
You might even here a comment by these guys Where is the bandwidth in India
Damn you out of 6 crs orkut users 75 lacs are indians that around 20 %
Grow guys this is just the beginning
There are 10 lac songs downloaded every day in India it self and there is no bandwidth
Just wish u luck
and plz do not ignore your self
puchoo: let's do a hypothetical analysis of how much a music company makes in such a situation. The operator takes 50-60 percent (say,Rs. 12.5), the tech guys and the content distributor take 15-20 percent (say, Rs. 5). So the content owner gets around Rs. 7.5 per song….Rs. 90 per album.
but nikhil, puchoo's query is based more on realization of revenue from the sale of the content, which is offcourse priced high when compared to other media…but we are missing one major point…we are new to this type of purchasing experience…so anything on onces' mobile first will reflect the "in thing"… more over there are very few players who are providing these type of services and thus the high cost…once these exceptions are neutralized…we will c there is reduction inthe prices…have we ever thought we will get moserbear movie VCD/DVD for 25 bucks!!!
Nikihi: the 7.5 is applicable only in this case where its priced at 25. In due course it has to become 15 or 10. With a pro rata reduction in share ofcourse
Hmm Puchoo and Ranveer, In a regular insight an internet/digital release of an album does not appear lucrative because we perceive any content over the net to be free. Quiet acceptable as long as we restrict the viewpoint to our sub-continent countries. When we extend ourselves beyond to the US and the European nations the download scenario is indeed more lucrative for our content.
The stream is not very lucrative in India considering that we have an affinity to acquire Music for free and not to mention that the psychographic behaviour towards Music in India is also less serious than the other nations. Blame it on the over dose of music that we have or on our perception, either ways digital music is not a cup of tea for the sub continent denizens.
On the wireless front however, the scene is different owing to the fact that downloads through Mobile vis-a-vis ring-tones or CRBTs etc are cheaper in India than anywhere else in the world. Here again the downloads are bound by the popularity of the content and the ocassion. An OmShantiOm with decent music will perhaps have a decent download pattern for two months prior to release of the movie and two months after. (Read Shorttail) However in another 4 months a new Sharukh or Hrithik movie will hit the consumer's memory and downloads will change. This is the only reason why Music labels and aggregators like Hungama try to capitalize on this period. During this period the label goes all out with all medium and attempts to recoup the invested amount and more. All the while however, the physical CDs will remain and slowly go on contributing before the DVDs of the movie hit the market. Sad, that owing to the need of the consumer, label and producers speed up the availability of content through all formats and each thereafter tend to cannibalize on the other. An irony, but one that will remain here for long. thats my hunch!
Hey Nick, i dont think that du is hosting the content since its the holy month. Was there at their media city office couple of days ago and got it straight from the content head there.
Sanjay: if they're not, then that would also apply to Etisalat as well, i guess.
Ranveer: I think you're bang on about iTunes: they're in the business of selling hardware. Apple wouldn't mind it if the music were available for free — hence Steve Jobs' call for removal of DRM. :)
Ravi: I think it boils down to personal choice: some like their favourites, some like the "in thing". Bluetooth is huge for transfer of data, so once someone gets a non-DRM copy, it spreads. So it's probably just those who want it first who buy off operator networks. Do you know anyone who has bought music or games from the operator networks? I don't.
Samir: has to be a subscription based model. 50 bucks a month for all the music you want, with the content basket being refreshed regularly to keep users subscribed. A majority will subscribe to something like this…but it's just a dream :)
Binodan: "psychographic behaviour towards Music in India is also less serious than the other nations"
Can't disagree more with this. Good music has a longer shelf life than two months, and definitely longer than that of the movie.
25 rs per song is bit too much for a mobile download. let me correct the previous sentence , 25 rs is too much for a mobile download even if it is coming from the stables of SRk.
As a mobile user , i wouldn't want to download a song for 25 bucks if i can get a cd for 100Rs, upload it in my comp and the from there direct it to my mobile.
or i can download it using a torrent file
however, i am sure mobile users would be more than happy if they can get the ring tones for Rs 1 or less . if someone can give them, watch them download the entire om shanthi om album in droves. 6 songs, 6 ruppes…!
i wonder if there is such a way to give the latest ring tones to the end user like that?
vikas
http://www.mklix.com
Sanjay – regarding du – i donno from where you got this wrong info … om shanti om content is very much live across du infact is among the top placed content at du and as well as etisalat … how do i know ?… am part of the team handling wap and rbt platform for du in media city … :) btw – lemme know next time u r here :)