Comes With Music – writing its own tune

LONDON, England – Judging by the coverage over the last 24 hours, it seems pretty widely recognised that Sony BMG joining the Comes With Music service is a huge boon. What’s more, the new service is not only ground breaking, but potentially industry shaping.

And that doesn’t mean that the fat cats will be eating more Whiskas, more that Comes With Music customers will be buying into a genuinely new and different way to consume Music.

Speaking to the Guardian.co.uk, director of research at CCS insight believes

“Adding Sony BMG to Universal is a significant step and we expect the
other major labels to move in this direction before the end of the
year”

Meanwhile, the Hollywood reporter highlights how much of a difference
adding Sony BMG’s catalogue to the Comes With Music service will make

“The breakthrough will give a shot in the arm for Nokia’s mooted
subscription service, which effectively embeds the cost of a year’s
service in the price of the device.”

Writing on Cnet.com, Greg Sandoval notes the new service is something the industry is seeing as a genuine opportunity

“This is believed to be the labels’ deepest foray into free music, and
is reflective of the industry’s attempt to find new business models
that can compete with piracy, shrinking CD sales, and iTunes.”

Whilst TG Daily’s Mark Raby makes the point of previous reluctance from the music industry to offer free access to music

“It is a unique move for Sony BMG, as well as Universal which kicked
off the program last December. The music giants are uneasy about anyone
who gets free access to their licensed tracks.”

Patrick Goss writing on TechRadar.com notes one of the most important
aspects of any music service – the content, and what impact the Sony
BMG deal has for users

“Any music service lives or dies by the quality and breadth of its
content – and the decision of Sony BMG to get involved brings one of
the biggest production companies into the mix.”

We want to know what you think though. Comes With Music – could it be the next big thing?

Photo from aidanwojtas