LONDON, England – When Tero Ojanperä took to the stage at the Remix event the other week, to describe what happens when users enter their Comes With Music pin code into the Nokia Music Store he simply said: “the prices disappear, the candy store is open”.
It’s one of my favourite phrases of the year, and having now seen it working in the flesh, I reckon deathly accurate too.
I got my hands on a Comes With Music voucher-toting 5310 XpressMusic the other day. Ever since I’ve been indulging my sickest musical fantasies at a big fat cost of zero. In my first glutenous indulgence I made the mistake of downloading this week’s top 40. If you live in the UK and have anything faintly like musical taste (or like me, are just a bit older than you should be) then you’ll know that to be a bad idea. Not to worry though, as in essence, I hadn’t paid for it. Even if I was a proper paying customer, my indulgence will soon be (if it’s not
already) by the abundance of music downloaded that I actually liked.
So, does this make music disposable? Or, god forbid, yet another FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods. A Mars Bar is an FMCG). I don’t think it does. What Comes With Music does is make music accessible, and the
downloading of it easily legal. The music industry, recognising the fact that the world is changing, has changed irrevocably. Forever. And when it comes to downloading, there’s more than one way. As of today,
UK users have a new way to access music. And you know what? I think they’re going to like it. I do.