France - Orange makes mobile music move.

Orange has unveiled a music subscription service that enables users to download music onto their personal computer or mobile phone.

The 'Musique max' service costs Euro 12.00 per month, a price that includes the data traffic charges incurred over the Orange mobile network. Significantly, users do not need to make a long-term commitment to the service. Orange is offering two months of free access to 'Musique max' for all new users that take out a 12 month contract to selected Internet or mobile packages from the launch date of 12th June 2008 until 30th August 2008.

Access is provided to up to 500 music downloads per month from established French labels EMI, Sony BMG, Universal and Warner as well as independent labels Believe and Scorpio Music. Once downloaded, the tracks can be kept for an unlimited time as well as transferred to other digital media including music players and compatible mobiles.

Tarifica's Take:

'Musique max' is similar to Vodafone's 'MusicStation'. The latter service also does not require a long term commitment from users and for GBP 1.99 per week allows users to download unlimited music tracks to their mobile phone with data charges included. Omnifone, the provider of 'MusicStation', recently claimed that the service is now the UK's largest digital music subscription service (beating those provided via PC downloads) although no supporting figures were published.

The availability of 'Musique max' comes at a time when several operators, Orange included, are close to launching Apple's 'iPhone 3G' in mid-July 2008. The 'iPhone' with its link to the 'iTunes Store' music service will once again place emphasis on music as a way of generating incremental revenues. Apple is gradually sharing more detail about how its 'iTunes Store' business unit is faring. Net sales in the segment including the 'iTunes Store' grew 35 per cent in 1Q 2008 over the same period last year, but there remains little detailed insight about the level of profitability of this part of the company.

Even if Apple is doing very well out of 'iTunes', there is no doubt that mobile music as a market faces significant challenges with so much digital music distribution and consumption already beyond the control of the traditional purveyors. French operator Bouygues has been particularly dismissive of the opportunity that mobile music brings, arguing that the real opportunity is in related offers such as concert tickets and merchandising.

1 US Dollar (USD) = 0.64670 Euro (EUR). Prices include VAT at 19.6 per cent.

1 US Dollar (USD) = 0.51193 Pounds (GBP). Prices include VAT at 17.5 per cent.

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