Reliance Infocomm Ltd, an Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Enterprises group company, and India’s largest private information and communications services provider, will soon become the first service provider to offer digital delivery of Indian music to customers, if all goes according to plan this year.
"Plans are underway to digitise Indian songs that can be downloaded onto mobile phones or onto PC hard drives. But this service will be available only to subscribers with mobile phones equipped with a music or an MP3 player. The youth of today want music on the go and we will be the first in the industry to provide such a service," said a source from the company who is close to the development.
However, according to the source, for such a music service to maximise on its true potential in India, "Cellphone manufacturers would need to provide handsets with built-in music players available at a cost between Rs 2,500-3,000," since the cost of handsets was one of the most significant barriers to mobile communication affordability in India.
"Currently, foreign digital service providers are not serving the needs of the Indian market and they do not have a wide selection of songs. Imagine the potential in store when we finally digitise 10 lakh Indian songs or more, comprising everything from gazals to old Indian classical songs. In the future, the service could be extended to a point where new Hindi songs of movies or albums, would be released first on mobile phones," added the source.
The company will negotiate with music labels and artists to chalk up a cost effective pricing policy for each song download. "The service will be provided in a phased manner and we will come out with a beta site within a year," said the source.
"Plans are underway to digitise Indian songs that can be downloaded onto mobile phones or onto PC hard drives. But this service will be available only to subscribers with mobile phones equipped with a music or an MP3 player. The youth of today want music on the go and we will be the first in the industry to provide such a service," said a source from the company who is close to the development.
However, according to the source, for such a music service to maximise on its true potential in India, "Cellphone manufacturers would need to provide handsets with built-in music players available at a cost between Rs 2,500-3,000," since the cost of handsets was one of the most significant barriers to mobile communication affordability in India.
"Currently, foreign digital service providers are not serving the needs of the Indian market and they do not have a wide selection of songs. Imagine the potential in store when we finally digitise 10 lakh Indian songs or more, comprising everything from gazals to old Indian classical songs. In the future, the service could be extended to a point where new Hindi songs of movies or albums, would be released first on mobile phones," added the source.
The company will negotiate with music labels and artists to chalk up a cost effective pricing policy for each song download. "The service will be provided in a phased manner and we will come out with a beta site within a year," said the source.