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Date Posted: 12:59:15 02/20/05 Sun
Author: billboard music
Subject: World Music / Digital Distribution

World Music

By Antony Bruno
NEW YORK (Billboard) - Amid a sea of intellectual-property concerns and incompatible file formats, one of the success stories of digital distribution has been its ability to bring international music to U.S. shores.

Before the digital revolution, the cross-border import of indigenous music was inefficient, cost-prohibitive and logistically challenging. The market for some content was too small for major labels to justify importing it through the usual channels, so the music generally could be found only in specialty stores -- which are not always opposed to selling pirated material.
But legitimate online music services are beginning to feature larger selections of world music. Most recently, Universal Music's Southeast Asia division agreed to license more than 1,000 Chinese-language pop tracks to Apple Computer's iTunes. It is the first time a major label has distributed such a large chunk of foreign catalog online beyond its core local market.
The move is indicative of a much larger online effort by independent music aggregators to capitalize on this niche opportunity.
Greg Scholl is CEO/managing director of Dimensional Associates, the parent company of independent download service eMusic and digital distributor/aggregator the Orchard. He says digital technologies overcome the barriers that kept foreign content localized.
'REAL PROMISE'
"It shows the real promise of digital music," Scholl says. "Content largely has been landlocked, so we're really making available indigenous content to Western markets for the first time."
In the digital world, he says, there are no inventory issues or shipping costs. Also, the medium is particularly suited for discovering new music, in that users may easily sample and purchase low-cost individual tracks in a risk-free environment.
He points to the Orchard's partnership with Indian record company Saregama as proof of the potential for digital world music in the United States. The Orchard distributes and markets Saregama's catalog via iTunes and its own eMusic, targeting the 3-million-strong Indian population in the States. In fourth-quarter 2004, more than 1 million Saregama tracks were downloaded, the company says.
While this figure represents a fraction of total download activity, the Universal deal indicates that the major labels are taking an interest in world music as they look to maximize every revenue opportunity, Scholl says.
"It's going from nothing to something, and that's material," he says. "It shows the local offices are making some headway."
World music is extending into the U.S. mobile space as well. Mobile operators Cingular, Metro PCS, U.S. Cellular and Verizon Wireless all feature an Indian-themed ringtone service from eMbience called Masttones.
"I think there's absolutely an opportunity there with an artist like a Ravi Shankar," Scholl says. In certain circles, he adds, a Shankar ringtone would be "the equivalent of a Rolling Stones hook."
Reuters/Billboard


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