Brits are biggest downloaders of music to mobiles

By Will Head on Sep 13, 2006 10:09 AM
Filed under Telco/ISP

UK users get into the groove.

UK music lovers are the biggest downloaders of tracks to mobile phones, new statistics have revealed.

Three percent of UK subscribers use their mobile phone to listen to music, compared with 2.8 percent in Spain, 1.4 per cent in Germany, 0.7 percent in the US and 0.6 percent in France, according to figures released by M:Metrics.

"A significant barrier to mobile music consumption is the dearth of devices that support the activity," said Seamus McAteer, senior analyst at M:Metrics.

"But we are seeing an influx of music-friendly devices on the market with removable storage and better interfaces for accessing songs, as well as consumer education by the operators, all of which will foster growth in the sector."

The report also showed that ring-tone consumption is greatest in the US where 10.4 percent of users purchase custom tones.

Spain is the next biggest market with 8.9 percent, followed by Germany and France with 6.6 and 6.2 percent respectively. Subscribers in the UK accounted for only 5.4 percent of purchased tones.

"The ring-tone market is experiencing a significant shift," said Paul Goode, senior analyst for Europe at M:Metrics.

"The availability of tools to make user-created ring-tones more accessible to the masses poses an even greater threat to companies which can offer no additional value to a consumer who buys a ring-tone in lieu of making one themselves."