An interview with Jake Larsen on Nokia’s Comes With Music

Nokia’s Comes With Music is revolutionising the way people download music, legally that is.

Comes With Music means access to the more than 5 million songs that are available from the Nokia Music Store, which means access to a wide array of the best international and local artists. A bonus is that you get to keep the music once the year is over. The South African Music Store features globally celebrated artists as well as local traditional music and current local best-sellers.

I had the opportunity to question Jake Larsen on all aspects of Comes With Music ranging from the always controversial DRM issue, if The Music Store would be supported on Mac’s and what the effect Comes With Music has had on lesser known bands…

In an industry which is moving away from DRM why  has Nokia chosen to go the opposite route?

DRM is a controversial subject. It is important to balance the needs of the consumer with the rights of the creator of a piece of work to decide how they would like their works to be distributed. The Nokia Music Store currently uses Windows Media DRM which allows the consumer to transfer the music purchased a prescribed number of times to any device which supports the WMA file format and Windows DRM. The number of times which music can be transferred varies from track to track, but three tends to be least amount on most tracks. We are committed to going DRM free with the Nokia Music Store and are talking to the music industry about how we can make this happen.”

Will “Comes with Music” support Mac at some stage?

Yes, we are working on Mac and Firefox solutions.

What happens at the end of  12  months? Nokia has stressed that users can keep all the music they’ve downloaded at the end of their CWM music contract – a big plus point. But how can a consumer maintain access to the service if they don’t buy a new handset at that point?

The subscription period for Comes With Music in RSA is twelve months. At the end of the twelve months all music downloaded remains the property of the consumer, but access to the Comes With Music tab on the Nokia Music Store is turned off and the user becomes a standard Nokia Music Store customer again, and can add to their collection by purchasing tracks or albums. When the consumer buys another Comes With Music device, the regain access and can use all downloaded music on the new device.

What happens with one household, two people, two phones, but one PC? (As Nokia has a ‘one phone and one PC’ authorisation scheme)…

You can attach as many Nokia phones to the Nokia Music player as you like. The other option, if users want to keep their collections separated for Comes With Music, would be to use separate Windows accounts. The library view you see of Nokia Music is then specific to these user accounts.

What does ‘unlimited’ really mean? (Nokia says users can download as many tracks as they want, but increasingly consumers are aware that ‘unlimited’ doesn’t always mean, well, unlimited)…

In the case of Comes With Music; “unlimited” means “UNLIMITED”. Users can download all of the 5 000 000+ tracks on the South African Nokia Music Store if they like. The best part is that all of the music downloaded is yours to keep, forever, and at no extra cost!

How many more handsets will CWM support, and how soon?

We are launching with three devices; the 5130; 5530 and 5630. More handsets may be introduced over time.

How will the song sharing work?

Comes With Music users can easily share songs between CWM devices. The phone will verify the that the device is a Comes With Music device, acquire the relevant license and off you go – no need to download the track.

Will there be a consensus on whether the music is free or not?

The ability to download all 5 000 000+ songs on Comes With Music is included in the cost of the handset. This represents fantastic value and is the most revolutionary music offering ever introduced in South Africa.

Can you backup your collection of music?

Your collection is stored online in your personal music vault, and therefore backed up, so that you can re-download it any time you like from wherever you are.

Who maintains the database of music, and how often are new music titles added to the database?

We run the operation, including the database management, completely in house and have a team in South Africa that ensures the Nokia Music Store showcases the best material as relevent to the local market. New music is added constantly and we work hard to make the broadest cross section of local and international material from major and independent record labels available.

Are there Music video’s available for download as well?

The focus is squarely on music and on providing the best possible music experience right now. We will be featuring promotional clips from artists on the store soon.

Do you think Comes With Music is faring better in developing markets rather than that of developed ones?

We are happy with Comes With Music’s performance around the world and believe that our consumers agree that the service is compelling and presents a great experience for all markets.

Lastly, do you think the service is making stars out of the lesser known bands loaded on it and are bands shared across stores universally? And what effect will it have on bands in South Africa?

Distribution across the stores is dependent upon the deals signed, but there is certainly the potential for artists to become worldwide hits. Prime Circle, for instance, is doing great things in India at the moment.

Ultimately this affordable music service is sure to change the way music is consumed in Africa.

Related Posts: