bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sponsorType

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

SCMP Reporter

Music fans in the city have been left out again after mobile phone giant Nokia decided not to include Hong Kong in the 11 places for its new service - pre-bundled handsets for free and unlimited tunes.
It will be the second global online music store to be absent from Hong Kong.
Apple's signature online entertainment shop, iTunes Store, which sells music that can be downloaded directly to an iPod, is also unavailable to local customers.
Industry insiders said it could be the result of unresolved conflicts on royalty fees charged by local record labels, together with fierce competition from existing services run by mobile operators.
Online privacy and inadequate internet infrastructure in Hong Kong were also thought to be among the concerns.
Nokia's new service, announced this month in Britain, had projected a promising business model for online music.
Handsets bundled with a free one-year online music subscription called Comes With Music  will be sold this month. Subscribers can download as many tunes as they want from millions of choices.
They can still keep and listen to the tracks after the subscription expires, but will be charged for future downloads.
They can also buy a new handset with another year of free tunes.
The biggest handset-maker worldwide had reached deals with four major record labels - EMI, Universal, Warner and Sony BMG - together with other independent record companies. All were said to be paid a fixed fee for each handset sold.
The service, however, will only be available in 11 places, including Singapore, Australia and nine European countries, when it kicks off this month through the online Nokia Music Store.  Nokia Hong Kong said it would launch a music service in the future, but provided no details.
An industry source said the licensing fee demanded by local record labels was 'too high to be realistic', contributing to the absence of global online music stores in the city.
Few Canto-pop stars had contracts with international record labels, Most had contracts with local labels such as EEG Music,  East Asia Music  and Gold Label.
'The hurdle is not technology, but content,' the source said.
'Given the small market in Hong Kong, the operators may have to endure deficits for years before the number of customers reaches  critical mass.'
Ricky Fung Tim-chee,  chief executive of the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry's Hong Kong group, argued that the music industry should not be blamed.
'The record companies will try whatever business models they have to, to survive, but none of them will succeed without proper legislation against online privacy,' he said.
'Why will people pay for music if they can get it for free?'
Mr Fung said copyright owners were under-compensated in the online music business and he feared music would continue to devalue with intense competition in the digital  format.
Samson Tam Wai-ho, lawmaker for the information technology sector, said Net access for portable devices was also a concern.  He hoped the Wimax service  - the next generation of Wi-fi - could be a solution.
Without Nokia or iTunes Store, mobile users can still listen to legitimate digital music through value-added services provided by local operators. PCCW's Moov,  Smartone-Vodafone's MusicXS  and 3 Hong Kong's Music Station  are charging their users from HK$12 per week to HK$56 per month for unlimited  access to their music databases.
Digital divide
The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (HK) says gross income from CD music sales last year hit HK$400 million compared with digital sales, in Hong Kong dollars, which came to: $80m



Nokia online music store leaves HK out in the cold