Two-thirds of U.S. consumers tune out mobile music

Sixty-six percent of U.S. wireless subscribers express no interest in premium mobile music services according to a new study released by market analysis firm Jupiter Research, citing a combination of consumer apathy and content access complexities. Of the 1,800 respondents queried by Jupiter, 28 percent are interested in ringtones, and only 14 percent are interested in full-track downloads. The blame lies with current pricing models--according to Jupiter, consumers expect per-track costs comparable to Apple's 99-cent iTunes prices. Copyright restrictions, content storage restrictions and the popularity of dedicated music devices like iPods also contribute to consumer indifference. "Absent some exciting new business models, music labels and carriers will continue to cede most of the digital-music turf to Apple," Jupiter said.

For more on the Jupiter report:
- read this Electronista article [1]

Related articles:
Forecast: Full-track mobile [2] revs to $4.2B by 2012
Report: Music phone [3] shipments top MP3 players
iTunes now largest U.S. music retailer [4]
How do we revitalize mobile music [5]?