Mobile Music Goes Mainstream as 3 Celebrates Million Track Milestone

Brit award winning artist James Blunt has sold over 80,000* copies of his single Goodbye my Lover in the UK and it was revealed today that over 10 per cent (8,627) of these have been downloaded through 3, the mobile media company. With these findings suggesting 1 in 10 prefer to buy Blunts singles over the phone, the mobile music medium is now playing a major role in the UK charts.
The findings come as 3 celebrates the millionth audio download on its award-winning music service in just four months. With average sales of over 200,000 tracks per month, 3s audio service has made up over 53% of mobile audio track downloads since the start of 2006, according to the Official Charts Company (OCC), the body responsible for compiling the UK charts.
OCC figures also show that 3s audio sales already account for 3.7% of the combined singles chart and 7.5% of the download chart this year.
These figures show that 3 is dominating mobile music and punching way above our weight” says
3 Marketing Director
Graeme Oxby. “Every one of our 3.5 million customers has a music shop in their pocket, and their choices now have as much impact on the charts as a traditional music store.
Other artists celebrating mobile success with 3 include:

        Hard-Fi: Cash Machine sold 7.4% of all singles on 3
        Kaiser Chiefs: I Predict a Riot sold 5.5% of all singles on 3
        Gorillaz: Dare sold 4% of all singles on 3

3s video sales which currently outstrip audio sales – are not considered eligible for inclusion in the charts by the OCC. If included, 3 predicts that its share of the singles market would more than double. Over 15 million music videos have been watched by 3 customers since the launch of its video jukebox.
3 has arguably led the field in music over mobile with a series of innovations. It streamed the first live gig on mobile, launched the first music video jukebox, introduced dual downloading (each audio track downloaded simultaneously to your mobile and PC);  and has worked with labels and artists to secure a series of world premieres on 3, including James Blunt, Madonna and Robbie Williams. A Will Young track was the millionth song to be downloaded from 3. The network has also adopted a transparent pricing policy for music over mobile. 3s customers pay a flat rate for each track or video, with no hidden per megabyte costs.
“It will be really interesting to see 3s progression throughout 2006,” comments Mark Krendal, Head of Digital at Polydor. “Their rapid ascension to being the front-running mobile music service has already shown 3s potential to have a positive effect on music industry revenues in addition to showcasing emerging artists.
The millionth download arrives two weeks after 3 was named Best Digital Music Service at the Music Week awards.
3 has really pushed the boundaries in offering their customers innovative, exclusive and consistently great music downloads, which overall creates a highly unique and desirable service for them, comments Ajax Scott, publisher, Music Week.
3 will continue its mobile music push in 2006, with plans to release the UKs first mobile-only single and the launch of a new music service for up and coming talent in the months ahead. 3 is also running a course on making music videos especially for mobile with St. Martins College of Art.