WMG Steps Out In Front In Asia

During a keynote at the Asia Pacific Music Forum, WMG head Edgar Bronfman extolled the virtues of the new partnership with S. Korea’s SK Telecom which is designed to explore new ways to sign, promote and distribute music wirelessly.  The move is part of an overall strategy to get out in front in the huge and tech savvy Asian market. 

"To those cynics and skeptics who keep telling us that consumers who can buy tracks individually will buy only one or two tracks on an album and that our profits will plummet…to those people I say, the unbundling of the album will drive consumption, not impede it," Bronfman stated regarding one of the most vexing problems facing record labels today.

It’s easy to dismiss Bronfman’s comments as bravado designed for Wall Street ears, but he and the company deserve some credit for attacking a difficult and huge new market aggressively as well as for exploring ways to capitalize on the consumer’s increasing preference for single song purchases.

Read a PDF of the full keynote here.