Vodafone jumps to 450,000 subs, as it gets its music act together

If you’re on the Vodafone network, chances are that you either have already received or will soon be sent, an invite to get your music from Vodafone.

Vodafone has always been one of those operators that wants to control everything on their devices and that’s pretty much why it never came to terms with Apple when the iPhone was first introduced – it would have ceded too much control.

Today it says that it has managed to amass 450,000 customers paying it between €3 and €5 for “all you can eat” music subscriptions using DRM free, MP3 music. So far it says it has 2 million tracks, but we know from iTunes that a truly worthwhile selection has to be at least 5 million, and Vodafone is committing to take this number to over 6 million during 2010.

I remember going to the iTunes Music Store launch in the UK, and listening to a lovely lilting melody by Sarah McLachlan. When I got home I immediately signed up for iTunes and found that this song was only available in the US. I felt really cheated. And that’s the user experience when you don’t have 6 million tracks and that’s why it’s so hard to go up against iTunes, until you have all your ducks in a row.

Nokia is already there, but you have to have a Nokia phone for that, and now Vodafone looks ready to take those numbers up by at least an order of magnitude. I personally don’t want an iPhone, but I want all my music on the same device I make calls on, so it works for me.

Vodafone said that it ironed out deals with all the major labels during 2009, so now it’s ready, and in December over 100,000 customers signed up to one deal or another across the 8 largest Vodafone markets in Europe (that would include UK, Germany, Italy, Spain and we presume, through SFR, France as well. We think that’s a very low number and Vodafone need to be looking for an order of magnitude higher, with subscriber numbers in the millions by the end of 2010.

Subscription numbers are being driven by monthly 10-track MP3 bundles or the ‘all you can eat’ deal. MP3 files bought in bundles can be played on a wide range of computers and digital music players including iTunes, mobiles and PCs. Customers will typically get 10 tracks per month for around €5 and these are to keep permanently, not just for the duration of your Vodafone account, like the subscription.

Lee Epting, Director of Content at Vodafone Internet Services said “We are really excited by our customers’ reaction to these great music offers. We expect to see continued growth in our music service subscriptions driven by the increase in smartphone use, with their worry-free data tariffs and great value add-ons such as music bundles. We will carry on working hard with our partners in the music industry to develop new and innovative music services for our customers. Vodafone is starting to prove the significance of its place in the music industry.”