MUMBAI: The fourth edition of the annual Nokia Music Connects commenced on a strong note with an opening address by IMI President Vijay Lazarus. Lazarus revealed that digital monetization of music was presently as low as 7 percent as compared to physical monetization which stood at 90 per cent globally.

He noted that the media and entertainment industry had a potential to grow to USD 100 billion in the next five years and the live event circuit was set to become a critical contributor to its revenue in the future. He cautioned that 3G and 4G network capabilities would open more possibilities of improved internet access on mobile handsets which could pose a threat to content owners and expose more options for mobile piracy

With the ‘Digital Transformation’ gaining prominence in the music industry, the conference also provided an industry viewpoint on the effects of the digital medium on artistes and the music industry today.

Nokia marketing director Viral Oza and Universal Music Group MD Devraj Sanyal indulged the audience through a live interaction with Bollywood diva Priyanka Chopra who joined in from Los Angles through Skype. Chopra’s recently released debut single ‘In My City’ has been making waves on the Indian music circuit and has already achieved a quarter of a million downloads through the digital medium. Setting new records in the space, the track was also the highest downloaded track in September. In the process of recording a new track, the songstress visualized great opportunities in the Indian market.

The keynote session by Nokia Entertainment VP Jyrki Rosenberg highlighted the growing opportunities in the Indian market with unlimited choice and better discovery options. “Presently, Nokia has a catalogue of 4.5 million DRM free tracks from 26 genres in 38 markets,” informed Rosenberg.

He added, “Registering 1.4 million downloads a day, Nokia aims to penetrate further into the Indian sub-continent by offering a mobile optimized scenario with its Lumia devices scheduled to launch within the next year.”

The inaugural session culminated with a special tribute to late movie and music mogul Yash Chopra and the lighting of the lamp by Vijay Lazarus, Jyrki Rosenberg, Steve Lillywhite (Grammy award winning producer), Ralph Simon (Mobilium Global CEO), Atul Churamani (Onmobile content head), Mandar Thakur (Times Music COO), Devraj Sanyal, Viral Oza and Anil Wanvari (The Indian Television Dot Com  Group Founder and CEO).