Stiff competition among technology giants for a share of the burgeoning online music streaming market has given traditional record companies a much-needed boost, a top Universal executive said today.
Industry behemoths such as Apple, Google, Amazon, and Microsoft are increasingly seeking to provide for tech-savvy consumers willing to pay to stream their favourite tunes.
With legal music downloads declining, this is a shot in the arm for the record companies representing major artists, Max Hole of Universal told a conference in Singapore.
"In the past a lot of the tech companies were not very respectful of music," Hole, who heads Universal Music Group's international business, told the Music Matters conference.
"Now the competition for eyeballs for their services and attention is really game-changing.
"You've got real competition between all the tech giants, and they are very interested in us as owners of music."
In his keynote address to the conference, Hole urged major players in the music industry to continue to make inroads into rising Asian giants such as China, India and Indonesia, which he said represented huge untapped markets.
"In the last 50 years, the music industry has made 80 percent of its money in about 10 countries," Hole said, adding that such a split is "bad for business, bad for artists and bad for fans".
The music industry has been grappling for years with how to make money from music distributed on the Internet, and streaming services such as Spotify are seen as a possible model to generate revenues.
News reports this month have suggested that Apple is eyeing a USD 3.2 billion buyout of headphone maker Beats Electronics -- mainly to capitalise on its recently launched streaming service, Beats Music.
Beats is part-owned by Universal, the world's biggest record company, as well as Jimmy Iovine, a top executive heading one of its labels, and rapper Dr Dre.
Google-owned YouTube is also planning a subscription music streaming service and has already negotiated separate agreements with Universal, Sony and Warner.
Microsoft offers music streaming through its Xbox Music service, while Amazon is reportedly working on something similar.
Speaking to AFP at the sidelines of the three-day conference, Hole confirmed that Universal owns a "small equity stake" in Spotify, currently the world's biggest music streaming service.
