Hong Kong – The third annual Music Matters Asia-Pacific forum at the Grand Hyatt in Hong Kong concluded June 5 on a high note, following some heated comments that telecommunication firms are making huge profits at the expense of musical artists and record companies.

“The problems and solutions with the mobile music industry lie right here in Asia,” said Warner Music Asia CEO Lachie Rutherford. “They do not lie in the West. Asia has the most successful mobile music market in the world in Japan because everyone works together. The rest of the world can learn a lot (from) Japan.”

In a rapid-fire speech, US based music industry commentator Bob Lefsetz opined, “While we are sitting here arguing about the music business, somebody under the age of 30 is sitting in their room at their computer and building it,” he said. “There’s nothing better than a great record, but what Steve Jobs is doing with Apple is more exciting than following any musical act I know right now. We need that kind of excitement in the music industry.”

It was all smiles at the ‘Games’ panel though, as Christopher Thompson, VP and GM Asia of Electronic Arts Asia-Pacific spoke of US$9 billion worth of sales worldwide and huge penetration in markets like Korea due to innovative online subscription model for games like FIFA.

Charles Huang, co-founder of Red Octane and inventor of the hugely successful ‘Guitar Hero’ game, concurred. “We’ll continue to localize and our next move is to figure out which Asian countries, which music and what artists are relevant,” said Huang. “Today, consumers don’t necessarily want to pay $1 for a download, but they’ll pay $2 to get our experience, which offers three levels of engagement that didn’t exist before.”

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