Nokia's download initiative could challenge monopoly.

Comes With Music may be one way forward for the industry to tempt fans away from illegal filesharing

The shift to digital has presented the music industry with innumerable conundrums, but here are three: some music fans now never spend a single penny on recorded music; despite attempts by Apple's rivals, the download market still remains a largely monopolistic one; and the business has yet to turn the universal usage of mobile phones to its advantage in any really significant way.

Quite possibly, Nokia's Comes With Music service could address all three of these.

The initiative was first unveiled back in the autumn when Universal was revealed as a partner. The announcement last week that Sony BMG was additionally on board takes this plan to yet another level, as it will give users access to the world's two biggest music catalogues, while other companies are likely to add their support in the future.

At first glance, however, the thought that major music groups or, indeed, independents would let anyone plunder their archives for as much as they want seemingly free of charge feels akin to giving a kid permanent possession of the keys to the sweet shop.

But that would only be viewing this from an old-world perspective. The inescapable fact is that, while the legal download market's upward sales figures continue to impress, many music fans would presently never dream of buying music legitimately.

With Comes With Music, this at least ensures labels a cut of revenues from phone sales, while also opening up the possibility of introducing subscribers to parts of catalogues they would otherwise never come into contact with.