Emmy Award-winning musician will.i.am believes mobile will give artists the opportunity to more closely connect with fans on a massive scale – potentially changing the way the world consumes entertainment – as long as their interests are protected. “Mobile is where it’s all going,” he said in an interview with Mobile Business Briefing ahead of his headline appearance at the mobile entertainment-focused ‘Mobile Backstage’ event at the GSMA Mobile World Congress tomorrow. “I feel certain that the music industry is heading this way.”

Sounding a warning sign for potential challenges ahead, will.i.am commented that he wants “to represent the music industry so that we don’t get taken advantage of. Everything up to this point has been the service provider or the manufacturer pushing it through; nobody’s done it yet from the artist’s perspective and content maker. They are always borrowing from the content maker. I don’t want to be borrowed. I’m the bank.” The musician is keen to push through such plans on development of forthcoming Black Eyed Peas releases. Last March will.i.am struck a deal with RIM to make his content and online community DipDive available on the BlackBerry. will.i.am and his team are now looking to extend that deal with other device manufacturers and operators worldwide.