A New Boost for Digital Music?

• Posted: Wednesday, April 02, 2008
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• Author: pradhana
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• Filed under: Apple, Digital Content, iPod

Marketing opportunities in the evolving music business.

Last week the Financial Times reported that Apple had talked with Universal about bundling music with iPods. Other publications mentioned various figures which still other publications promptly dismissed. The news was also said to be at least six months old.

Music labels have been pressing for subscriptions and other digital music purchasing alternatives for years. Nokia already has a "Comes With Music" deal for its music-playing phones. It is not inconceivable that Apple, which dominates the digital music market, would follow suit in order to defend its position.

Bundled players can include preloaded music or access to online music services. Consumer access can be set for a limited time, after which they would have to pay a subscription or other fee to keep listening.

This could be good news for marketers. Pepsi, for example, has backed high-profile promotions for iTunes and Amazon MP3. Marketers could also be in demand to underwrite the cost of iPod-bundled music, according to Paul Verna, senior analyst at eMarketer.

"iPods aren't cheap, and many consumers already have large digital music collections," Mr. Verna said. "Would they be willing to pay upwards of $100 per device, as the Financial Times article suggests? It seems like a steep price point given that hundreds of millions of consumers already own iPods and have already acquired substantial collections through downloading, sideloading, file-sharing, borrowing, etc."

Read more - eMarketer

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