The Change Mariner

Online scramble for music downloads

BBC NEWS:

A headlong rush is taking place in cyberspace to grab a slice of the potentially lucrative market for legal music downloads. Coca-Cola is the latest to join the fray, launching its own branded online music service with more than 250,000 tracks costing from 80 pence each. It seems that everyone from record labels to software companies is trying to cash in on the success of Apple's iTunes music store which has sold 25 million songs in just nine months.

To those in the music business, it reflects a shift in how the industry sees the internet.

"The tenor of our discussions has entirely changed," said David Ring, Vice President of Universal Music technology arm, eLabs.

"We went from zero revenue as an industry to $30m by the end of last year for legitimate digital downloads."

'Absolute sea change'

Over the past 12 months, the big record labels have realised there is an untapped demand for online music. Everyone has accepted that you can compete with free, offering something that is better than free.

Posted by Bob King at January 19, 2004 4:04 PM | TrackBack
Related Categories: Industry - Entertainment - Music | Industry - Internet | Quadrant - Economic | Theme - 'Digital Impact'

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