News
Report: Amazon now #2 digital music retailer
By Charles Starrett
Senior Editor, iLounge
Published: Wednesday, March 26, 2008
News Category: Digital Media
Amazon’s MP3 store has become the number two digital music retailer, according to USA Today. The newspaper’s report claims that much of Amazon’s success is attributable to cooperation from the four major record labels, all of which gave Amazon permission to sell their music without DRM, while some have denied Apple the same opportunity. Apple has stated that it hoped to offer 50% of its catalog in DRM-free format by the end of last year, but failed to meet the number. “The labels think Apple has too much influence,” said Phil Leigh, an analyst at Inside Digital Media. Ted Cohen, former EMI executive and managing partner of the Tag Strategic consulting firm, said Amazon’s store “removed some of the stranglehold iTunes had on the market.” iTunes currently offers 2 million songs available without DRM, according to the report, while Amazon offers roughly 4.5 million DRM-free tracks. Despite the labels’ prior claims that DRM-free music sales would encourage piracy, the new offerings do not appear to be hurting online music sales, which are up 26% so far this year, according to Neilsen SoundScan. Pete Baltaxe, director of digital music with Amazon, said “Songs sold without DRM, at high quality, with album art, that’s the best way to get people to buy music instead of stealing it.”
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1
Oh, songs without DRM, at high quality, with album art… Like CDs then? Seems we’ve had the right stuff all along.
Posted by papayaninja on March 26, 2008 at 1:57 PM (PDT)
2
I gave up on iTunes after I decided I wanted a small mp3 player to go alongside my iPod, but I had no interest in the Nanos or shuffles. All the music I bought on iTunes became worthless to me when I used my Sony A818. :( So I burned it all do discs (TIME CONSUMING nonsense) and reripped it to .mp3 format. Now, all my downloads (all are legal to you big business twits) are from Amazon. Goodbye iTunes. Give me a ring if you ever drop the DRM.
The ironic thing is that I can find the same songs on Amazon with no DRM that I can locate on iTunes (no iTunes Plus version) with DRM. Now, Jobs said he would drop the DRM if he could, yet it is available elsewhere without DRM, so obviously he is a bold-faced liar.
Posted by Joe Edwards on March 26, 2008 at 3:13 PM (PDT)
3
"The ironic thing is that I can find the same songs on Amazon with no DRM that I can locate on iTunes (no iTunes Plus version) with DRM. Now, Jobs said he would drop the DRM if he could, yet it is available elsewhere without DRM, so obviously he is a bold-faced liar.”
Apple cannot sell DRM-free music if the labels don’t allow it. You should do some research before posting nonsense.
Posted by The Raven on March 26, 2008 at 3:17 PM (PDT)
4
In fact, as specifically noted in the news item above:
“The newspaper’s report claims that much of Amazon’s success is attributable to cooperation from the four major record labels, all of which gave Amazon permission to sell their music without DRM, while some have denied Apple the same opportunity.”
Posted by Jesse David Hollington in Toronto on March 26, 2008 at 3:44 PM (PDT)
5
I’m still waiting for the other shoe to drop. Yes, those record labels did not give the iTunes store the opportunity to sell it’s music DRM free. Let’s see what happens when those prices start rising at the Amazon music store. The old bait and switch routine at it’s best.
Posted by Tenchi211 in California on March 26, 2008 at 4:07 PM (PDT)
6
David Pakman of eMusic disagrees.
Posted by Aidan on March 26, 2008 at 5:35 PM (PDT)
7
Amazon “has quietly become No. 2 in digital sales since opening nearly six months ago, say the four major labels.”
...so, basically, if you ask the labels who never sell anything on the #2 reseller (eMusic.com), Amazon is #2. Don’t get me wrong, Amazon’s a great service, but this is just shoddy reporting! This doesn’t deserve to be on the front page of anything.
Posted by BB on March 26, 2008 at 9:02 PM (PDT)
8
Aidan, great post. The first thing that entered my mind was “hmmm… I thought eMusic was #2?” Gotta love the “news” nowadays.
I gotta say… if Amazon is going to really win people over, they’ll need to create a better user experience. I love the idea of DRM-free music. But the reason iTMS is successful has more to do with user experience/interface than it does the format of the music. If Amazon can make the whole music buying process “sexy”, Apple better step up their game.
Until that happens, I’m eMusic & iTMS all the way.
Posted by thelottery on March 27, 2008 at 6:24 AM (PDT)
9
If this is true even for the four majors, then I guess you could say that DRM free music is a success. It’s what people want. Then please explain why they won’t release iTunes from their DRM restrictions.
Posted by willy on March 27, 2008 at 9:08 AM (PDT)
10
Willy, it’s a corporate “personality contest”. The record labels resent the power Apple has in the music industry and the only way for them to have control over Apple is to keep insisting on DRM. The labels are shooting themselves in the foot in the process. Ridiculous? Indeed.
Posted by RNB in Bakersfield, CA on March 27, 2008 at 12:20 PM (PDT)
11
Thelottery, why should we care if Amazon makes buying music sexy? For me, it’s simple: cheaper in some circumstances, device neutral, and higher bit-rate. What’s not to like about it?
Posted by jj on March 27, 2008 at 3:36 PM (PDT)
12
Further proof that the record labels are a bunch of whingeing self righteous cretins who talk nothing but ####.
Posted by - on March 28, 2008 at 5:13 AM (PDT)