By silicon.com, 5 July 2004 16:35
With the news last week that music downloads will be getting their very own pop chart came the sign that music downloading has finally been recognised as a vital and legitimate force in music - there's no debate about that.
The debate raging across boardroom tables concerns what the traditional music industry can do about it.
If you're Sony, the answer is, 'if you can't beat 'em, join 'em' - the record label launched its song shop today.
In an overcrowded downloads market, Sony is struggling to mark itself out from its competitors, especially the all-conquering iTunes. It's decided one selling point is to offer more independent music - a sector sorely under-served by the current crop of downloaders - and to put the emphasis back on the music rather than the medium.
Another way it hopes to secure loyalty is by offering all downloads in one format - its own. It's a tactic borrowed off Apple. Which is fine - if you're Apple.
Apple can afford to pull such a manoeuvre, with 70 per cent of the download market and 50 per cent of music players under its belt, but for Sony - which has just put its toe in the waters of digital music - it looks at best like Canute trying to hold back the waves and at worst like cutting off its nose to spite its face (and Apple's and Microsoft's and...).
The other option for the recording industry has been to turn its traditionalism into a selling point. Bertelsmann has announced it will now be selling three different types of CDs with varying whistles and bells, from video footage and a shedload of extras to the most austere - an almost blank CD in an inlay card-less case.
Another Canute? Possibly not. While the move might be the last gasp for physical formats, the 'no frills' CD will retail at less than the average price of a CD on iTunes et al - and for teenagers on a pocket-money budget, as well as the two-thirds of internet users who don't have broadband, that's a tempting proposition.
Vinyl survived into the 21st century by successfully carving out a niche - CDs may well do the same.
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