Sony Ericsson Launch Their Music Service
Published by Ewan Spence at 9:36 BST, September 1st 2008
In partnership with Sony BMG, Warner Bros and EMI, Sony Ericsson have announced the launch of PlayNow, an online music store to be stocked initially with one million DRM free tracks, and the goal of carrying up to five million tracks available to all of Europe by the end of 2009 (Washington Post and Sony Ericsson).
It's an obvious counterpart to Nokia's 'Comes With Music,' and follows the model of opening on a region by region basis (and that's probably more to do with the music publishers than a conscious choice of strategy). There's no indication of an on-device client just yet, but you have to assume one will be on the way.
The mechanics have the story working on a 'per-track' purchase of roughly 9 Swedish kroner per track, rather than the Comes with Music all you can listen to policy that Nokia is implementing - although it should be noted that Nokia's Music Store is currently operating in the same purchase per-track mode right now. Finally, Sony Ericsson's Martin Blomkvist noted that after they had paid out the labels, the network operators and the taxmen they would "hardly profit." Which says a lot about the music industry, but also that Sony Ericsson feel the need to launch a music store in the current environment, even if it's barely a revenue stream.
More at The Washington Post and Sony Ericsso's Press Release.
Categories: Links of Interest
Platforms: UIQ 3
News Discussion
neilhoskins
How long can Nokia now sustain a DRM'd model? I wasn't particularly 'pro' or 'anti' when it first came out, not having had much experience of it; but having bought a few DRM'd tracks from the Nokia Music Store, I've found it to be an utter PIA. I stopped using it as soon as Play.com started doing DRM-free. Now I play my music however and wherever I want.
viipottaja
That's certainly a good question. However, one could.. no, has to ask whether creating a no-direct-revenue (see comments from SE itself) service by SE is sustainable either.. they are banking on DRM free music selling more of their phones, something that is not proven yet. I frankly still think most regular joe consumers don't care much whether the music is DRMed or not. Sure, mass consumers and people who actually care about durability of music do.
neilhoskins
But doesn't that depend what Joe is doing with his music? He's going to run into problems as soon as he tries to stream it from his PC to his phone or re-formats his phone, or buys a new PC.
viipottaja
Of course. But the average Joe does not do any of those things very often and is therefore maybe not paying attention to such "little details" as DRM.
Hardeep1singh
I'm sure Sony is adding this service not to earn profit from it but just to add another reason for people to keep buying SE phones. Look! I have the same service that competition is offering.
Full thread: 5 Comments / Post New Comment