Selling songs online in growth
Written by roxeteer on October 11, 2003 to Music Business.
While using the file swapping services such as Kazaa is decreasing, more and more legitimate online music stores are launched. One of the first was Apple Computer’s iTunes Music Store which sells songs in AAC format 99¢ per piece. Apple reported in September selling over 10 million songs through their store in just four months - even though it’s only available for customers using Mac OS X software and located in the USA. However, Apple has said they are creating a Windows version of the iTunes software and the rumor has it that it would be released as soon as next week. Apple is also working hard to get the store opened in Europe, but contract negotiations with record companies have delayed the opening.
Apple’s biggest rival in music store business is BuyMusic.com. Their store is available for only Windows users and the songs are sold in Windows Media Player 9 format, also 99¢ per song. Both iTunes and BuyMusic.com are going to get new competition as Roxio launches their store, Napster, on October 29th. Roxio bought the rights to the name after the free file swapping service was closed.
For Roxette fans these online music stores don’t have much to offer. BuyMusic.com doesn’t have any Roxette songs in their 315,000 song catalog and iTunes didn’t have any until recently, when they added several, but not all, songs from the “Look Sharp!” and “Tourism” albums.
Other articles with the same topic
- Billboard mentions Roxette (February 26, 2011)
- Citigroup takes control of EMI (February 1, 2011)
- Kobalt signs Roxette in North America (January 13, 2011)
- Record "The Look" and win $5,000 shopping spree (August 11, 2010)
- EMI Music triples full-year earnings (May 8, 2009)
20 comments
Sascha said on October 12, 2003 10:21:
No, iTunes sometimes has exclusive material that isn’t available on CD, livetracks and rarities or even totally new songs.
robmc said on October 12, 2003 16:05:
Canada will have its own download service shortly. Puretracks.com is scheduled to open sometime this month.
No news on if Canadians will be able to access the new Napster. I’ve sent an email to them and wil post their response.
coyboyusa said on October 12, 2003 16:46:
well what exactly happeend to emi planning to endorse online sale of their entire catalogue...i rember an article here about that about half a year ago.....seems they r more worried about making self destructing cds and copyrighted cds that they r missing out
Fernandinha said on October 12, 2003 18:00:
I think it’s really boring. I like to see the cover, to read the lyrics...I personaly prefer to buy the cd.
Fernanda - Brazil
Sascha said on October 13, 2003 06:49:
I prefer to own the real CD with artwork as well - but it’s good to have a legal opportunity for downloads.
tevensso (moderator) said on October 13, 2003 08:01:
I like the idea of being able to download singles in perfect quality. I’d never just download a Roxette or a Bon Jovi album, because I want those physically, but single tracks, like maybe Britney or The Rasmus or whatever, for a dollar.
Michaela said on October 13, 2003 17:17:
I never find what I’m really looking for on services such as iTunes. I want the rare, hard to find, nobody’s ever heard of music.
So I thank you wonderful Roxette and GT web-sters out there who make these songs available for download on your personal sites. Don’t know how you got them, but keep ’em comin’!
with love from the USA
-Michaela :-)
robmc said on October 13, 2003 21:14:
From Napster :
“Thanks for contacting Napster Support.
Currently, Napster 2.0 is only available to customer in the United States.
Napster will be available in Canada in the near future.
We apologize for the inconvenience, but recognize everyone should be able to enjoy Napster 2.0!!
We have forwarded your request to our team. Please keep checking back for international service.
Thanks for using Napster!
Burr W.
The Napster team”
TheRain1981 said on October 14, 2003 06:19:
I also want the album itself. But I like the opportunity of having the choice to purchase a single download track. However, what exactly are the bitrates of these mp3 files? A lot of them are only 128 kbps, which I think is a bit lacking.
Sascha said on October 14, 2003 10:10:
iTunes deals with AAC files. “Advanced Audio Codec”, the audio part of industry standard MPEG 4. 128 kbit AAC offers better quality than 160 kbit MP3.
Sascha said on October 14, 2003 14:18:
Today iTunes added JOYRIDE as a partial album!! Roxette’s catalogue seems to get completed bit by bit. :-)
So Capitol/EMI doesn’t offer any complete Roxette album for download. Seems to be a concept behind this, probably to get people buy the CD after downloading some tracks...
Roxfever said on October 14, 2003 19:27:
If record companies sold CDs that I can play in my cdplayer which is not possible becauses of the fantastic copy protection and if they sold it for a fair prize I would keep buying CDs because I also want the album, with the cover,...This seems to be unpossible so I won’t spend even 1 Cent for any song. Just because I’m angry.
robmc said on October 14, 2003 21:31:
Puretracks is online in Canada. But no Roxette is on there yet.
roxeteer (moderator) said on October 15, 2003 04:34:
@Roxfever: You can actually burn songs bought from iTunes onto a CD. This is from Apple’s website:
***
t’s easy, it’s fair and it’s legal
The iTunes Music Store is fast and convenient for you, and fair to the artists and record companies. In a nutshell, you can play your music on up to three computers, enjoy unlimited synching with your iPods, burn unlimited CDs of individual songs, and burn unchanged playlists up to 10 times each.
***
What that means is that you can make your own compilation playlist and make 10 copies of it, playable on almost any CD player. Except my crappy one that doesn’t play burned CDs. Damn. Not that I’d be able to buy from iTunes store anyway.
Sascha said on October 11, 2003 17:18:
Cool, finally Roxette in the iTunes Music Store! I requested them several times, although the release probably depends on the label and not Apple. Just listened to the 30-sec samples in perfect quality (unlike crappy real-media samples at amazon). Still I don’t understand why some songs are missing... Hope that Roxette’s US catalogue will get completed in the next weeks.
Most probably the iTunes Music Store for Windows will debut next thursday, and rumor is that the european store will start in springtime for both Mac and Win!