A challenger to iTunes?
Sunday, March 9th, 2008Interesting story on the BBC’s dot.life blog about potential challengers to Apple in the music download sector. The correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones has been looking at the chances of a new entrant into the market called 7digital:
Taking on iTunes
Could a tiny business based in London’s Shoreditch take a bite out of Apple’s digital music empire? It seems unlikely and even 7digital will admit that it’s a David facing a Goliath. But this week’s deal between the download service and Warner Music could at least make Apple sit up and take notice.
The seamless integration between the iPod and iTunes – and the manner in which the Apple ecosystem makes rival devices and services less useful to music fans – has made Steve Jobs the most powerful figure in digital music, with Apple commanding around 80% of the market. The big four labels – who saw iTunes as a saviour when it arrived promising users a viable alternative to pirated tracks – are now chafing at the bit.
They don’t like Apple’s insistence on a single price for tracks and albums, and they’re waking up to the fact that they’ve handed the retail end of their digital business to one player.
So Warner is striking a blow for the whole industry by offering its catalogue DRM-free and in MP3 format to 7digital. Read full article here…
Interesting times…
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