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 Send to email | Are DRM-Free Sales Finally Taking Off? Who Knows? (AAPL, AMZN) in AAPLAMZN |  By Silicon
el 08-Jul-2008 |
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 We've spent the last year looking for evidence to prove or disprove a widely held digerati belief -- that consumers will gladly pay for online music, as long as it's not encumbered by digital locks and keys. So far, we have yet to find solid data that supports the argument -- even though iTunes (AAPL) has been selling DRM-free tracks from EMI for since the spring of 07, and Amazon (AMZN) now sells DRM-free tracks from all four majors. And because we're cynical sorts, the lack of real numbers makes us think that the DRM-free tracks aren't selling significantly faster than their encumbered counterparts.
So what to make of new claims from 7digital, the European music store? The Benchmark-backed digital store, which sells 80% of its 4 million tracks in the unencumbered MP3 format, says sales are up 300% in the last year, and up 130% since January; it says much of that boost came from its unencumbered MP3 tracks.
So let's put that in context: How many songs is that, exactly?
Alas, 7digital won't say, which causes those familiar alarm bells to go off. Another alarm bell: 7digital made almost identical claims in January, when it said 2007 sales jumped 188% because of MP3s, but again didn't attach real numbers to those claims.
We don't doubt that there is a group of consumers who know and care about DRM, and will make buying decisions based on it. But until someone can demonstrate otherwise -- using apples-to-apples to comparisons, with real numbers -- we're going to continue to assume that it's a very small group.
See Also: How Are Those DRM-Free Tracks Selling?
DRM-Free Music: Too Little, Too Late
Why Dropping DRM Won't Save The Music Business
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| AT&T and Starbucks Finally Launch Free WiFi; Not Really Free |  It’s here, it’s gone, it’s here, it’s gone, it’s here. It took a fair number of misfires and tweaks but AT&T and Starbucks have finally launched the free WiFi service we’ve been waiting for, well, for a long time. The catch? There are actually several. Truth be told, this free WiFi deal isn’t free at [...] [..] Read complete article | | Published 03-Jun-2008 by Zach Epstein in AT&TServicesWi-FihotspotsStarbucksWiFi
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 | Kotaku`s The Gamers Guide |  Blogger | XBOX 360 Gamers Weblog
Gossip, news and leaks for obsessive gamers Kotaku As if you don't waste enough of your time in a gamer's haze, here's Kotaku: a gamer's guide that goes beyond the press release. Gossip, cheats, criticism, design, nostalgia, pred |
| NPD's PC Sales Charts: July 2008 [Sales Charts] | | No weekly PC sales charts this week. No, we got monthly sales charts. Specifically, for the month of July, a period dominated by AAA PC exclusive Nancy Drew: The Phantom of Venice, which lived up to its pre-release hype by taking [..] Read complete article | | Published 26-Aug-2008 by Luke Plunkett in Sales Charts News Npd Npd Group PC Pc Games
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| Rhapsody launches DRM-free music store, offers 100,000 albums for free |  Hello, Rhapsody. Real Networks’ online music store has finally launched a DRM-free download option on an apathetic unsuspecting public. Boasting a catalog of over 5 million songs, the new service allows customers to access their library for a mere $.99/song or $9.99/album. The pricing is relatively competitive, but considering how late they are to to [...] [..] Read complete article | | Published 30-Jun-2008 by Joshua Karp in ServicesVerizondrm-freemp3Realrhapsody
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| MySpace to offer millions of songs ?free? | | Taking a step in the right direction, sorta, MySpace is going to be offering loads of free music starting September 25. Technically, it isn’t really going to be free since it will likely be plastered with ads from the likes of McDonald’s, Sony, Toyota and so on. Still, it’s a pretty cool idea: You get [...] [..] Read complete article | | Published 25-Sep-2008 by Marc Flores in ServicesamazonEMImp3musicmyspaceSony BMGThe BeatlesUniversal MusicWarner Music
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