Subscription music site eMusic has inked a deal with Sony Music to bring selections from the label's catalog--"classic" recordings that are at least two years past their release date--to the online retailer starting in a few months.
eMusic hasn't had the biggest footprint in the digital music retail space of late, falling well behind iTunes--and some say that Amazon MP3 has grown bigger as well. eMusic was one of the first players in the space to offer music free of digital rights management (DRM) restrictions, which a few years ago more or less meant that the big labels wouldn't go anywhere near it and that its offerings were largely limited to independent music.
Now, eMusic has been trying to brand itself as the music outlet for people who know and appreciate quality music. Calling itself the "Internet's corner music store," it uses a combination of editorial and "crowd-sourced" methods to sift out and recommend new music picks. In other words, this is not where you buy party music by Katy Perry or the Jonas Brothers.
"The site, geared to adults over the age of 25, will contextualize albums and songs from Sony Music's renowned artists," a press release explains, "drawing meaningful connections between 'major' and 'indie' artists, and featuring in-depth discographies and collections built around genres and themes."
Updated at 9:15 a.m. PDT with background on the DVD format wars.
Research firm In-Stat has declared a "winner" in the DVD format wars between Blu-ray and HD DVD. And the winner is...
Blu-ray.
In-Stat, in a research report released Wednesday, noted that the Blu-ray and HD DVD format war ended in the early part of the year, and that Blu-ray recorder and player sales are expected to reach 5 million by the end of the year.
With the death of HD DVD earlier this year, some took it a step further, saying Blu-ray's top-dog spot may be short-lived should digital downloads replace the need for Blu-ray discs. But for now, Blu-ray is expected to enjoy its position.
In February, Toshiba said it would stop making HD DVD products, following a two-year war between the HD DVD and Blu-ray formats. Shortly thereafter, the three movie studios that were then still supporting HD DVD withdrew their support and declared they would get behind Blu-ray.
Sales of DVD players and recorders worldwide hit 142 million units last year, according to the market research firm. This year, In-Stat expects a decline in the DVD hardware market because of saturation in some markets and also because DVD recorders failed to grab consumers' interest as DVD players did.
What isn't clear is whether Blu-ray's growth will make up for the decline of HD DVD sales by the time digital downloads of movies become pervasive.
Blu-ray's adoption rate is hampered by the price of the players, according to In-Stat.
Two years ago, a Toshiba DVD player cost $500 to $800, while the cheapest Blu-ray player ran nearly $1,000.
LOS ANGELES--Rather than waging a war to make consumers choose sides between digital downloads and physical media, some content makers are calling a truce.
Instead of defending Blu-ray Disc's longevity as a physical format or predicting when downloads would finally reign supreme, they focused on how the two together can benefit consumers and content makers alike. It's as if two high school girls from opposing cliques just realized that if they team up, they're actually likely to attract even more attention and popularity than ever.
"It's a mistake to think it's either a physical (media) or an electronic (download) business," said Danny Kaye, vice president of research and technology strategy at 20th Century Fox. "That's arbitrary. They will coexist."
Blu-ray players will have their day in the sun before movie downloads become the norm.
(Credit: Samsung)It's been widely assumed that digital downloads will wipe out physical disc media as soon as broadband Internet access becomes ubiquitous. But there are plenty of details to work out until that happens, such as consumers' continuing endorsement of DVD as an entertainment format.
NPD revealed at the DisplaySearch HDTV Conference here Tuesday that while DVD sales are flat, they still dwarf downloads. The old standard-definition disc format still stands tall over Blu-ray Disc, but that will change eventually. What's certain, is that most people who favor DVDs won't be skipping Blu-ray entirely to start downloading all their entertainment.
"Consumer habits change slowly," said Russ Crupnick, senior industry analyst for the NPD Group. "Discs are not likely to go away anytime soon."
The numbers support this. NPD asked 1,500 consumers that own high-definition TVs and subscribe to HD channel services how they spent their discretionary income on movies. Fifty-two percent said they buy movies or TV shows on DVD, 29 percent rent movies or TV shows on DVD, and 6 percent download entertainment, either to rent or own.
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