The major record labels plan to start selling digital songs for a dime apiece. The catch: You can't carry them with you on an iPod.Thomas Hesse, Sony BMG's president of digital business and U.S. sales, came up with the new pricing approach for the "Web song" while in discussions with Lala Media, a digital music retail store and service. The Web song is stored online and can be listened to only through a computer's Web browser.
Sony, the three other major record labels and thousands of independent labels plan to sell Web songs via the revamped website Lala has unveiled.
They hope customers will also buy, for an extra 79 or 89 cents, a version of the song they can download and transfer to portable devices or burn to CDs. But the 10-cent Web song demonstrates the willingness of the music industry to seek new revenue models in an era of declining CD sales.
Hesse said he wanted to give consumers a way to discover new artists and buy music in an inexpensive way.
Now he's on to something ...
Check out what a dime will get you these days at www.lala.com.
Get more at the Los Angeles Times.
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Looks promising but not available outside the US...
I think this is a bad omen because it further restricts the right of music ownership. Besides, youtube already offer this service, get this, for free. To debate on whether lala's pay-for-access service is a good or a bad thing, visit:
http://www.atelier-us.com/media-entertainment/article/lala-10-cent-songs-is-an-omen-not-a-blessing