Mulling flat rate fee of $9 to $12 USD for unlimited downloads from its entire music catalog.
Sony BMG Music Entertainment has announced recently that it’s developing an online music subscription service that would give users unlimited access to its music catalog for a flat rate monthly fee of around $9 to $12 USD. Also, unlike Apple’s iTunes it promises that all downloads will be compatible with a wide variety of portable digital music players.
In an interview with the newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung published Monday, chief executive Rolf Schmidt-Holtz did not offer a timeline for unveiling the service.
As for costs to subscribers, the newspaper quoted him as saying that the “simplest option would be a flat rate” fee per month of around 6 to 8 euros ($9 to $12) for unlimited access to Sony BMG’s entire music catalog and that the downloads would be compatible with all players, including Apple’s ubiquitous iPod.
He said that it was “even possible that clients could keep some songs indefinitely, that they would own them even after the subscription expired.”
A Bertelsmann spokesman confirmed that the interview was accurate but declined to provide further details.
Schmidt-Holtz was quoted as saying the unit was in talks with other major music distributors but did not disclose with whom and added that it was possible mobile phone operators could be brought on board, with the aim of letting users download their songs to their cell phones.
In my opinion the service seems to be an acknowledgment of where the music industry is ultimately headed whether it likes it or not. People are buying less and less physical CDs these days for the ease and portability that digital music offers. Since there exist alternatives to digital music stores using illegal P2P and file-sharing services they must make an attempt to counter them by offering flexible and creative options that are reasonably priced.
I for one would consider subscribing to a plan that was in the price range they mention, but ONLY if the selection of music was decent and I was able to actually keep the music permanently after downloading it. Otherwise who wants another Rhapsody where you are basically renting music? It’d be lame.
Also, will the music be DRM-free? The service will certainly be a non-starter if it does.
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Just had a brilliant idea somewhat related to the article. One of the biggest drawbacks of these subscription ba sed plans is that you loose your music when you cancel you subsc ription. If they wanted to win over some of the Itunes crowd maybe they should offer you a set amount of credits every month your signed that can be used towards the acquisition of unlocked songs. This would cause you to stay in the system and if you decide you no longer want to be signed up you still have something to show for the money you spent.
@Mountain Rage
Hmm me likey. Like say if you shell out 10 bucks then you get say 8 worth of credit to buy stuff.
Ya exactly. It would give you the opportunity to listen to all the music you want before buying gain a catalog of music you like allows people to get familiar with the marketplace (credits get people used to spending on the music) and supplies a profit for everyone.
No real need to the credit thing. emusic.com has been selling subscriptions for years. All DRM free and you don’t lose the music when you cancel your subsription. Now it’s all Indie music but these days that’s where alot of the good stuff is. I pay $10 per month and get 30 downloads plus they gave me 50 free downloads for signing up. They have more expensive subsc riptions with more downloads per month but I like the $10 wich still leaves me some room in the budget for CD/vinyl purchases. In any case none of the subsc ription services are worth a damn if they don’t get rid of the DRM.