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Amazon to deliver a billion MP3s

by on04 December 2007

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Pepsi promotion delivers DRM free music


Amazon and Pepsi are teaming up in a new promotion set to take flight during a Super Bowl commercial that will offer DRM free MP3s. The MP3s will be delivered using Amazon’s music delivery service and the total number of downloads are said to reach a billion songs in total during the length of the promotion.

The promotion could put Sony BMG and Warner Music in a tough spot, as they have yet to join EMI and Universal Music in offering MP3 files that are free of the digital rights management (DRM) that most consumers continue to shun. BMG and Warner Music have offered their music in Microsoft WMA format, but that DRM-based format continues to lack the traction of MP4 format that iTunes uses. The iTunes MP4 format is the only DRM-based format that has any real traction in the market place and that is more due to the iPod and the excellent integration of the iTunes music store than anything else. Most consumers still prefer the DRM free MP3 format.

While it is doubtful that Amazon will deliver a total of one billion downloaded MP3s in light of the fact that they are said to have sold less than 50 million in total since the launch of their music download service, it would be considered a victory if they could deliver a few hundred million downloads. The overall goal is to introduce consumers to the Amazon MP3 DRM-free download service and to get consumers to think of using it the next time that they want to purchase music.

Last modified on 04 December 2007
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