With DRM fading away from MP3s, here come the ads

By Tim Conneally | Published January 14, 2008, 12:05 PM

Today, Amazon.com announced an advertising partnership with Pepsi that coincides with the direction of the music industry as predicted by its leaders.

Numerous music industry heads at a panel discussion at CES last week displayed favor for the ad-supported, subscription-based models of music sales as we move away from DRM. Today, a major online music store that rejected DRM since it opened -- and was not represented on the panel -- is showing similar interest.

Amazon.com, which claims to offer over 3.25 million DRM-free MP3s for sale, announced today a promotional alliance with soft drink company Pepsi Inc. that is scheduled to begin on Super Bowl Sunday. Pepsi products will be marked with "points" that customers can collect and redeem for MP3s on Amazon.com.

There is no word yet on how much one will have to spend to get a single music file, but Pepsi says that over 4 billion bottles will be circulated in the promotion.

Terry McBride, CEO of Nettwerk Music Group, in the panel discussion last week at CES asked why something like this did not already exist: "Why can't Amazon have a download store where songs are 25 cents with ads?" Just like cable, he continued to say, where users pay for the service, but it is subsidized by advertisers who can bring the overall price down?

Comments

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Here's a question: what value is there in/ or how does one put a value on names relating
to the topic of the digital music scene? Specifically, the whole thing with drm free mp3s?

Now there's been quite a bit of news on this, as you may know, lately. Super Bowl ad/
Justin Timberlake// Pepsi and Amazon, not to mention the major labels trying to figure
things out. I mean, now Yahoo! Music looks like they're getting involved. Big bucks
behind the football ads... the give-away itself will be valued at as many as 1 billion songs from Amazon MP3.

With a quote like this: "MP3 music is the future of the industry and Pepsi Stuff is an accelerator," Danny Socolof, president of Las Vegas-based MEGA, Inc., the company that is managing the promotion, said in a statement." [ http://www.internetnews....ews/article.php/3721576] how do you value/appraise these?

So, if one had names like:
drmfreealbum.com
drmfreealbums.com
drmfreedownload.com
drmfreedownloads.com
drmfreemp3.com
drmfreemp3s.com
drmfreemusic.info
drmfreemusicdownloads.com
drmfreesongs.com
drmfreetrack.com
drmfreetracks.com

Just curious; wanted to start a conversation. Wonder how many eyeballs the Super Bowl gets? I don't really even watch football.
References:

http://news.google.com/n...en-US%3Aofficial&ch annel=s&hl=en&um=1&tab=wn&q=%22drm+free+mp3%22+&btnG=Search+News
http://news.google.com/n...en-US%3Aofficial&ch annel=s&hl=en&um=1&tab=wn&q=%22drm+free+mp3%22+super+bowl&btnG=Search+ News

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Ohhh so they're using a points system, and not the one in every so many caps gets a free song as in the past.

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it works this way.. Amazon makes more money.. customer gets same music with ads same price.. Writers strike networks refund advertising companies and cable customers still pay the same money.. some how the Networks are making money on the strike.

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I just want Chuck back...

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"Just like cable, he continued to say, where users pay for the service, but it is subsidized by advertisers who can bring the overall price down?"

Are you kidding me! Cable should be free if this was true.

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Yes, bring this in.

AdBlocker can block the ads and I also get the MP3s cheap.

Sounds like a good deal to me.

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yes... until they embed audio ads directly into mp3 files :)

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I'm pretty sure they'll eventually do that ...
And I'm ALSO pretty sure that someone will come up with a way to rip the ads from the MP3 files .... :D

Haven't we seen this before ..?

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I, as a singer/songwriter, will start embedding ads straight into the lyrics. Also I will start performig wearing a F1 suit full with badges and stickers on my guitar. Between the songs, I will sell you stuff.

You wanted it.

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Good luck trying to sell that shiz :)

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That will be the end - ripping lossless CDS for me!

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