Well this has to be music to Apple's ears - those of you who were worrying
about Bigpong's (sorry Big Pond's) music efforts not being compatible with
the Mac need not worry - looks like Bigpond Music is not compatible with the
needs of most of Australia's population either. We just have to hope Apple
hurries up and introduces the iTunes Music Store (iTMS) DownUnder soon.
Actually I just noticed that Apple is sponsoring the "7th AustralAsian Music
Business Conference" in August next year. http://www.immedia.com.au/ambc/
I wonder if this is an indication that we will see an Aussie iTMS at that
time (or earlier?) next year? Speakers include reps from EMI, Sony/BMG,
APRA, ABC Music, Mushroom Records, etc. Hmm, where there's smoke...
:-)
-Mart
-
http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/business/0,39023166,39174721,00.htm
Aussie music download stores "failed miserably": analyst
By Kristyn Maslog-Levis, ZDNet Australia
20 December 2004
Excerpts:
Major Australian online music stores have "failed miserably" in selling
music to the public, according to music analyst Phil Tripp.
Tripp said Telstra's BigPond, ninemsn and Destra have not succeeded in
attracting Australian music fans to buying licensed music online because of
a lack of marketing.
"They are not marketing it to the public. There are no advertisements you
can see on music downloading. They do not make it a pleasurable experience
for users. Most people who try it once won't try it again," Tripp said.
He added that the music that can be downloaded is limited to PC users,
which alienates the growing iPod population in Australia.
"It is limited to PC users only. Seventy percent of the digital music
players sold are iPods. They are not able to buy music, and so at the
meantime the users are ripping their entire CD collections. But the final
nail in the coffin is that in most cases, [online music stores] don't even
have 30,000 songs to choose from. They have a crap choice and a crap system,
so why wouldn¹t the consumers stay away?" Tripp said.
Tripp said in an editorial entitled "Loose Cannon" on the Web site
themusic.com.au, "On the subject of downloading, what didn't happen this
year was the sort of blue sky results that were projected by the three major
download retailers-BigPond, ninemsn and Destra. The WMA way of downloading,
PC only, with no real marketing, a poor selection of music, not enough of a
compelling reason to try and buy plus everyone buying that incompatible iPod
made the dawn of downloading a travesty at best".
Tripp believes that Australians will only get to experience how "seamless"
legal music downloading is once Apple iTunes enters the Australian market.
"Once Apple comes in, people will see how seamless it can be.
Unfortunately, Australians can't see it unless they get their hands on it,"
Tripp said.
"The fact that Apple did not enter the market with iTunes Music Store
didn't help matters either but that remains to be seen and heard when they
finally do here," Tripp said in his editorial.
