Lala.com introduceert 'Virtual Ownership' business model

Dit is een gearchiveerd bericht

21.10.2008

Lala.com, een online digitale muziekdienst, lanceerde deze zomer een nieuwe business strategie waarbij gebruikers hun hele muziekcollectie gratis online kunnen plaatsen en via het web beluisteren. Gebruikers kunnen nu ook, voor nieuwe muziek die ze nog niet hebben, in plaats van een download een "virtuele kopie" (alleen beluisterbaar op het web) kopen voor 0,10 USD. 
Instead of creating a free experience supported by advertising, Lala is trying something that’s never been done before. For the first time, the labels have licensed their music as a virtual product that involves no file transfer or usage-based stream. In essence, users are buying permanent rights to a song rather than buying an actual file.

The company has negotiated a deal that allows users to stream any song they already own in their digital music library for free from any Web-enabled device—be it DRM-free, WMA or Fairplay files. Users can also buy a permanent, Web-only virtual copy of any song they don’t already own for just 10 cents. And finally, they can buy and download the actual MP3 file for 89 cents (or 79 cents if they had previously bought the Websong version).

“It is a significant new model, and even more significant as a consumer proposition,” says Michael Nash, executive VP of digital music strategy and business development for Warner Music Group, which is an investor in Lala. “What I think is really interesting is the idea of virtual ownership—creating a value proposition that’s between the sampling of a stream and the purchase of a download.”

Billboard bericht dat Lala.com zijn inkomsten toch nog steeds hoopt te halen uit de verkoop van de (duurderde) mp3-files, die je nog altijd via de site kan kopen:

The fear, of course, is that 10-cent Websongs may cannibalize the more profitable MP3 sales. Lala splits the cost of both the 10-cent Websong and the full MP3 with the labels, and makes a greater percentage on the Websong. Since it began testing the system in May with some 300,000 existing Lala users, between 30% and 40% of Websong buyers ended up buying the full MP3.

Lala.com biedt deze dienst voorlopig enkel in Amerika aan. Meer achtergrondinformatie en commentaar o.a. ook bij NYTimes en Coolfer.

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