Yesterday, the subscription-based online music retailer Napster announced that thanks to a 15 percent jump in revenue from subscriptions the company has posted a much smaller Q3 loss for 2007 than the comparable quarter a year before.
For the three month period that ended December 31st, Napster posted a net loss of $2.8 million USD, a huge drop compared to the $9.5 million USD loss they posted the year before for the same period.
The company, which survives primarily on its monthly music subscription service, announced last month that it will begin selling DRM-free tracks in MP3 format, putting another nail in DRM’s coffin.
Napster also said revenue for the quarter was $32.8 million USD, up 15 percent from the comparable quarter a year ago. The company also stated that they finished the quarter with 743,000 subscribers, a minuscule decline from the previous quarter.
Result for: MP3
The decently popular website Play.com has begun offering high quality, DRM-free MP3 music downloads for the relatively low price of 65p in the UK, and the company says it will start with about one million tracks from EMI and indie labels.
The files, which will be 320kbps, should be playable on most if not all media devices on the market, due to its MP3 format. Apple already offers EMI tracks DRM-free as well but in AAC format which is mainly supported by its iPod line. The price is also cheaper and a Play.com spokesperson has said that “we’re going to be cheaper than [Apple's] iTunes. Whatever price iTunes goes down to, we’ll be looking to go lower.”
In a recent decision, the EU has told Apple it must standardize its prices across Europe and so the tracks are expected to drop from its high 79p current price.
Play.com should also see competition from Amazon MP3 which already undercuts Apple’s track prices and offers DRM-free music from all major labels. So far Amazon MP3 is only in the US but it will hit the UK later this year.
The company says it is talking to the other major labels, “and if one or more had been quicker we might have held off the launch. We think that within the year, the others will be on board.”
Result for: MP3
Google has announced plans to enter the Chinese online music market for the first time by joining up with the popular Top100.cn, which allows users “to listen to and download licensed music files for free”.
The reports come via the major portal Sina.com and the portal added that the venture should generate revenue through online ads on its music search pages.
Google nor Top100 would confirm or deny the rumors however.
The new venture should help Google compete with the market leader Baidu which holds 60.1 percent share of China’s search market and has become very popular “by providing search services for and access to music files, or mp3s, many of which are pirated.” The popularity has however been monitored by the international music industry, especially the IFPI.
The IFPI has recently claimed that over 98 percent of all music files distributed in China are pirated and that the legal music market, a meager $76 million, stands as less than 1 percent of the global market for sales.
