Revisiting my Amazon predictions

Now that Amazon has opened a beta version of its MP3 store and everybody else has commented on it (see for example Hypebot’s roundup, as well as good takes from Duke Listens! and Digital Audio Insider) I wanted to revisit my earlier Amazon predictions. So without further ado here’s the scorecard: I predicted variable single track pricing from 60-75 cents for back catalog material, $1 for most material, and $2-3 for hot singles....

2007-09-29 · 6 min · Frank Hecker

Two takes on Amazon’s digital music plans

Now that I’ve done a lengthy eMusic-related post I feel less guilty about doing yet another post on Amazon and its rumored plans to enter the digital music market; in particular I wanted to highlight two (relatively) recent articles on the topic. From the “pro” side of the fence (i.e., someone paid to have opinions and publish them) comes an article “Why Amazon is Important” by Mark Mulligan of Jupiter Research....

2007-05-03 · 4 min · Frank Hecker

My Amazon predictions: looking good so far

It’s unseemly to gloat that “I told you so,” but I’m not being paid for this gig so I’ll take my satisfaction where I can find it: According to a Digital Music News report on Amazon’s plans (free registration required), Amazon will be integrating its much-rumored digital music offering into its existing CD-centric online store: MP3s from participating artists will be blended into the larger, existing Amazon store. “They are not trying to replace iTunes, iPod, Zune, whatever,” one source said....

2007-04-25 · 4 min · Frank Hecker

Amazon rumors continued

Courtesy of Hypebot’s New Music Business Briefing this week: The mainstream music industry press (in the form of Billboard) talks about the possibility of Amazon entering the digital music market. Some quick points, for those keeping score at home: Hypebot brags that they’ve been out in front on the Amazon story for some time now. Fair play to them, they’ve done a good job of keeping up to date with Amazon-related developments....

2007-04-18 · 2 min · Frank Hecker

Hypebot’s advice for Amazon

Today Hypebot posted the promised article discussing how Amazon can succeed in the digital music business. Also as promised, I will now comment on Hypebot’s advice and how it compares to [my own][] on an Amazon digital music service"): Be the first major US store to sell EMI in the mp3 format. This advice seems overly short-term: Sure, Amazon might get some initial press for being the first major US store (note the qualifiers!...

2007-04-12 · 5 min · Frank Hecker