Business
Wednesday, May 11, 2005
Yahoo Music Engine Squeezes Competitors
The announcement of the Yahoo! Music Engine portal and its low-ball price points sent the stock prices of competitors into a tailspin on Wednesday (5/11).
Yahoo!, Inc. unveiled its music retail portal, dubbed the Yahoo! Music Engine, on Tuesday evening. The service is a subscription-based music streaming service that allows users the option to purchase tracks at a small premium.
The service will launch with prices of $6.99 monthly and $4.99 a month if purchased as a year-long contract. Both of the service’s primary competitors, Napster and Real Networks’ Rhapsody, charge $14.95 a month for a similar product offering.
Monday, June 21, 2004
Universal Easing Back On CD Price Cuts
Universal Music Group’s CD price-cut plan, hailed as a hope to get music buyers back into stores, has hit resistance from retailers, all but killing the effort.
Nine months ago, Universal Music executives announced with great fanfare that the company was preparing to slash prices on CDs. The strategy was expected to breathe new life into the flagging offline retail sector, which has been hit hard by a combination of illegal online music trading, audience migration to online stores and a long-running sag in pop sales on the heels of the Jive Records-powered teen music boom of the late 90’s.
Today, Universal’s grand plan has been quieted by a combination of resistance from the very retailers the price cuts were expected to help and internal reconsideration of the program’s details.