| | Yahoo Looks To Make (Sell) Music Pitching Low Monthly Subscription
NEW YORK — Whether you prefer hard rockers or accordion-pumping folk singers, Yahoo will stick with an aggressively low $5 monthly fee in the first major marketing push for its online music service. After an introductory rollout in
May, YahooYHOO on Thursday said it would keep its musicdown load subscription priced well below those of
competitors, such as RealNetworks’RNWK Rhapsody and Napster
NAPS, in an effort to become “the standard online music service.” Yahoo Music Unlimited offers more than 1 million songs, letting usersmove tracks to portable music
players and share them with other subscribers.
Trial subscriptions were launched at $4.99 per month for an annual commitment, or $6.99 on a monthly basis. Analysts had wondered whether Yahoo would raise the price with its full-scale launch. Yahoo Chief Marketing Officer
Cammie Dunaway said the music servicehadso far attracted subscribers
through public relations efforts
andword of mouth.ThenewYahoo
Music campaign will be the online
media company’s most aggressive
pushthis year, she said.
“It’s exciting to see what happens
now that we really start marketing
it,” Dunaway told Reuters. “We’re
certainly looking to expand the subscription
(music) market and think
that this pricing is one great way to
doit.”
Pixellated characters representingrockbandGreenDayandrapper
Missy Elliott bounce and bop in the
YahooMusiconline ads.
The campaign debuts on Aug. 28
during the MTV Video Music
Awards with the tag “Over A Million
Songs — 5 Bucks A Month —
This Is Huge.”
“There will probably be room for
someprice differences, but if Yahoo
stays at a lower price, coupled with
its broad marketing reach, it would
be tough for the other guys,” said
Christopher Rowen of Suntrust
RobinsonHumphrey. |
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