With the announcement of the Napster UK launch date, On Demand Distribution (OD2) has decided to slash its online music pricing by 50%. In total 21 European online stores are run through OD2, which means much cheaper download track prices for the end user.
OD2 has sold around a million tracks through its third party stores in the first quarter. Now it aims to compete with the upcoming music services by offering a 40 song bundle forUK£20 (~€30/~$ 35.66). Its single track pricing is currently still UK£1 per track. Other services such
as Apple, Sony, Napster and Virgin (powered by MusicNet) are expected to start
between this summer and fall so OD2 is aiming to keep its leading position by
competing in advance. Thanks to GristyMcFisty for submitting the following news via our news submit :
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OD2 is one of the longest-running players in Europe. Its technology powers music download sites run by third-parties, including MyCokeMusic, high street music retailer HMV and a handful of pan-European ISPs. In total, it sells through 21 online sites in nine European territories. It also has deals in place with the big five global music labels. Earlier this year, the company announced it had sold one million downloads across Europe during the first three months of the year. It sounds impressive, but even Napster managed five million downloads during its first three months of operating as a song seller. Now as Napster announces its UK launch date, OD2 said it will offer UK customers bundles of 40 songs for £20 ($ 35.66). Its a la carte download service is currently priced at £1 a track. |
Over the past month, Destra online ( US music service) has managed to improve its sales by around 5.5 times just by lowering its track pricing from 99c to 89c. With OD2's UK pricing now working out about $ 0.89 per song when purchased in a 40 bundle, they now work out cheaper than even US Apple music store and are pretty much on par with the US Destra service. Now it will be interesting to see if this low cost bundle will have a significant effect on its sales.
This price drop may be enough to tempt
new consumers as the UK consumer now has the choice of spending £20 to get
two 20 song compilation/ablum CD's which may have songs they do not like or
choose 40 songs they like (equivalent to building their own two 20
song compilation CDs) from OD2. GristyMcFisty wrote: Another take on the OD2 price drop story...
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Source: The Register
