Details are pending, but look for MTV and Microsoft to launch a digital music service next year called URGE. According to the press release, “URGE will offer rich entertainment programming and innovative tools designed to guide musical discovery and connect fans to the artists and music they love. Offering more than 2 million songs from the major labels and thousands of independents, URGE will encompass all musical genres, from alt-country to zydeco. In addition to a broad catalogue of music choices, URGE will deliver a deep well of exclusive MTV Networks programming and original, hand-crafted content.”
So the $64,000 question is…will Microsoft and MTV offer a way to make this content iPod compatible? Or are they counting on Microsoft’s technical ingenuity combined with MTV’s nearly overpowering lifestyle brand to try and take a bite out of Apple’s marketshare of music players and the iTunes music service? What new digital music players (or mobile phones) will we see in the next few months that will take advantage of this service? How will the pricing structure compare to the existing subscription services? The press release hints at innovations beyond the current standards for digital music subscription services…what do MTV and Microsoft have up their sleeves?
Many more questions than answers at the moment, but stay tuned…..
2 responses so far ↓
1 solomonrex // Dec 13, 2005 at 5:47 pm
“MTV’s nearly overpowering lifestyle brand.” Um…? Overpoweringly retched! Their entire appeal is college-crowd – not just any segment of the college crowd, but basically the core secular immorals that are the primary force behind ripping music and getting it for free. This is worse than tying up with Real, who at least has found a way to monetize music. MTV is so bad at music, they stopped showing it on TV. Why not announce for CMT? VH1? I don’t get it. MS just keeps going from bad to worse.
2 isaac // Dec 14, 2005 at 9:32 am
I believe the deal is with MTV networks, and the product will be brand-agnostic (ie, easily re-branded for Comedy Central, CMT, VH1).
MTV Networks has a bunch of smart folks working on this. Hopefully, they will not succumb to variable pricing to placate the labels. Hopefully (like Syd says), they will find a way to make it ipod-compatible. My guess is that we should not get our hopes up on either front.
I think their game goes something like this: Only about 8-10% of the population has even tried a digital music service. Penetration of portable players is similar. Urge will try to reach the other 90% of the country – not convert the itunes/ipod folks.
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