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Napster and Best Buy Joining Forces
Ruds writes "Best Buy will market a music service co-branded with Napster. Napster will give Best Buy stock valued up to $10 million, and they'll share marketing costs. From the story: 'The retail chain will feature Napster products in its brick-and-mortar stores and demonstrate the service through interactive kiosks throughout the nation. Napster will also support Best Buy's artist promotions.'"
We've also had Napster and Rhapsody products in the store; but we used Rhapsody on all of the store kiosks. More than likely all this means is that we'll be using Napster instead of Rhapsody on our kiosks in the stores.
What?
So I want to buy a song from napster (mp3 lets just say)... so I go into a store to buy said song... and it comes on a little circle shaped disc... oh wait, isn't that like buying from a record store? Damn it, looks like I've just bought a CD with a new fancy name and a bit lower price but alot less tracks..
I like muppets.
Presently, Best Buy stores are marketing Real Rhapsody in their stores and online... they mention online that they offer Napster 15-song gift cards for $14.85 (99 cents times 15) but they can't sell those online.
I have a feeling that one of the side terms of this new deal is that the other deal isn't gonna get renewed.
I hear that in July a lot of retailers that currently sell Napster cards are going to be selling them 2-for-1.. that's probably not too bad a deal. $15 for 30 songs.. sure beats buying a CD!
Target already sells a line of Napster-branded music accessories such as CDs and CD wallets along with the gift cards. I suspect that whole product line is coming to a Best Buy near you too.
Related topic: Is there any known quality difference between the various brands of CDs... or do they all do equally as well?
What can I say, but www.allofmp3.com
,dave
Download songs in your choise of format AND enoding bit rate.
All for 3 cents per song.
And, it is legal (in Russia).
P.S. My daughter (the 18 year old iPod junkie) thinks it is great.
Dave Barnes 9 breweries within walking distance of my house
The funny thing, on this news today, roxio/napster's stock rose $1 (or 23%) according to the guy on the radio on the way home...I am currently to lazy to look up napsters stock price
If you are one in a million, then there are six thousand people who are just like you.
Is this really such a big deal?
I've seen Napster gift cards in a local supermarket chain. OK they cell other stuff, kinda like a nice Target, but there are a lot of them in the Northwest.
And, some have already questioned that the whole of Napster is worth $10 million dollars, but why would they pay that much for just selling little cards that give you codes to download stuff?
Doesn't seem too much different from pre-paid long distance cards to me.
Anyone seen these cards in other stores?
I guess it is incentive to give customers the Hard Sell.
Howdy Doodly Doo!
Anybody want some Toast?
BestBuy doesn't use commision, but Radio Shack does. BestBuy doesn't really have a "Sell More Product" motivation. They have a "Push our shitty 'service plan'" motivation. Some BB's won't sell you the product unless you get the "service plan". The person who sells the most of their crappy service plans gets a bonus of some kind. I applied for a job there and when I learned all the stuff that goes on "behind the scenes" I just stood up and left.
Not a Twitter sockpuppet... but I wish I was.
I saw Napster stuff on the shelves in there a couple days ago...made no sense to me then, and even less now. It was good, now its gone, let the brand die for gods sake.
Actually, this might be different than what you saw. The intention here is that Napster and Best Buy will be marketing music together, instead of idependently. This is interesting for a number of reasons:
1: Napster is currently in a rather weak position when it comes to promotion. Let's face it, their credibility is zilch with the fickle internet-enabled teens and early-twenty-somethings. Corporate brass, aka "Blue-Haired's", don't sway so easily and still see the Napster name as something the kids are into. This alone is dangerous territory. (And I agree with you, the Napster brand should just be allowed to die on it's own.) And this younger crowd is where roughly 80% of the music industry gets their paycheck.
2: Best Buy sells music as a loss leader to get people in the stores to buy other things, mainly product accessories where margins are at their highest. This loss leader approach is a proven, successful marketing technique, especially for Best Buy.
The Best Buy/Napster deal makes sense due to one last interesting item:
3: Best Buy typically buys proven, successful solutions to expand their business, instead of developing anything in-house. I cite Geek Squad as my prime example, and there are plenty of others if someone else decides to do the rest of my homework for me.
But how Best Buy can see Napster as a successful entity is beyond me. Perhaps they see value into bringing it under it's own umbrella of operations and making it work for them instead of with them. Direct control would certainly be easier, which might just be what Best Buy is aiming for.
Otherwise, I think Best Buy got wound up stuck with some magic beans...
My sources are unreliable, but their information is fascinating. -- Ashleigh Brilliant
I worked for Best Buy less than 3 months ago for about a year in the PCHO(that's personal computer, home office to you outsiders)/Software department. Those little Napster demo disks and subscription kiosks have been in most Best Buy stores since before Thanksgiving, 2003. We employees were briefed on the future of the "BestNap" alliance way back then and even had a Napster rep visit several times, handing out Napster demo subscriptions, nifty little badges, keychains and necklaces advetising Napster. The usual fare brought to us by reps, nothing different. The only oddity was the fact that I began my internet career upon exposure to Napster at its very beginning as a fringe underground utility only to see it represented at my job by a slick gentleman in a suit and tie!!!
Not particularly sure myself why Best Buy even cares for iPods. They only make around $20 on an iPod sale anyway so there isn't much money in the units. Granted if you attached a $40 product replacement plan or a $50 service plan that makes the company a little more money, but the profit margins are still quite slim.
I really love allofmp3..1 14240.html
However the Sydney Morning Herald has this to offer http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/05/17/1084646
Suggesting its not legal even in russia.
Otoh this MIPI seems like a FUD spreading group
so who really knows?