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MTV Bails on Microsoft's URGE Store
Marlowe writes "MTV's once-ballyhooed partnership with Microsoft appears to be all but dead. MTV is teaming up with RealNetworks to form Rhapsody America, with Verizon handling wireless distribution. It's a big blow to Microsoft, too. 'With the creation of Rhapsody America, the writing is on the wall for MTV and Microsoft's Urge music store partnership. Although the Microsoft-MTV marriage was announced with great fanfare, it was likely headed for divorce court right from the start due to Microsoft's plans to turn PlaysForSure into a second-class citizen with the launch of the Zune — and its self-contained music ecosystem.' When asked about the future of Urge, MTV Music Group President Toffler was terse. 'We are in discussions with Microsoft now and will be on Windows Media Player 11 until further notice,' he said. While the Urge brand will ultimately disappear, Toffler said that 'a lot' of Urge's elements will live on in Rhapsody America."
Why would any company want to partner with Microsoft? They seem to drop commitments at a whim (PlaysForSure) and do not seem to ever has their partners interest anywhere in their list of priorities.
Are there any examples of Microsoft ever participating in a mutually beneficial relationship with another company?
This may be somewhat off-topic, but I can't mourn this passing. "URGE" always seemed to me to be one of the ugliest, dumbest-sounding names of all the music download services available. And its front-row presence in WMP11 has always annoyed me to no end.
Plus, who really cares about these services anymore, now that WalMart is offering EMI and Universal MP3s without DRM for cheaper than iTunes, at 256 kbps....
Let's see....
Real managed to totally blow an overwhelming lead in streaming media as Realplayer was allowed to die on the vine. Add MTV to the mix. They were relevant to the music scene about 20 years ago. Now it's just reality TV plus advertising. And Verizon...a CDMA network with the highest prices in the country and a track record of disabling phone features that cut into their "buy it from us or not at all" corporate culture. Yeah, that ought to be a real powerhouse for peeing away a few hundred million of investment capital.
*yawn*
My sister-in-law just graduated high school. She was a cheer leader, got poor grades, and seemed to be constantly bitching about one or another of the girls in her grade. So I assume she is pretty much the target audience for "teen fashion" crap. She LOVES those MTV "reality" drama shows. I seldom ever talk to her much beyond "Hi" and "Pass the salt", but I do overhear her conversations with my wife. It actually took me some time to be able to distinguish between her stories of petty drama that involved her and her peers and the stupid stories of petty drama that she was regurgitating from these shows. It still takes me some time to catch on that this story is real after she changes boyfriends; I tend to assume the new name is a new show, or new character (which also happens a lot, from what I gather).
So, to answer your question, I have no idea. But from what I can tell, MTV counts for at least as much in my sister-in-law's life as her actual life. Seriously. I've seen her crying over breaking up with her boyfriend, and she was less sad than the time she was crying over what turned out to be a break-up in a show.
...sometimes, in order to hurt someone very badly, you have to tell that person terrible lies. - PA