Posts Tagged ‘Rhapsody’

Real's Rhapsody enters App Store submission hell, could bode well for Spotify?

Adopting a similar PR strategy to Spotify, U.S.-only music subscription service Rhapsody ($14.99-a-month) has published details of its iPhone app, mid submission process to Apple’s App Store. While submitting an app alone far from guarantees that it will ever see the light of day through Cupertino’s official channel, by showing off the app now, including a video demo (below), it does ensure that any dirty linen on Apple’s part is aired in public. It also helps to build consumer demand from existing Rhapsody subscribers who also own an iPhone in preparation for a backlash should the app be rejected.

And rejection is certainly a possibility.

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Amazon MP3, Wal-Mart and Rhapsody just made buying music more confusing following iTunes' lead

With the major labels cajoling Apple into upping the cost of the most popular tracks on iTunes, I wondered how long it would take other music download stores to follow suit. Not long it seems – less than a day in fact – with paidContent and Ars Technica reporting that Amazon, Wal-Mart, Lala and Rhapsody have followed Apple’s lead and introduced ‘variable pricing’.

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How to tune up a tone deaf Rhapsody

This is a guest post by Michael Pinto who is the Creative Director of Very Memorable, Inc. a design firm that specializes in the youth market and interactive media.

Over one year after EMI took the first step to offer DRM-free downloads (April 2007) Rhapsody has decided to play catch up. Rhapsody is a joint venture between Real Networks and MTV, and that’s where its problems start: At this point for the youth market MTV is no longer associated with music – if anything on cable it’s been replaced by MuchMusic and on the web there are upcoming dynamic brands like Pitchfork.tv that are poised for high growth.

The sad reality is that while MTV is doing better than ever before, its original core competency has faded with time. But even if you go with the nostalgia value of MTV, then it’s a poor idea to keep the name “Rhapsody” which carries no branding weight – if anything the service should incorporate the MTV moniker in some shape or form, even if it’s something as simple as download.my.mtv. If Rhapsody is to break out of its generic funk it’s going to need to take advantage of the creative packaging that MTV Networks use to be well known for – but up to this point has been ignored.

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Rhapsody launches DRM-free MP3 music store

Another day, another DRM-free music store

Rhapsody launches DRM-free MP3 music storeRhapsody, the joint venture by Real Networks and Viacom’s MTV Networks, is the latest digital music service to launch a DRM-free music download store. Although the company isn’t ditching Digital Rights Management software altogether – its music subscription service still relies heavily on copy-protection technology – the new Rhapsody MP3 Store is selling DRM-free MP3s priced at .99c per track or $9.99 for the complete album, which is pretty much inline with the rest of the industry.

Rhapsody MP3 Store will face stiff competition from a host of similar services, not least Apple’s iTunes and Amazon’s own MP3 store. Along with other DRM-free competitors to iTunes, the store’s website is extremely keen to highlight that tracks are compatible with Apple’s iPod music players. “Fill your iPod or any other music player with the tunes you want”, reads the site’s About page.

Rhapsody Vice President Neil Smith told Reuters: “We’re no longer competing with the iPod, we’re embracing it.”

Rhapsody also does a good job of explaining the broader benefits of a DRM-free service.

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