Recently, MTV announced it would close its “Urge” music download service, which was a joint-venture with Microsoft. Expert bloggers were among the first to reveal what MTV’s next move would be and whether MTV’s new mega-partnership will have the potential to rival iTunes. It remains common knowledge within the world of online music sales that iTunes is the proverbial elephant in the room. Seemingly since its launch, blogs and mainstream media alike have been openly speculating as to whether any other media corporations would be able to rival Apple’s newfound dominance over the world of digital music.
Widely-read tech blog GigaOM gave its readers all the new details in one of their latest posts. “It is official! Real Networks, MTV and Verizon Wireless are teaming up to form Rhapsody America, a joint venture that will be headed up by Michael Bloom, former general manager of MTV Urge. The company will have offices in San Francisco, New York, and Seattle.” The post mentioned that on-air integration could begin as soon as next week.
The post also offered further examples of just how heavily these three mega-brands will push their new venture by stating “Rhapsody will also be integrated into the fabric of MTV’s marquee event, the Video Music Awards airing live from Las Vegas on September 9th, 2007. Verizon will push Rhapsody via its stores.” The Rhapsody service will also be promoted heavily on television by MTV’s parent company Viacom. Van Toffler, president of MTV Networks Music said “the new Rhapsody will have the marketing power of MTV, VH1 and CMT behind it.”
Techdirt, another popular blog, was adamant that MTV had to make big changes to its approach to online music. Their latest post stated “MTV has had an awful lot of trouble over the years trying to become the MTV of the internet.” While the Urge venture with Microsoft was heavily promoted at the time, bloggers and music fans realized quickly that the only thing they got from the “Urge” service was an urge to go download from iTunes. Pricing and selection issues dogged Microsoft and MTV’s supposed iTunes rival and Techdirt noted referred to Urge as a “me-too package that wasn't even remotely compelling. Almost no one used it.”
Seemingly, MTV took too long to enter the world of online music sales. “It seems that the company rested on its TV laurels for way too long, and then totally misunderstood what the online world wanted, originally insisting that its archive of video would make it a player in the space.” While Microsoft was able to offer a big brand name and plenty of marketing and infrastructure assistance, they knew relatively little about the world of music and that’s one of the main reasons why MTV has sought greener pastures.
None of the expert blogs in either the tech or financial realm were willing to say, on the record, that this new venture would be the Internet’s “iTunes killer.” SiliconBeat, another widely-read tech blog, noted that “large music companies are struggling to do end-runs around Apple’s iTunes+iPod hegemony. The big problem with their plans is that cool music-playing hardware is where the money is in music sales these days, something these companies don’t have.” Their post also specified another main reason why MTV scuppered the Urge deal with Microsoft, “nobody went to the site because they were already on iTunes.”
By merging with RealNetworks, a known player in the online music industry, and adding a twist by integrating mobile content through Verizon, there is a distinct possibility that MTV’s new online music venture may have one-upped iTunes by adding expertise in mobile content- a source of revenue that has been growing exponentially in recent years. Nobody is sure exactly how the situation will pan out, but it is clear that MTV wants to hear the world say “I want my MP3!”
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