Digital music firm RealNetworks claims its three week half price download promotion was a huge success, helping the company to sell three million tracks in just three weeks.
RealNetworks slashed the price of its downloads to 49 cents to coincide with the launch of its new software Harmony, which allows users to reformat the tracks they buy off Real into whatever format their MP3 player requires including, somewhat controversially, the AAC format used by Apple's iPod.
With the loss-leading promotion now complete, RealNetworks vice president Dan Sheeran told reporters last week: "The discount and the Harmony promotion has enabled us to take a leading position in the download segment of the market".
Whether Real will maintain that position now that their pricing is back at the same levels as their competitors remains to be seen. The company hopes an ongoing promotion with Rolling Stone magazine, which will see the ten most popular tracks sold at half price, will help them maintain momentum.