Much talk in the digital music space this morning as to whether the launch of Yahoo's subscription based download platform will cause a price war. Subscriptions to Yahoo's beta download service can be bought for as little as $5 a month. Yahoo have not said whether that price will stay once the service launches proper, but some point out that the web company, unlike many of its competitors in this domain, have the kind of advertising revenues which would let them offer a download subscription at that rate. That has led to speculation as to whether or not the other subscription download platforms - and in particular Napster and RealNetworks Rhapsody - will slash their subscription rates too. Insiders at both say top execs hope the specifics of their subscription offer will justify a higher fee, pointing out that while WalMart entered the market with cut price pay-as-you-go downloads Apple were able to maintain the 99 cents a track rate on the more credible iTunes. Whether that logic stands up remains to be seen.
May 16, 2005
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1 min read
Will Yahoo kick off download price war?
Speculation grows that Yahoo's $5-a-month download subscription could force rivals Napster and Rhapsody to cut their own prices.