Rhapsody Partners with Best Buy For Free Premier Membership
Unlike Spotify, Rdio and most streaming music providers who attract paying customers with extensive and almost unlimited free services, Rhapsody offers only a 30 day free trial. Today, Rhapsody expanded that promotion marginally with a partnership that gives Best Buy customers a free 1 month Premier membership with the purchase of a CD.
Best Buy customers will receive a one-month free membership to Rhapsody Premier every time they p
urchase a qualifying CD in-store or online.
Studies have shown an increasing correlation between music discovery through a streaming music
service and music purchase. According to a recent Nielsen
Music 360 report, 29% of consumers are likely to purchase new music
after hearing it through a streaming service.
Last the company and it's Napster brand, announced a deal with major global telecommunications provider Telefonica that expands their reach into Latin America and Europe; and reasserts Rhapsody's place in the upper tier of digital music competitors.
I will be curious to see if retail partnerships like this drive subscriber conversions. I realize that we often forget how many people are still buying CDs, but is this the best market for Rhapsody to target? For now, I will defer to their executive staff and assume that they have done research that supports this decision. Given how few CDs Best Buy stocks these days, I don’t think you can call this a huge win for awareness.
However, it’s not quite as awkward as Rdio plastering banners that tout “social music discovery” on LA bus stops and Google Play championing “unlimited music” in the subway. I realize that these companies are trying to get in front of many people as possible but it seems like they still don’t know how sell their value proposition. I’m simply not sure if this marketing jargon means anything to mainstream consumers.
This is what makes the coming Beats Music service so interesting because they have shown that they know how to market to people. They are selling a lifestyle and an identity that happens to involve showcasing listening as an activity. Whether they can leverage popular artists and their cultural relevance to sell a subscription music service remains to be seen. But I know they won’t be selling “social music discovery.”