Who needs iTunes? iLike Opens A Download Store.
iLike has opened its own digital download store offering mp3's from all four major label groups. Buy buttons to iTunes and Amazon are still available, but iLike is clearly positioning its own store front and center as the option of choice.
Greg Sandoval at cNet called iLike an iTunes challenger, but iLike CEO Ari Patovi disagrees, "We're not challenging iTunes," he said, "but complementing it with a faster, more immediate option that's better tuned for the impulse-buy: by allowing you to purchase in-page without leaving the Web site you were on."
iLike's "more immediate option" should also return higher margins to the company. Affillite sales for iTunes and Amazon typically return 5-10% to the seller, but direct sales should net iLike closer 30-35%. Getting consumers to give you their credit card takes time; but once accomplished, sales will contribute to the various revenue streams that have reportedly made iLke one of the few cash-flow postive music 2.0 startups.
And iLike is hoping to extend the new sales platform across its network. "Today the service is available to users in the U.S.," says Patovi, "but we also intend to roll it out across our applications and platforms over time."
FYI: I asked iLike over the weekend about indie and d.i.y. product on the new store over the weekend and will update you when they respond.
One of these days someone is going to wake up and realize that many people read about music on blogs, relying on them as their “trusted source” just like they relied on indie music stores in years past. But these blogs are having a really hard time generating enough revenue to keep their heads above water.
And then that someone (maybe Topspin) is going to create a widget that enables these blogs to sell music right from their posts, and instead of getting measly referral fees, the blog will get a retail margin (more like 30% than 5 or 6%). And then we’ll have the modern iteration of the indie music store, the blog writers will be able to make a better living from their passion, and we’ll be ensured that credible, vibrant voices will survive.
One more “download destination” is just an absolute who-gives-a-shit snooze. If iLike were truly forward thinking, they would use this technology “by allowing you to purchase in-page without leaving the Web site you were on” to power sites other than iLike.
I’d love to be able to buy tracks directly from Hypebot, if I was for instance reading a relevant story about Amanda Palmer and I knew that purchasing the track would help the site. Ideally this would be powered by a new music economy player like Topspin – Bruce, have you ever thought about this???
I totally agree with Old Record Guy’s comments. To me, it is interesting that all these startups talk about how the music d/l business is over, and yet keep going back to that for monetizing their content.
It looks like MySpace bought iLike anyway for $20 million. Just goes to show that the iLike guys didnt believe in the model either. Sold at a significantly lower valuation than their last round of funding.
Music-selling widgets have existed for years. If they are going to become a major force, they obviously need to improve in many ways. And they will have deal with the obvious fact that consumers prefer traditional storefronts when purchasing online goods.
The “buy tracks at music blogs” scenario misses one fundamental issue, which I believe MySpace faces as well: people go to those blogs expecting to enjoy music for free. Music blogs have become popular — in some circles — in part because they offer free downloads. Sticking a buy button on a music blog may get a few sales but I don’t expect a tidal wave of purchases from visitors trained to expect free stuff. If artists offered pre-release exclusives or exclusive content via widgets at music blogs, I could see that actually moving the needed.
That said, widgets are in the very early stages and what happens ten years from now is anybody’s guess.
Widget smidget. Don’t get hung up on the technology.
People do expect to get the music for free, not only on blogs, but EVERYWHERE. So perhaps the blogs should have a player that includes ad impressions with every listen and there’s accounting behind it, and the blog gets paid quarterly. The entity that enables the technology would pay the performance fees, and obviously get the larger portion of the ad fees – the blog would get a “retail margin”.
Affiliate fees suck, because you’re handing off your consumer to a third party (Amazon) for a one time vig. A model where the blog can monitize their own readership via their music consumption is long overdue.