Should iTunes and Satellite Radio be Jumpy Over SpiralFrog?
Universal Music Group (i.e. the world’s largest record company) just inked a deal with SpiralFrog, a music downloading site expected to launch in December, that will allow the site to offer free, entirely ad-supported, music downloads from the Universal catalog. Apparently, downloaders will be required to watch a 90 second advertisement before each download, the only sacrifice required to enjoy the otherwise free service. No word is out yet, however, as to how much of the Universal catalog will be available.
One would expect iTunes to take a big hit (hopefully it will be forced to try something similar–a buck a song is a bit much) and satellite radio to take a smaller hit (people still want new music), but questions remain. The damage done to iTunes, may be tempered by the fact that SpiralFrog downloads won’t play on iPods. I think this influence could go either way: more people without MP3 players already will be driven away from iPods, but will any iPod users be tempted to switch? My guess is not many.
Furthermore, Ted Samson at InfoWorld Tech Watch passes along the trifling news that your downloads from SpiralFrog will only be good for a month–after which you may have to watch an ad again in order to continue listening to the song! If this is true, then SpiralFrog won’t even get off the ground. Yikes.
[Via Reuters]
