TowerOne.com

There are rumors circulating that Amazon mp3, the month old music download store, is already at number 3 in terms of dollar revenue, blowing competition away in its wake. If this is true, and early indications are that it is, Napster, Rhapsody and Wal-Mart may be dead in the water and the current number 2, eMusic, will be running to the bathroom.

Amazon mp3 is carving out a strong position and supported by the online presence of the mothership, it is offering music downloads at lower prices than iTunes and provides a tool to easily synch with iPods. None of the music is rights managed, a trend beginning to gain momentum in the industry with DRM free downloads now available from EMI and Universal Music.

It is difficult to see any option for incumbent services but to follow suit. Amazon has some way to go before Apple quake in their boots. iTunes handles approximately 70% of all US downloads.

Tags: Amazon, Apple, EMI, eMusic, Napster, Rhapsody, Universal Music, Wal-Mart

The online version of BusinessWeek is reporting that Universal Music Group CEO, Doug Morris, is enlisting the support of major record labels to launch a new music subscription service to compete with Apple iTunes. Morris also hopes to encourage users to gravitate to other players such as the Microsoft Zune. The report says that Morris has already enlisted Sony BMG Music Entertainment as a potential partner and is talking to Warner Music Group.

The move comes following long-term dissatisfaction amongst music industry leaders with the terms imposed by Apple for access to the iTunes store. It is thought that Apple collects approximately 30% of the value of each song sold. The conflict between Morris and Steve Jobs bubbled to the surface in July 2007 when Universal declined to renew its long term agreement to release its music through iTunes.

Although not quite still emerged from its egg, the new service provisionally called Total Music will ask the player hardware companies to absorb subscription charges so that consumers will get their music for free. This is going to be a tough model to develop and Morris as some way to go before he can dent Apple’s dominance of the music download market. iTunes handles approximately 70% of US downloads.

Tags: Apple, Microsoft, Sony BMG, Universal Music, Warner Music