To Sell A Song
According to a recent report from Jupiter Research, for every song that is legally bought, about 100 songs are illegally exchanged over the Internet. This is reflected in the revenues of the major music companies, which in 1998, earned a whopping Rs 1,52,000 crore ($38 billion) worldwide. In 2008, that revenue is expected to halve to Rs 68,000 crore ($17 billion) says the Business Standard.
This is leading to a number of marketing innovations.
Nine Inch Nails, for instance, released their album Ghosts I for free on their website, to garner over 800,000 downloads in the first week itself. Along with that, they also knotched up revenues of Rs 6.4 crore ($1.6 million) in the same period. Here’s how:
While they had a free download option, they also gave a choice to their users. For Rs 200 ($5), users could go to the Amazon store and buy all the four digital albums instead of just getting their first album free, while for Rs 3,000 ($75), the more devout could get two audio CDs, one data DVD with all 36 tracks in multi-track format, a Blu-ray disc in high-definition stereo and two hardcover books.
It appears there was sizeable interest from people willing to pay money. What is more relevant is the online buzz that this generates for the band.
Filed under: Business