Realizing Music Helps Sell Other Stuff
from the what-a-concept dept
For years, we’ve been talking about how the real revolution in the music business will be when the entire industry realizes that the music has become a promotional good for something else. Then, they stop worrying about free music (in fact, it starts to look pretty good) and start focusing on products and services that actually make money. It appears that one record label owner has done exactly that. Realizing that file sharing could be a risk to his business, the guy behind Roc-A-Fella Records moved into a variety of other, complementary businesses, including clothing lines, a fashion magazine and a brand of vodka. Now he’s getting into the digital music player business — taking something of a page from Apple. He’s realized that the music is a loss leader (that is, it’s a promotional good) and that it helps sell the products with real margin.
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EA does it
EA Games seems to be on this with respect to their SimCity series. The music from the game, along with artwork for the CD label and tray insert, are free on thier site.
http://simcity.ea.com/coolstuff/rh_music/index.php