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July 25, 2008 11:50:51 AM CDT

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Pepsi, Amazon Could Spark Digital Music Revolution

Posted Dec 2, 07 11:55 PM CST in Business,  Technology 

(Newser) – Pepsi and Amazon aren’t music producers, but they may inspire large-scale changes in the industry, Reuters says. The two companies will launch a music download promotion of MP3 songs during the Super Bowl next year, a deal pushing music titans like Warner Music and Sony BMG to consider distributing songs in the same format, which bypasses digital rights management technology.

Sony was opposed to the switch but softened its position after successful testing by Universal Music and pressure from Wal-Mart, who, like Amazon, wants to convert its music library to MP3. Digital track sales spiked 416% since 2004, a figure expected to grow after iPods are gifted at Christmas. Amazon and Wal-Mart hope MP3’s will help them cut into Apple iTune’s dominant market share.

Source Reuters

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An Apple Special event attendee holds the new iPod Classic September 5, 2007 in San Francisco, California. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)   (Getty Images)
Pepsi will feature a download promotion on the inside of 5 billion of its soda bottlecaps. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, file)   (Associated Press)
Consumers downloading music. (MIYUKI RYOKO/AFP/Getty Images)   (Getty Images)
Super Bowl commercials will nonetheless double as the coming-out party for Amazon's digital download site, which soft-launched September 25. Since then, without aggressively promoting its download business,...   (Getty Images)
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Apple  • Amazon.com  • music downloads  • Universal Music Group  • Pepsi  • iTunes Store  • Warner Music  • online music  • mp3  • Sony BMG Music Entertainment


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