Music Sites Choosing Amazon Over iTunes

Revenue Hunt & Major Label Demands Drive Partnerships 

Yesterday Emmis announced a pact with iTunes for downloads from its radio station web sites. The deal is part of a growing trend as music and social networking sites search for ways to monetize traffic beyond advertising.

But iTunes is increasingly a second choice as Amazon appears poised to finalize a variety of partnerships. Universal mp3 compatibility is a factor, but so is the web retail giant's  extensive credit card database. Ease of use and trust dominate when purchasing online.

The major labels are also motivating some download store partnerships. If they are going to license a fledgling music discovery service or social network, the majors want to be certain that discovery can lead to purchase.

Napster and Rhapsody are barely a factor in these talks.  Their slow crawl towards DRM-free appear to have left them out of this race altogether