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Is Up-Selling Apple's New iTunes Strategy?

PIAS PACTS WITH ITUNES

UP-SELLING - whereby a salesman attempts to have the consumer purchase more expensive items, upgrades, or other add-ons in an attempt to make a more profitable sale. Up-selling usually involves marketing more profitable services or products, but up-selling can also be simply exposing the customer to other options he or she may not have considered previously. (Wikipedia)

Buried in a press release that European distributor PIAS finalized a deal to deliver 44,000 tracks to be sold in DRM free AAC on iTunes was this:

"This new global agreement with iTunes Plus will also see [PIAS] Digital offering a range of new ‘added value’ digital services as part of the deal, including bundling incentives with Ticketmaster and the ability to buy ringtone versions of the repertoire sold via iTunes."

COMMENTARY: We've seen select Tickmaster tie-ins before and heard hints of ringtones. But never before have we seen it as part of a deal with iTunes. Of course, with a few new lines of code other retailers could match iTunes' moves and Amazon could add books, DVD's, t-shirts and more using existing infrastructure.

But if they are first out of the gate, score one more for Apple.

Steve Job's 90 Minute Keynote In 60 Seconds

Here's a clever video summary of yesterday's MacWorld announcements which contained nothing for music fans or the industry and let me to ask, "Has Apple Gone As Far As It Can Go With Music?"

MacWorld Disappoints Fans. Has Apple Gone As Far As It Can Go With Music?

WILL AMAZON AND OTHERS TAKE THE LEAD?

At yesterday's MacWorld keynote, Steve Jobs unveiled no new  major music initiatives at  iTunes or with the iPod line. Jobs said that iTunes had passed the 4 billionth track download, but that represents a slight slow down of growth.  No IPod numbers were shared, but again analysts suspect that sales growth is slowing.

Those same analysts were less than impressed by the announcements that Jobs did make yesterday including movie rentals at iTunes and an amazingly thin new MacBook Air. The stock market reacted sending Apple's stock down $5.45 by the end of trading on Tuesday.

Music industry observors had hoped for an Apple subscription music service or expansion of its wirelesss download platform, but Apple hinted at no such initiatives.  And after claiming to be the original DRM-free warrior, Jobs' puzzlingly slow roll-out unrestricted tracks on from indies on iTunes coupled with a failure thus far to match Amazon's DRM free deals with WMG and Sony BMG is causing some to question his sincerity.

The industry wide roll out of DRM free music has punched huge holes in Jobs' closed iPod/iTunes ecosystem  that may never be repaired. For the moment at least, Amazon has assumed the roles of both innovator and music industry darling; and others are poised to compete as well. There's a deep pocketed and highly competitive Microsoft plotting their next moves. Rhapsody has a freshly minted MTV alliance and promises innovation. Napster and Yahoo Music both still seem determined to find a business model that works.  And then there are dozens of startups with plans to meet some barely recognized consumer desire and grab a piece of the Apple pie.

HYPEBOT'S FUTURE WEEK

• LET US KNOW: DO YOU THINK APPLE HAS GONE AS FAR AS IT CAN GO WITH MUSIC?
• IS CREATIVE COMMONS THE FUTURE OF MUSIC? AN OVERVIEW.