CBC Arts / 14 december 2005 12.04 EST
MTV, Microsoft team up for online music
MTV Networks Inc. has made a deal with Microsoft Corp. to develop an online music service to rival the dominance of Apple's iTunes.
The service, to be called Urge, will offer more than two million tracks for sale individually or as part of a subscription package. The service will also offer music over online radio.
Consumers will be able use the music service on the next version of Microsoft’s Windows Media Player, but it will not be playable on an iPod.
Microsoft will build the technology behind Urge and MTV Networks will own and operate it.
The current version of Microsoft's media player has built-in links to several music services, including MusicNow and Napster. Microsoft also sells song downloads on its MSN Music website.
But Microsoft broke off talks with record labels to license music for a new online subscription service of its own a few months ago.
In creating a service that won't work with iPod, Microsoft is both challenging the dominant downloading technology and seeking to create interest in non-iPod music players, which it hopes will be an even bigger market.
IPod represents about 75 per cent of the digital player market, and about 80 per cent of downloaded music passes through Apple’s iTunes, according to Phil Leigh, a digital music analyst with Inside Digital Media.
Microsoft and cable network Viacom, which owns MTV, announced a partnership at the Consumer Electronics Show last year. This appears to be the first tangible result.
MTV Networks increased its online offerings in the past year, including launching broadband services and acquiring online video portal IFilm.
