SONY BMG GIVES AMAZON MP3 A FULL DECK

When SBMG is added later this month, Amazon MP3 will be the only retailer to offer customers DRM-free MP3s from all four major music labels, as well as over 33,000 independent labels.

“We are excited to offer Amazon MP3 customers DRM-free MP3s from Sony BMG, which represents many of the most popular musicians from the past and present,” said Amazon.com VP Digital Music Bill Carr. “Our Amazon MP3 customers will be able to choose from a full selection of DRM-free music downloads from all four major labels and over 33,000 independents that they can play on virtually any music-capable device. Hey, who swiped my iPod?”

Added SBMGE President Global Digital Business and U.S. Sales Thomas Hesse: “We are excited to be working with Amazon as they continue to build new markets for digital music. We are constantly exploring new ways of making our music available to consumers in the physical space, over the Internet and through mobile phones, and this initiative is the newest element of our ongoing campaign to bring our music to fans wherever they happen to be. If Steve Jobs calls, will you tell him I’m not in?"

Launched in September 2007, Amazon MP3 offers DRM-free MP3 music downloads from more than 270,000 artists, offering the sternest challenge yet to iTunes’ hegemony, which controls upwards of 85% of the digital music market.

Every song and album in the Amazon MP3 download store is encoded at 256 Kbps and most are priced from 89 cents to 99 cents, with albums priced from $5.99 to $9.99. Customers can purchase downloads using Amazon 1-Click shopping, and with the Amazon MP3 Downloader, easily add them to their iTunes or Windows Media Player libraries.