Pepsi is
expected to announce a promotion at next year's
Superbowl
in which it will give away a billion DRM-free music tracks from
Amazon's
online music
store.
Five billion download codes will be hidden in Pepsi products and a billion
codes will open up a free download.
The plan is a repeat of a similar partnership with iTunes in 2004, which saw
five million tracks given away but with copy protection.
"Amazon will serve as the supplier for the downloads, and customers will need
to visit a specific redemption store on the Amazon site to access music from
participating labels," said Ed Christman of
Billboard
magazine.
"While all majors have been approached about participating in the offer, the
price that Amazon is willing to pay appears to still be a sticking point for
some labels.
"Sources say that Amazon will pay labels in the area of 40 cents per track.
This compares to the 65 to 70 cents labels currently receive from Amazon for
digital track sales and the 70 cents they get from Apple."
The lower economic cost of the promotion via Amazon is a factor, but the move
also shows the weakening position of those music companies sticking with selling
content with DRM embedded.
EMI and Universal have both started selling DRM-free material and iTunes also
sells some DRM-free music.
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