| When music fans switched their collections from vinyl to cassette tapes in the ’70s and ’80s and then from cassettes to CDs in the ’90s, they probably thought they were finished.
The painstaking and expensive process of building a new collection in the latest, greatest and most portable music format isn’t a small chore. Add that to the cost of the associated technology and it’s even more difficult to ask consumers to make the switch.
But with the growth of digital music formats, downloadable music and DVD releases, consumers will soon need to make another choice about where to spend their money and, more importantly, how they will listen.
London-based music label and distributor Eagle Rock Entertainment is poised to jump on board with yet another format – Sony’s universal media disc for the PlayStation Portable (PSP).
Sony released its bid to tackle the portable gaming market on March 24, but it’s not just for playing games. The system is like a mini entertainment centre, allowing users to listen to music, or to look at photos and watch movies on its 15-centimetre-wide colour screen.
Eagle Rock bills itself as one of the first distributors to embrace the PSP for releasing music, and is converting 10 of its existing concert-video DVDs – including Nirvana, Pink Floyd and Snoop Dogg – to the format beginning this August. They’ll be sold in music, gaming and retail stores for approximately $20.
The universal media discs aren’t exactly universal. Sony’s portable gaming system – with its $300 price tag – is the only device to support the format, and Sony hasn’t announced plans to change that. But that doesn’t worry Eagle Rock’s director of Canadian operations, David MacMillan. He says the system is already "a solid hit," ensuring a lucrative market.
"It’s just one of the best things out in the market now for personal, portable players," says MacMillan from his Mississauga, Ontario office.
The numbers certainly agree. Sony sold more than a half-million PSPs in North America in the two days following its release, with sales reaching $150 million after the first week.
And Eagle Rock is targeting the millions of people quickly embracing Sony’s newest toy.
"Those aren’t the people I’m after," says MacMillan, referring to people who have yet to or don’t plan to buy into the unit. "I think we’re giving the purchaser of these PSP units another exciting way to enjoy their unit even more."
Richard Sutherland, who will be teaching a course about the music industry at the University of Calgary, says that might be Eagle Rock’s saving grace.
"The proprietary thing has really worked for (Sony) in the game industry," he says. "The games are not cross-platform and you carry the same model and see if you can make it work, not just with games anymore, but other things as well."
Sutherland says that, since Eagle Rock is targeting people who have already bought the PSP, asking them to adopt it as an avenue to play and watch music is less of a risk – using it as a multifaceted piece of hardware much like modern cellphones.
"It’s a Swiss Army knife that does umpteen different things," he says. "It’s an interesting strategy in music."
Sony may have learned its lesson when it comes to proprietary music technology.
The company released the Mini Disc with much fanfare in the late 1990s, but quickly gave up on releasing pre-recorded music on the discs.
Around the same time, Phillips – the company that first released the CD in 1983 – tried pushing the digital compact cassette with similar results.
"We’ve been down this road before with music with the proliferation of formats," says Sutherland. "It’s hard to say where it’s going to go. Often when you have too many, people just get confused and don’t go for any."
Even MacMillan concedes there will be a point when consumers will be turned off by the barrage of formats. "I don’t know about too many, but there are certainly a lot of choices," he says. "There is a lot for the consumer to take on and they can only take on so much, that’s for sure."
Eagle Rock is hoping to avoid that problem by using the hype surrounding the PSP to drive sales.
"Ask any kid – they’re crazy about this shit." |
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