Why Microsoft, labels cling to music subscriptions | Digital Media - CNET News
"For anybody wondering why Microsoft and the top record labels continue to promote subscription music services, the answer was revealed Thursday.
David Ring, executive vice president of business development for Universal Music Group's digital arm, said at the EconMusic Conference that the recording industry simply can't sustain itself with download sales alone.
'If what we're trying to do is one-by-one downloads...that's not a business that can grow,' Ring told conference attendees during panel discussion he participated in. 'It won't be healthy for the industry.'
Prior to Ring's statement, Chris Stephenson, an executive in Microsoft's entertainment unit, was ballyhooing the progress made in Zune's subscription service. Zune is the digital music player that Microsoft launched in November 2006 to compete with Apple's iPod. This is also the device that saw a 54 percent decline in sales for the fourth quarter of 2008."
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