MS-branded music subscription service unlikely
You won’t be seeing a Microsoft-branded music subscription service any time soon, according to the WSJ [via]. Everyone’s favorite company ended license talks with the record labels, considering their royalty rates high. Uninterested in subsidizing the effort, it couldn’t offer the same prices as Yahoo! Music Unlimited with such rates, according to David Utter from WebProNews [via]. The big four (SonyBMG, EMI, Universal, Warner) claim that a $6-$8/user royalty payment is in line with that the other subscription services (Yahoo! Music Unlimited, Napster To Go, etc.) pay. Despite that, MS may get in the music subscription service game (in a way) after all, since it’s in talks to buy a stake at AOL (who does have such a service).
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