Slot Music

published

on September 26, 2008

in collaboration, future of music, music, music business, and technology

. 3 Comments Tags: album, BMG, EMI, media, music industry, SanDisk, Sony, Universal Music, Warner Bros..

The record labels, and of course those standing to make a lot of money, are apparently unwilling to give up on the physical album sale. SanDisk, who has been making huge strides lately in the world of mini memory cards and cell phone integration has announced that with the backing of four major labels, EMI, Sony, BMG, and Universal, they will be selling albums in mini-SD card format. While not quite the trend we’re seeing in terms of more and more people switching to the mp3 format on players as opposed to hard copies of albums, the format here is an interesting step for the labels as they will be embracing non-DRM mp3 files on these mini-albums. You’ll buy the album in a Target or Wal-Mart, slide it into the micro-SD card on your cell phone and listen. It will be interesting to see how much this gains traction in a market place continually being re-invented to create more purchasing power at home as opposed to in-store physical sales.

3 Responses to “Slot Music”

Feed for this Entry

1 audiot
September 27, 2008 at 2:09 am

hehehe, just thinking about a tiny booklet with all the song’s lyrics written in microscopic size and pictures of the band 🙂
it really seems nobody has an idea where to go from here – all those simultaneous approaches from bluray to sd-card-albums to whatever else are just one huuuuuge question mark hovering over the heads of the big ‘uns wondering what they can be indecisive about next…
2 Bassboy
December 30, 2008 at 8:38 pm

This by far is the biggest cry for help that I have seen from the music industry. I mean really. Micro-SD has been out for a long time, this is not some new thing or break-through technology ( well maybe far the music industry that seems to make it a habit of stay behind the curve ). Way would I go and pay $14.00 for a Slot-music card when…… I can just go online and buy a 2-4 gig Micro-SD for like $7, and download whatever album I want or put my own on their, and have space for more. This may have been a great idea like pre-ipod. I don’t know who is worst. The major labels or the major Car makers when it comes to decision making. What’s next the portable 8-track player…….
3 Thomas Bailey
January 17, 2009 at 3:04 pm

I thought Mix Sticks and Mix Clips were the big thing, now they’re coming out with slotMusic? I have calculated that a 1 GB card han hold about 6 hours. That’s about 2 operas or 10-15 symphonies. Such large capacities are better suited for classical than the popular songs that are available.