“BSkyB [British Sky Broadcasting] has announced plans to close down its music download service, Sky Songs, due to a lack of demand from customers,” Ronan Fitzgerald reports for The BBC.
“The website allowed subscribers to stream music for a monthly fee (£4.99) and buy albums and singles to download, but in a statement, a Sky spokesman said the venture ‘wasn’t working out,'” Fitzgerald reports. “‘We just didn’t see the consumer demand we’d hoped for,’ he continued.”
“The site will remain open until February 2011, but subscribers will not be charged any more monthly fees,” Fitzgerald reports. “It’s thought Sky Songs managed to attract fewer than 10,000 subscribers despite signing deals with all the major record labels.”
Fitzgerald reports, “A letter to customers Sky said… ‘Please be reassured that any tracks you have previously downloaded using the service remain yours to keep and are not affected by the service’s closure. These will remain in your music library and on any devices, such as your iPod or MP3 player, to which you have transferred music files.'”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: BSkyB had a subscription music service?
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “stevenlufc” and “Alan Watson F.” for the heads up.]
My sentiments MDN! Who knew that this service existed? No wonder they were so keen to leap onto the iPad market early, they have obviously learnt a lesson to which they are keen not to repeat. Thank goodness those poor souls who subscribed to the service were able to download their purchases to iPods et al.
I’m sure I sent this to you two days ago based on a newspaper report
Beleaguered BSkyB’s beats bashed by behemoth.
Sky who? Never heard of them.
Sky reached its limit.
I think I speak for most people when I say, who the hell is Sky Songs?
Sky Songs bought the farm & is now Michael Jackson’s latest music companion in the sky…
So, the Sky has fallen…?
Gosh, they kept that quiet…
For those who don’t know: Sky is a UK-based media giant.
They’re the UK’s version of DirecTV or Dish Network, except of a much higher calibre, with better-quality technology. They’re one of the biggest and most profitable Satellite TV providers in the world, and helped to pioneer many technological advancements, such as widescreen, digital broadcast, HD TV, TIVO-like functionality (called “Sky plus”), and are now launching 3D TV services.
It was started by Rupert Murdoch in the late 1980’s but now he only owns part of it. It also operates in Australia. Sky also recently launched in Germany, but is failing to take off.
I’ve been a sky subscriber for 15 years, and I had never heard of this “Sky Songs” service. If they had advertised it better, perhaps they could have stolen me, and many others from their 10,000 subscribers, away from iTunes.
Alfred – thanks. Most Americans don’t know a world exists beyond their borders.
americans. all try to remember the world extends beyond your borders by quite a bit
“Most Americans don’t know a world exists beyond their borders.”
Or, at least, a lot of snobbish, psuedo-intellectual foreigners like to stereotype Americans that way to rationalize their self-delusional, air of intellectual superiority.
Considering the number of Americans that refer to themselves as some sort of ________ (fill in the blank) “hyphenated American,” that’s a rather foolish statement. By doing so, most Americans show a great deal of pride in referring to where they came from.
“Sky also recently launched in Germany, but is failing to take off.”
OK, that was just funny to me.
“Alfred – thanks. Most Americans don’t know a world exists beyond their borders.”
“americans. all try to remember the world extends beyond your borders by quite a bit”
You mean all the places we send our troops, foreign aid and know-how?
Jfdi, you haven’t got a clue what most Americans know.
So why is RealNetworks (RNWK) – $527.74M worth anything?
Chicken Little was right….
Fun reading:
July 2008 – “Music industry: Sky sets up rival for iTunes with Universal deal … Rob Wells, Universal Music International’s senior vice-president of digital, said … ‘This is the future of music consumption, without a shadow of a doubt,’
October 12. 2009 – “News Bits: BSkyB to Challenge iTunes: BSkyB Ltd. (NYSE, London: BSY) is launching a digital music service to compete with Apple Inc.”
October 12, 2009 – “Sky Songs service ‘will rival iTunes’
BSkyB will next week launch its digital music service, Sky Songs, in a move designed to challenge the domination of iTunes … Sky Songs, which will be a subscription-based model, will charge users a fee each month to get access to song downloads. Sky hopes that this will attract customers away from Apple’s iTunes,“
July 23, 2008 – “The Guardian has an article outlining BSkyB’s plans to build an itunes killer in partnership with Universal. “
The laughs continue!…
somebody should tell the people who write the headlines for the story how really, really lame ‘More blood on Apple iTunes Store’s play button: Sky Songs is dead’ really sounds. Seriously, play button? Lame.
I thought everyone in the World knew of Sky!
I guess as an American my Vision of the World is much wider and clearer then that of the average Hick, Redneck, Communist, Socialist, Democrat, Republican or Obamaist.