Music Downloads – Can They Save Newspapers?
I couldn’t resist this one. I have taken my newspaper subscription down to just Sundays. A flight isn’t a flight without reading the newspaper while you wait. This blog post questions if newspapers offered free music downloads with a subscription would it help them stay afloat. It’s an interesting idea. I think music is being prostrated all over the place. However, being a fan of newspapers I want to see something work for them.
I wonder how come with all the quality content how come newspapers can’t support themselves online with ad revenue? Would SEO help? Such as optimizing pages for local businesses – like I do on my blog for Utah Business (because I live in Utah). Or, in the entertainment section rank high for Utah restaurants.
Anyway, read the article about if music downloads can help save newspapers.
2 Responses to “Music Downloads – Can They Save Newspapers?”
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September 14th, 2007 at 4:29 pm
I doubt the music downloads could help save newspapers. The problem is that ad revenues are drawn too thin to fund the things we want to fund with ads. I’ve tried playing the game where a musician gives free downloads. The ad revenue for several thousand downloads (hundreds of thousands of hits) never even came close to covering the $80 a year to host the site, much less give the artist any beer money.
Combining two free products for the price of one free product simply spreads the ad revenue thinner.
September 17th, 2007 at 9:11 pm
Kevin,
Are you the same Kevin Delaney who writes for the Wall Street Journal? If so, I read your articles all the time.
Many desperate industries hope they can salvage things by selling music downloads. I was just reading how Yahoo Music plans big cuts to their music site. I blog for a company that seems to make it work with A LOT of advertising.
Thanks for the real world information. I do hope newspapers pull through.
Janet