LoPinto+M.+Final+Report+Proposal

LoPinto M TO: Proximity Music Team FROM: Michael LoPinto SUBJECT: Proposal for Mobile Subscription DATE: April 13, 2010 The music industry has been anticipating the decline in digital music sales for the last decade. A more profitable business strategy needs to be developed to make profit for the artists as well as the music labels behind them. I propose to write a report on how the mobile subscription will subdue music piracy.

**Need** As proven by Rhapsody, the cost of online music and subscription services does not appeal to Gen-Y consumers. It is important to remember the following regarding the changing market of digital media:

-Digital media is becoming easier to obtain without paying for it in the U.S. In other countries, government intervention has stricter policies against illegal downloading, causing digital media sales as well as CDs sales to be higher than in places with little restrictions.

-Product placement has been used in television, movies, and music for years and it is time the music industry embraces its ability to advertise and reach a consumer that now has the option to bypass ads online and on television with relative ease.

-Advertising agencies are having a difficult time with so much technology available to a consumer that does not want to spend even 15-30 seconds to hear about a product, and they choose many times to close or fast-forward past the ad to get to their entertainment.

With the growth of Smart phones, I believe the subscription model needs to go mobile. Gen-Y is notorious for obsessive cellular phone behavior. Advertising and creating cell phone applications are all ways to promote an artist’s songs. The mobile subscription can allow for streaming videos and music that appeal to all audiences. Pandora, a blackberry application, introduces new music to a listener by allowing the consumer to choose genre of music he or she wants to listen to. Another benefit to the mobile subscription that appeals to Gen-Y is the consumer does not have to give out his credit card information to a music service. The consumer just charges the expense to his or her cell phone.

**Topics**

The proposed report: "Rhapsody tries music subscription iPhone app" will deal with the following topics: - How Rhapsody deals with mobile devices - The effect of Rhapsody’s restructuring on their business plan - What the future holds for subscription based music services
 * Sources**

The following are articles detailing the topics that will be covered in the proposed report.

-Bell, Donald. "Rhapsody tries music subscription iPhone app". Cnet. August 24, 2009  -Bonanos, Paul. (February 11, 2010). Newly Independent Rhapsody’s Subsriber Base Still Shrinking. Retrieved February 28, 2010 from [] -Hansell, Saul. (June 30, 2008). Rhapsody Runs Hard Just To Stay in Place. Retrieved February 28, 2010 from [|http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/30/rhapsody-runs-hard-just-to-stay-in-place]