AT&T Mobility taps eMusic for OTA music offering

AT&T Mobility is teaming with independent distributor eMusic to add over-the-air downloads to its mobile music offering.
The carrier introduced a $7.50 monthly subscription service that includes five over-the-air, DRM-free tunes and duplicate copies for PC downloads. Subscribers can buy additional five-song packages for $7.50 each at any time.
The offering complements the sideloading-focused mobile music platform the wireless carrier rolled out in November. That service allows users to access full tracks from online music stores such as Napster, Yahoo Music and eMusic from their mobile phones.
AT&T’s eMusic Mobile is not supported by Apple’s iPhone, which is compatible with the iTunes service.
Billing itself as “the world’s largest retailer of independent music,” eMusic offers more than 2 million tracks from more than 13,000 independent labels. On its Internet site, the company offers a hybrid of subscription and a la carte models, offering 30-song downloads for $10 a month and 75-song downloads for $20 a month.
“EMusic Mobile is not your typical over-the-air service,” said Mark Collins, vice president of consumer data services for AT&T’s wireless unit. “This service, which is as unique as the independent artists found in the eMusic catalog, differentiates itself from the competition through its ease of use, subscription pricing model and the ability to play these tracks in any MP3 player.”
Whether wireless customers will pay a premium for over-the-air downloads remains unclear, however. Sprint Nextel Corp. earlier this year slashed the price of its downloads from $2.50 to $1 each; Verizon Wireless continues to offer $2 over-the-air downloads and $1 downloads to PCs.