Music Retailers’ Digital Music Alliance Fails

Some more details emerge on Echo’s failure…the story first came out a week ago (I mentioned it here). Echo, the digital music consortium formed by six of the biggest music retailers, has halted any further work.

According to this story, the Echo partners committed to a combined $1 million to $2 million of funding for the consortium, with initial payments of $150,000 each. The ultimate goal was to raise $10 million to $12 million to build the store infrastructure. The plan was to nail down the licensing from the majors and then look for additional outside funding or a buyer. But Apple’s entry into the market raised the bar.

Also in the story: plans on what music retailers are doign i the digital music front now:

– Tower and TransWorld’s FYE have gone the DSP route with Liquid Digital Media.

– FYE likely will increase its download capabilities in fourth-quarter 2004 with the support of BuyServices, a unit of buy.com.

– Virgin plans to launch its download store later this summer.

– Best Buy does not offer online downloads. Its physical stores offer Rhapsody kiosks and Napster prepaid cards

– Two other Echo members, Borders and Hastings, have yet to join the digital fray.

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