Real sells 3 million music tracks at a loss

RealNetworks has announced that it has sold more than three million music tracks thanks to its aggressive three week price promotion in the US to celebrate its Harmony software launch.  The promotion halved the cost of music tracks to just 49 cents to try and tempt users away from rivals such as Apple iTunes and Napster.  Real's vice president said the Harmony promotion has helped Real take a leading position in the music download market.

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Although the promotion has ended, Real will still offer the Top 10 tracks at the lower price in promotion with Rolling Stones Magazine.  Real has admitted the promotion has hit the companies finances as the songs were sold at a loss. Real's promotion is expected to widen the companies 3rd Quarter losses by about 1 cent per share.

Media software firm RealNetworks says it sold more than Real Logothree million tracks thanks to an aggressive three-week price promotion in the US. The company halved the cost of tracks to 49 cents in mid-August to try to tempt consumers away from Apple's iTunes music store.

The discount offer has ended, but Real said it would continue to offer the top 10 tracks at the lower price. But the promotion has come at a price, eating into the company's finances.

Real has admitted that it lost money on the promotion, saying it will widen its third quarter loss by one cent per share.

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The discount and the Harmony promotion has enabled us to take a leading position in the download segment of the market," said RealNetworks vice president Dan Sheeran.

Full story over at The BBC . I don't see why Real would waste their money to expand their music download market, as there is pretty much no money to be made as most of it goes the music companies.  Unless Real sells hardware like Apple, they will never make any money from digital music downloads. 

Source: BBC News

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