The other day I got an email saying Sina's MyCD was online. This is a legal music store service. You pay some money to get your favorite music. But not online, on traditional CD.
I have to say this idea is brilliant. People in China love online music. They listen to streaming and download MP3. But most of the music they are listening or download is pirated. It is bad for the music industry.
Sina took the initiative in legal digital music market. Sina music box launched 18 months ago. Although we can't download the music, the quality is relatively low, people can listen the legal music. The online media giant in China will share the ad revenue with record companies.
There are several legal music download services in China. I don't think the iTunes-like mode will be as successful as in the US. If people can find free pirated version, why bother buying? What's more, people can not see any material existing for digital music.
I think something changed with Sina MyCD.
First, MyCD is not too expensive. It is only 20 RMB (with S&H) for one disc, full of legal music. That's about 3 US dollars. The price is basically double of common pirated CDs in China. But many legal CDs ask for 18 in stores. People do pay for it, only if they think it's worthy.
Second, Sina MyCD will lower the TCO of music. There is no fixed albums in MyCD, you can add or delete any items in the list. For example, I can put all Jay Chow's top rated tracks in one disc. Without Sina MyCD, I probably have to buy all his discs. This is like iTunes music store, nothing new. But don't forget iTunes music store is not available in China.
Last, as I mentioned above, people in China trend to buy something real, something touchable. MyCD is the one. There is at least a beautiful disc.
I have to say there is a huge opportunity for Sina MyCD business. Sina is more than an online media company; it is also the biggest blog service provider in global Chinese community. So many celebrities have their official personal blogs on Sina. If these people would like to share there favorite MyCD, I bet their royal fans will pay to get one. That's the power of platform!
One more advice to Sina MyCD, give us more choices: We love to show and share the CDs we have. We love to send gifts. We want more CD covers.
More on this topic:
Two amazing web apps from Sina
ps. Sina MyCD is still in close beta. I will post the images once I get permission.
Update Oct. 30, 2008, Sina MyCD is in public beta now. Try it at mycd.sina.cn
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