The "On Demand" Era

New developments in technology have been increasingly leading us to become an "On Demand" entertainment culture. Music is emerging as something we can purchase from almost anywhere. “For the customer it’s an instant gratification,” said Ken Lombard, president of Starbucks Entertainment. “You’ll hear the song, be able to identify what it is and download to the device.” This feature has been introduced in 600 Starbucks locations in Seattle and New York City- however many other cities will be offering the service later this year. The purchase of these songs will show up on either the user's iTunes account, or their phone bills. The charge per song is 99 cents. According to Starbucks, they are the first of any retail outlet to offer this type of capability.

One of the concepts behind this type of marketing is to get consumers to buy on impulse, while they have the impulse. The longer a consumer has to think about a purchase, the more uncertainty can start to seep in. This development is much like the tagging feature that is being offered on HD radio. Receivers and appliances that use HD radio allow users to mark songs they hear on the radio for download. Apple also has a hand in this development. The company has really emerged as a pioneer for advances in devices, software, and conceptual developments in audio technology. "When a song plays on your HD Radio that you like, a simple push of a button will tag it and later give you the chance to preview, purchase, and enjoy it with iTunes and your iPod," said Greg Joswiak, Apple's vice president of iPod Product Marketing.

At first, the iTunes tagging feature will not be used by all HD radio broadcasters. A formal announcement of all stations that will be participating will be released soon- the National Association of Broadcasters convention that was held last week dealt partially with this issue. Already strongly on board is Clear Channel Radio, which will be broadcasting all of its FM stations in HD and will employ the tagging function. They are even urging other major broadcasters to embrace the new technology.


Devices such as this Polk, iPod player/HD radio receiver have a tag button right in the center of the console. The consortium of radio broadcasters known as the HD Digital Radio Alliance are extremely excited about the new iTunes feature, and have announced that they are planning "a multi-million dollar advertising campaign focusing on the JBL and Polk" receivers later this year. Polk says that its new products, such as the I-Sonic Entertainment System 2 will clearly indicate which digital radio frequencies have songs enabled for tagging. All tagged songs will be saved and transferred to an iPod when it is docked. Afterwards, when the iPod is attached to a computer, the users iTunes software will automatically show the information about the songs and allow purchases. All of these songs will be added to a "tagged" playlist. It will be interesting to see the numbers of songs that are purchased in light of the tagging feature- because each one will represent a product that a consumer would not have purchased without this advancement.

Sources:
NY Times
Apple Insider