MSN and music lovers? Nah, it's Yahoo, iTunes got game!

I've been meaning to kickoff a "Personal Technology" blog for awhile, so here goes ...

Ahhh, the 'ol MicroNews lovefest. The internal Microsoft propoganda machine spins each week and churns out yet another thrilling edition of what's great inside the empire. I had to blog about this because evidently "inside" the empire, MSN Music had a successful launch and now its merely going to spend, ... oh, $12 cool million this summer with the brilliant use of ... drumroll, "Billboard advertising."

Now, due respect, I'll give props to the empire for what appear to be nice, clean and "call-to-action" oriented ads. But "outdoor"? Sorry, I just think the fact that they had to or "chose" to go to with outdoor campaign speaks volumes about how msn music is running behind in the digital music market.

I'll talk about this and why I'm totally diggin' Yahoo! Messenger Beta and Yahoo Music Engine in a separate post. But yea, sure I use Windows Media Player, but I'm a personal computer power user and I try 'em all. I've got YME, Y! Messenger with LaunchCast Plus, msn messenger, and now with my newiPod Mini
that just arrived Tuesday, ... well put it this way, its between YME and iTunes right now. msn music just doesn't have the cool factor, and besides, I know that Microsoft is doing everything it can to exact a toll on my music enjoyment, so I'm opting for the friendliness and openness of YME and iTunes.

MSN Invites Music Lovers to Meet New Music

By Todd Campbell June 24, 2005 With MSN Music in full swing following October’s successful launch, the music service has kicked off its first major promotion and ad campaign. Unveiled this month, the $12 million “Meet New Music” campaign was rolled out in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago and San Francisco with signs and outdoor display ads featured on billboards, buses and subways, at bus stop shelters, plastered on walls and fences, and even on the giant screen at Times Square. The ads feature popular artists including Gwen Stefani, Stevie Wonder and Beyonce, as well as up-and-coming acts like The Bravery and Fall Out Boy. Along with the ad campaign, MSN Music is offering visitors the opportunity to buy six music downloads for the price of one. The promotion aims to persuade people who haven’t taken advantage of legal online music downloads to try MSN Music. MSN Music’s campaign includes displays in New York City, above, and along a freeway in San Francisco, below. “Our first priority was to make sure we could deliver a great experience,” said Rob Bennett, senior director of MSN Entertainment. “Now that we’ve been getting great feedback and reviews from users, the press and analysts for the last six months, it seemed like a great time to launch our first big promotional push.” Although the campaign runs into July and Bennett’s team is still assessing the numbers, early indications suggest a success. According to Bennett, the number of people who visit the service to download music each day has jumped 50 percent. Expectations are that the final numbers will meet or exceed original projections. “We want to double our membership base and we’re definitely on track to do that,” he said. “And by working with top names in the music business like Stevie Wonder and Gwen Stefani, we’ve also generated a lot of buzz and goodwill in the industry.” In addition to the ad campaign and special promotion, MSN Music is sponsoring a three-month road tour that will see six “road stars” travel to major concerts and music festivals in 37 states aboard a specially customized MSN Music bus. The road stars – who were chosen through a nationwide search – will have backstage access to artists and they will maintain blogs and post playlists with their favorite music from MSN Music. They’ll also give away free download cards to MSN Music.