Robbie Williams has pulled off another world first today with the launch of his new Greatest Hits album. He’s releasing it on MMC Memory Card, as well as CD and Vinyl, sold exclusively through Carphone Warehouse.
MMC Memory Card is compatible with high end Nokias at the moment, so I can’t see this selling in vast quantities.
Having said that, listening to music on your mobile phone is as inevitable as …well, another Robbie Williams’ Greatest Hits album in a few year’s time. The only question really is which format will eventually triumph.
This is an interesting move my EMI (Robbie’s record company) as it surely creates conflict with its existing retail distribution, both on and offline. One of the reasons why record companies are claimed to be dragging their heals when co-operating with online initiatives is channel conflict.
I wonder why this doesn’t seem to apply here?
The initiative is part of Carphone Warehouse’s playmobile concept, officially live next month. This is Carphone’s idea of selling pre-loaded memory cards with mobile content such as ringtones, games and video.
Talking of channel conflict, this also puts Carphone in direct competition with the operator portals.
Press release here.
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