Huge European iTunes giveaway

[rdowns]

LONDON, Aug 2 (Reuters) - Apple is teaming up with Coca-Cola in Europe to give away about 70 million songs on its market-leading iTunes Music Store -- more than a third of the total number of songs it has sold there to date.

The companies declined to disclose terms of the deal.

In just over two years, Apple has sold 200 million songs in Europe, with about 150 million coming in the last 12 months.


Previously, Apple had teamed up with Coke's rival PepsiCo (PEP.N: Quote, Profile, Research) for a giveaway of 100 million songs in the United States.

In Britain, Coke will distribute 70 million song codes inside packs of Coca-Cola and Diet Coke that can be redeemed for tracks at the iTunes store, where they usually sell for 79 pence ($1.47) each.

In Germany Coke will give away some 67,000 iTunes songs and 1,500 iPod portable music players, and other European promotions will follow in the coming months.....

Link

 

[j26]

And what about Ireland???

 

[gauchogolfer]

I wonder if those of us in France will have the brouhaha over DRM held against us. We'll see how much promoting Apple does of the iTMS here, I guess.

Luckily I also have a US iTMS account

 

[Applespider]

At one point, they were promoting this as part of the drive to push Coke Zero over here... guess it's across all Coke lines now...

Hmm... I could do with a few new free Tunes since my last set of freebies have expired.

 

[Jeonat]

Wahey! This is good news for us in Europe

 

[gauchogolfer]

... guess it's across all Coke lines now...

hey Applespider, are you trying to tell us something? The first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem.

 

[whooleytoo]

70 million in the UK, but only 67 thousand in Germany? Sounds a bit strange, is there that much a difference in the music markets?

And yeah, it would be nice to get some in Ireland. Or how about Apple giving one free song. Go on, even one...

 

[j26]

70 million in the UK, but only 67 thousand in Germany? Sounds a bit strange, is there that much a difference in the music markets?

And yeah, it would be nice to get some in Ireland. Or how about Apple giving one free song. Go on, even one...

Or the iPod rebate or SOMETHING. We never see any discounts on anything here.

 

[BoyBach]

Apple's iTunes head speaks on Coca-Cola deal - from Macworld UK.

The two brands have announced a partnership that includes major promotions in the UK and Germany and the launch of new Coke-branded music websites across Europe, including the UK, Germany, Austria and Switzerland. These sites will integrate with iTunes.

As previously reported by Macworld, Coca-Cola has shut down its OD2-powered music service, MyCokeMusic. What wasn't then known was that the closure was in order to create space for the launch of new iTunes-supported services.

...

The Coca-Cola executive described his company as: "Extremely excited that huge brands like Apple and Coke are teaming up in Europe to launch a new music promotion. There's three strands: the 70 million song give-away in the UK alongside similar campaigns across Europe; a new Coke.com music room that offers teenagers the biggest European stage to upload and share their music; and the launch of new music services across Europe from Coca-Cola which integrate with iTunes."

...

Asked if the news meant Coca-Cola still wants to teach the world to sing, Burggraeve simply said: "You could see this as the modern expression of that." He also said, "music is an expression. Teens like to connect with others through music. The deal fits within the Coke Side of life campaign."

 

[j26]

Or the iPod rebate or SOMETHING. We never see any discounts on anything here.

I have to eat my words. They are doing the iPod rebate.

, another reason for me to buy a new mac (which I was going to do anyway)

It runs up until October 7th btw.

 

[Vanilla]

Have you seen the new coke music website? It's geared towards promoting unsigned bands from across Europe (I can only see 4 countries England, Austria, Switzerland and Germany...there's no login though so you can pretty much select any of them and look around), using podcasts as the key format, downloaded from within iTunes. Site looks pretty cool actually and the Adam & Joe podcast in particular is very funny. Not much else going on that I can see for now but I assume they'll be adding to it.

The key thing is it is really pushing the iTunes connection, so it looks like there is more to this partnership than just promotions. It's an interesting look and feel and I notice that the podcast homepage in iTunes has links to the podcasts also..interesting...


[EDIT] apologies, just noticed the press release welshandrew posted which talked about the music site, never noticed it before, just got blinded by the 70 million giveaway bit...

 

[Applespider]

Has anyone actually seen any promo Coke cans/bottles yet?

Usually they appear around the time that it's announced - or that was the case with Extra gum - but haven't seen anything yet.