iLike opens digital music store |
Follow the ups and downs of a new Seattle startup in a series of behind-the-scenes posts by its founders.
Seattle online music startup iLike unveiled a digital music store on Friday -- a move that could create new competition for Apple and Amazon.com. CNET News reports that the store includes tracks from all of the major labels, with songs ranging in price from 89 cents to $1.29.
Earlier this month, iLike CEO Ali Partovi declined to comment on the company's plans to open the store. But he hinted that iLike -- operating at break even for all of this year -- was looking to invest in new areas.
"Because we've been able to reach financial self sustainability, it is giving us the opportunity to spread our wings and expand from just being what people might have come to know us as to be more and bigger," said Partovi.
iLike is the largest music application on Facebook, and the company has been expanding into new areas recently with the introduction of iPhone applications and other services for musicians. iLike now has 50 million registered users and is drawing about 15 million unique visitors per month to the service.
Based on that traffic, iLike could quickly become a force in the very tough online music business which to date has been dominated by Apple's iTunes music store.
But Partovi tells CNET that iTunes -- which iLike will continue to pass its users on to -- is not really a competitor.
"We're not challenging iTunes, but complementing it with a faster, more immediate option that's better tuned for the impulse-buy: by allowing you to purchase in-page without leaving the Web site you were on," he said.
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