Sony music subscriptions

Sony Music Entertainment will launch a subscription option on its music retailing site next month, giving users the option to purchase unlimited access to bandit.fm’s content.

The subscription will cost $9.99 and will give users unlimited access to over one million songs from big music companies and independent labels.

Bandit.fm was launched last November and attracts around 100,000 unique browsers each month. But it comprises just 4% of Australia’s online music sales, compared with Apple iTunes 69% and Telstra BigPond’s 8%, a July survey found.

But Sony Music chairman and chief executive Denis Handlin told The Financial Review the subscription is one of many innovations in the pipeline. “Our marketing of the service has really just started and a range of further innovations will roll out in the near future,” Handlin says.

PriceWaterhouseCoopers predicts Australians will spend $87 million on online music purchases in 2010, up from a predicted $65 million this year. In comparison, physical product sales are expected to slide to $281 million this year from $371 million in 2008.