Sony Music Entertainment is rolling out its ‘Album of the Day’ app to the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Ireland, following its successful launch in Germany in March this year.
As of today (Aug. 13), the app is available to download from the Apple Store for iPhone and iPod Touch (running iOS 7) users and enables music fans to purchase artist albums from Sony’s roster with up to 70% discount, limited for 24 hours.
Kings of Leon, Justin Timberlake, Bruce Springsteen, One Direction and Pink are among the acts featured on the launch line-up, with a different album to be promoted every 24-hours. The app is expected to launch on Android devices in the near future.
“We know that music fans today consume their music in a myriad of ways,” said Phil Savill, vp marketing for Sony Music Commercial Group, in a statement announcing the launch.
“The ‘Album of the Day’ App offers a great new deal on a featured album every day by well-known artists, giving fans the opportunity to download their favorite music directly from the app,” Savill continued.
The global roll out of Sony Music’s ‘Album of the Day’ app reflects labels’ desire to maintain a hold on the steadily declining download market as streaming services such as Spotify, Beats and Deezer grow in popularity.
Sony Music Entertainment is the only major so far to launch its own dedicated sales app that promotes music from across its catalog of imprints and artists, but they are far from alone in the crowded music app space.
Green Day, The Rolling Stones, One Direction, Bon Jovi, Drake, Rascal Flatts, The Doors, Trey Songz and Taylor Swift are just a few of the many artists that have their own standalone apps (of varying quality) promoting releases, videos and tour dates, while apps from music services such as Spotify, SoundCloud, WiMP, Rdio and Shazam are among the most popular on Apple’s App Store.
Specialist genre music apps have also proved a hit with consumers. Universal Music-owned classical label Deutsche Grammophon’s award-winning app ‘Beethoven’s 9th Symphony’ has been downloaded almost 1 million times since its launch in 2013, according to the company.
The major also recently launched a dedicated app to celebrate the 75th anniversary of historic jazz imprint Blue Note Records, which allows premium subscribers of Spotify, Rdio and Deezer to play the label’s repertoire within the app, as well as purchase music from its catalog via iTunes.
