Daily News

SHAH ALAM: The local music industry is having a hard time selling digital song downloads and blames it on the rampant piracy fostered by P2P (peer-to-peer) filesharing platforms.

So, the next best thing for the music barons to do is give away digital music as a value-add whenever someone buys an MP3 player.

senQ appliance stores is giving away songs when you buy any Samsung MP3 player at its Klang Valley, Seremban or Malacca outlets.

The number of free songs will depend on which particular model of MP3 player you choose but it can be anywhere from 10 to 60 songs.

senQ’s music catalogue has 200,000 Malay, Chinese and Tagalog titles from labels such as Maestro Talents (which houses talents from the hit Akademi Fantasia TV show) and New Southern Records. International titles will be available from this month.

The songs will be in a Digital Rights Management-free MP3 format which means you can transfer the music to other devices without complications.

The digital music can also be loaded from the senQ kiosks onto your cellphone’s memory card or a thumb-drive.

This initiative, called Download Originals Only, is driven by senQ chain owner Senheng Electric (KL) Sdn Bhd and the newly established Ikon Works Pte Ltd — the distribution arm of Ikon Media Group which deals in events management, publishing and other businesses.

Sweet deal

Ikon Media Group managing director Gan Kheng Chai said music can be a great value-add to push related products.

“Selling the music itself is secondary. In this case, it’s a great sweetener for selling MP3 players,” he said.

He said senQ already sells at least 3,000 MP3 players a month nationwide.

Besides the senQ stores, there are also download kiosks in selected Station One Cafe outlets in the Klang Valley — Setapak, Bandar Menjalara, Kuchai Lama and Overseas Union Garden. There is a total of 20 kiosks in senQ and Station One Cafe outlets.

Station One is allowing redemption of free songs by its members, where they earn points for every purchase which will eventually entitle them to free songs.

The set-up costs for each of the kiosks in senQ or Station One is RM7,000, said Gan. “This is just the beginning. Our plan is to install up to 150 kiosks nationwide before the year ends; at fast food chains, cafes, restaurant chains, convenience stores and bookshops.

“These are the places patronised by our target market — youths and music lovers,” he said.

Party with Stacy

Besides promoting music as a value-add, Ikon is also providing incentives to purchasing original music outright.

Music fans can buy a song for RM3 at the senQ outlets. They pay the cashier who will then give them a code which enables them to transfer a song from kiosk to thumb-drive.

“But people expect more than just music for their money nowadays, so we are giving music fans a chance to enter a competition when they buy digital music,” Gan said.

The winner will receive a visit from Akademi Fantasia 6 winner Stacy to his or her home.

“The one who downloads or redeems the most songs will win the prize, which also includes inviting 50 friends and throwing a party where Stacy will make a one-hour appearance. Food and beverage will be paid for by SenQ,” he said.

The contest ends June 30.

Gan said more of such activities are in the pipeline. “We support the industry’s stand on original digital content.

“And we want to help all artistes and musicians to continue receiving their dues so that they can create more music for the listening pleasure of everyone,” he added.