iTunes Competitors: We're Number 2! No, We're Number 2! (AMZN, AAPL)

Amazon's MP3 store, launched last fall, is now number two behind iTunes, says USA Today. No way, says eMusic CEO David Pakman: We're in second place -- just like we've always been! There's no way to actually referee the dispute, because USA Today isn't playing fair: It doesn't actually provide any sales or market share numbers for Amazon. Instead, Pakman says on his blog, reporter Jefferson Graham called the four major labels and asked them who their second biggest digital retailer was, and they said Amazon. (Silicon Alley Insider, USA Today)

Retailers clash with Pepsi over free music

Pepsi is at odds with some of its biggest US retail customers over a national marketing campaign offering free digital music downloads from online retailer Amazon. The partnership has antagonised rival bricks-and-mortar retailers. In an apparent response to retailers’ concerns, Amazon’s name has been banished from the front of Pepsi bottles carrying the promotion. (Financial Times)

Play.com beats Amazon to unrestricted music

Play.com yesterday beat Amazon to become the first big online entertainment retailer in Britain to offer unrestricted digital music downloads. The Jersey-based group is seeking to challenge the dominance of Apple with its PlayDigital service, which offers 1.3 million tracks free of the digital rights management (DRM) technology that limits the devices on which legitimately downloaded tracks can be played. (Times Online, Reuters)

Amazon buys into Lovefilm

Amazon Europe has agreed to cough the cash to acquire the largest stake in DVD-by-post outfit Lovefilm. It'll sell its own UK and German DVD rental businesses to Lovefilm as part of the deal. (The Register)

Amazon MP3 to Go International This Year

Amazon announced that its Amazon MP3 store will become internationally available starting this year, dealing making the Seattle-based company even more of a contender against Apple's iTunes. The company's press release is notably vague on how it defines "this year," making a point of giving no specific dates for any of its websites' international rollouts. (PC World, PR)

Amazon's Internet Movie Database to Acquire Indie Film Website Withoutabox

The Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com), a comprehensive and authoritative source of information on movies, TV, and celebrities and a subsidiary of Amazon.com, announced it has agreed to acquire Without A Box, a worldwide media company dedicated to advancing independent film and connecting artists with audiences. Withoutabox offers a fully integrated service to independent filmmakers for submitting films to festivals worldwide and promoting these films directly to fans everywhere, and tools to manage and promote film festivals online for film festival organizers. (PR, Variety)

Music DRM's Final Days

Less than a year after eMarketer asked "Is DRM Doomed?," the answer is fast becoming "yes." As The New York Times reported, Sony is the last of the big four music labels to offer music unrestricted by DRM for download from Amazon.com. The move is important for several reasons, but music marketers will likely be most excited by the prospect of a larger online music market. The move threatens to undermine Apple’s leadership in this area. Paul Verna, senior analyst at eMarketer, said that Amazon has a number of competitive advantages that may change the market share picture going forward. (eMarketer)

Timberlake appearing in Super Bowl ad

Come Super Bowl Sunday, Amazon.com will get a leg up in the digital music race it's running against Apple Inc.'s iTunes Store. And not just any leg: Justin Timberlake's leg. The boy band heartthrob turned Grammy-winning R&B singer will appear in a spot for Pepsi, kicking off a yearlong $1 billion giveaway of MP3s, CDs, videos, consumer electronics and other items on Amazon. Working with Amazon this year is big deal for Pepsi, which said it will spend more on its "Pepsi Stuff" advertising campaign than on any past marketing effort. While the companies would not disclose financial terms of the deal, teaming up with Pepsi has the potential to transform Amazon from a niche seller to a major player. (AP)

Bruised music majors back iTunes rival

Next month’s Super Bowl will feature a sales promotion that is audacious even by that event’s over-inflated standards: Amazon.com, the largest online retailer, will offer as many as 1bn free downloads from its new digital music store in partnership with Pepsi and singer Justin Timberlake. The promotion represents a coming-out party for the Amazon MP3 service, which launched in September. But it also poses a question: is a viable competitor to Apple’s iTunes digital music store finally on the horizon? (Financial Times)

Amazon Tries On Role As Digital Pier Piper

If digital downloads are ever going to help save the rapidly shrinking music business, 2008 is emerging as an important test year. All eyes will be on Amazon.com and its CEO Jeff Bezos over the next 12 months now that SonyBMG and Warner Music Group have announced they will join Universal Music Group and EMI in selling songs in the MP3 format through the e-commerce powerhouse. Now the only retailer to offer music without digital rights management from all the major record companies, Amazon could contribute more than $500 million in sales in the near term, said Internet consulting firm Forrester Research. (NY Post)

Music Industry, Souring on Apple, Embraces Amazon Service

The major record labels lined up with Pepsi-Cola and Apple four years ago to give away 100 million songs through Apple’s online store, unveiling the promotion in a Super Bowl commercial with music from the band Green Day. The effort helped spread the word about Apple’s iTunes offerings. Pepsi’s promotion is back this year on a much bigger scale — but with the star wattage provided by Justin Timberlake instead of Green Day, and Amazon in place of Apple. The switch is an indicator of the continuing tension between the music industry and Apple. (NY Times)

Sony BMG falls in line with rivals after Amazon deal

Sony BMG became the last of the leading music companies to announce a deal to sell its tracks through Amazon.com in the unprotected MP3 format. The deal, which will take effect later this month, overturns Sony BMG's previous reluctance to sell songs without so-called digital rights management (DRM) software. It also means that Amazon.com, the biggest online retailer, will have the support of all four major music companies as it tries to compete with Apple's iTunes store, which dominates the music download business. (Financial Times)

Amazon, Pepsi Prep Massive MP3 Promotion

Amazon and Pepsi are expected to finally announce an 11-month long promotion in which Pepsi customers can build up points by registering codes on bottle-caps and exchange them for merchandise and downloads from Amazon.com, sources say. The promotion, which will run early February through the end of the year, is expected to launch with a commercial during the Superbowl. Sources say that three of the majors - except Universal Music - are among the music and video labels participating in the promotion. Amazon's paying 40 cents to the labels for each redeemed download. (Billboard)