Social media site iLike, best known for its Facebook application and for offering links to iTunes music download on their site and on Facebook, has started their own proprietary music store.

The company has apparently made deals with all four major music publishers (Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group, and EMI) and will be able to offer music at competitive prices. A wide variety of music will be available from the iLike site because of their affiliation with major labels, and their music will be priced between $0.89 and $1.29 per track, similar to the prices at the iTunes store.

Music-oriented sites that are basically supported by associated advertising have always had a hard time actually turning a profit in that market space. Because of this, such sites are beginning to open music stores of their own to increase revenue, according to a CNET article. Imeem, which streams music free of charge to users and supports itself through ad sales, is another service that has recently started testing a download store.

The CEO of iLike does not see his newest addition as a competitor to iTunes. Ali Partovi says “We have always linked to iTunes and will continue to do so. 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. Our goal is to provide an immediate, in-page music buying experience for music fans,” he continued. “Today the service is available to users in the U.S. but we also intend to roll it out across our applications and platforms over time.”

Perhaps the best new way to monetize your web site is by selling a large number of things at small prices. That has certainly worked out well for Apple’s iTunes store and for the App Store portion of it. People may well be willing to spend a buck or so for something that they can get right now, full of instant gratification. Maybe that’s the way of the monetized future on the Web.

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Entry was posted on Saturday, August 15th, 2009 at 5:24 pm under Apple, Ecommerce, Internet, Music, Social Media.

Read more entries by Michael W. Jones.
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