Posted by Dr. Vishesh Rawat
Hungama, which thus far operated in the B2B space, mostly as a developer and publisher of mobile content such as ringtones, is launching an entertainment store with an iTunes-like business model. Hungama.com is in the beta stage currently with about two lakh content pieces across music, videos, ringtones, and wallpapers. It’s a subscription model — pay Rs 10 for a single download or Rs 99 for unlimited downloads a month. But the firm has the difficult task of initiating a mind shift change; from free illegal downloads to paying for stuff that is Digital Rights Management (DRM)-protected. Hungama says getting people to pay for legal downloads is possible because of multiple reasons. One, its site is ad-free at the moment and there wouldn’t be any unwarranted pop ups. Illegal download sites have multiple versions of the same content that creatres confusion and are less secure as well. Hungama.com’s content can be downloaded both on PCs and mobile phones. The firm, in a way, would compete with Nokia that in August launched its Music Store service in India. Nokia’s store has over 3 million international, Bollywood, and regional soundtracks across 20 genres. Hungama has Bollywood and regional music content but no international labels as of yet.
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