Groupon is taking their talents to digital music downloads in a move reminiscent of the Lebron James departure to South Beach. The group coupon experts, Groupon, went official by announcing the Grouponicus Store today, with Rhianna’s new album as a key offering.
Starting things off, Grouponicus will offer Rhianna’s album: LOUD for a $5 digital download. As Groupon’s music store starts to grow, the first competitor in its sight is Apple’s iTune Store. For comparison, LOUD is currently available via iTunes for $9.99.
Groupon’s Grouponicus is not simply limited to digital music downloads — it also includes retail items and services. A quick look at the site for Los Angeles (there are currently 19 U.S. cities with Grouponicus stores) and there are five current deals: Robyn Rhodes jewelry, Cabrillo Marine Aquarium membership, couples wine tasting, spa indulgence package and Rhianna’s LOUD album.
If there was ever a question over the success of check-ins and group coupons today’s announcement effectively ends all doubt. In order for Grouponicus to reach the success of its big brother, Groupon, the site is focused entirely around social media. Aggressive promotion to share the deals using Twitter, Email and Facebook looks to be the primarily catalyst for sales.
With big plans to change the way we shop and more recently, buy music, Groupon is poised to leave its mark on the digital download space. The addition of digital music downloads through the formation of the Grouponicus music store is likely a sign of the future. As we become more social and share our “likes” and “dislikes”, the data mining firms will have a field day.
For Grouponicus to succeed as a music store it needs to pick the right digital music downloads. The process is simple — the more people interested in downloading a song, the better chance Groupon has at negotiating a deal. With some serious data mining on Facebook, Groupon might be able to determine exactly which song or album will sell best and predict That’s a huge bargaining chip to bring to the table when you sit down with record labels. I think we can officially say, welcome to the world of wholesale music.
Let us know what you think about Groupon’s entry into the music world with Grouponicus. Will you be buying Rhianna’s LOUD album or would you like to see a lower price?
via FastCompany | Grouponicus
