Although their tastes in music might be very different, there is one thing many Penn students can have in common: a sleek software called iTunes that sells millions of digital songs.
But a new program is trying to compete.
Having dominated the digital music industry - and the laptops of Penn students - for the past several years, iTunes may soon be challenged by the social-networking Web site MySpace.com. The site announced plans last week to sell digital music, much of it from unsigned bands.
Although MySpace executives say music listeners want alternatives to iTunes, Marketing professor Peter Fader said that the two providers serve completely different audiences. There is limited potential for serious competition, he said, and Penn users already loyal to iTunes will probably continue to use it.
"The only real competition for MySpace" he said, "will be with other independent-music providers."
Although iTunes sells music by some underground bands, it mostly provides songs by established artists.
"The serious underground indie-rock fans will likely be drawn to MySpace and not toward iTunes, while mainstream music fans will continue to flock iTunes," Fader said.
But this new venture by MySpace might help "convert" some mainstream listeners to underground music, he added.
College junior Tanya Khubchandani, for example, usually buys 10 albums from iTunes every year. She said she is open to the idea of buying music from MySpace if she really likes a particular band, but a glance at the number of users registered with MySpace -106 million - versus the number associated with iTunes - 250 million - suggests that any new converts won't likely affect iTunes' popularity.
But for some blossoming Penn musicians - many of whom use MySpace to publicize their bands, even if they don't have contracts with record labels -it may mean a new audience will soon be purchasing their music.
College junior Zachary Moscow's band, called the Pale Nimbus, uses MySpace because it offers free, user-friendly advertising. But for most aspiring musicians, you've made it when you're on iTunes.
"MySpace is not a substitute for the radio or major music softwares like iTunes, but is rather a supplement," Moscow said.
