Amazon advanced

Amazon to challenge iTunes with 29p MP3 music downloads
Level 3 Advanced
1 Key words

Fill the gaps in the sentences using these key words from the text.

speculation dominance custom grandstanding dent
indefinitely revenue rival back catalogue slice

1. _____________________ is the income you get from business activities.

2. In business, a _____________________ is a competitor.

3. _____________________ is the practice of buying goods from a particular company.

4. If a company has _____________________ in a particular market, it has more power or influence than
other companies.

5. A _____________________ is a part or a share of something.

6. A _____________________ is all the records a company or an artist has produced in the past.

7. ____________________ is a situation in which people make guesses about what has happened or might happen.

8. _____________________ is behaviour that is intended to get public attention and approval.

9. If something happens _____________________, it continues for a period of time that has no fixed end.

10. If you make a _____________________ in something, you reduce the amount of it.

2 Correct the statements

These statements are all false. Look in the text and correct the information.

1. Amazon has the largest share of the music download market.

2. Apple has cut the price of more than 100 tracks to just 29p.

3. More competition is bad news for digital music consumers.

4. Amazon sells album downloads for as little as £2.

5. The Managing Director of Record of the Day thinks music is overvalued.

6. Calvin Harris’ new song is on sale at a supermarket for 75p.
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© Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2009
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NEWS LESSONS / Amazon to challenge iTunes with 29p MP3 music downloads / Advanced
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Level 3 Advanced

Amazon to challenge iTunes with 29p toppled any time soon. “If Amazon are going
MP3 music downloads to compete they are going to have to throw
• Online retailer’s cheap tracks may spark price war everything at iTunes or they just won’t make a
• Fears that music will be devalued by discounting dent. Even if they are cheaper it will take time to
change people’s habits and it is still that bit more
Alexandra Topping
inconvenient.” He added that the real challenge
April 8, 2009
for digital online services such as Amazon and
Apple would be to convert traditional music
1 The giant online retailer Amazon declared an
buyers to digital while finding new ways to
MP3 price war yesterday by slashing the price
bridge the gulf between physical and digital
of many top-selling downloads in an attempt to
music revenue. “Companies have to find ways of
grab a bigger slice of the legal music download
selling to people who don’t want to pay. Variable
market. In a move seen by experts as an
and aggressive pricing is one weapon in their
aggressive attempt to steal custom from its rival
armoury, but it’s only part of the battle. The
iTunes, Amazon cut the price of more than 100
question is not who can beat iTunes but who
tracks – including Lily Allen’s The Fear and Lady
can take the industry on from what iTunes have
GaGa’s Poker Face – to 29p.
achieved,” he said.
2 On the bargain list, which spans pop, hip-hop,
6 Paul Scaife, managing director of the music
rock, classical and jazz, music fans can also find
industry newsletter Record of the Day, said more
older tracks such as Oasis’s Wonderwall and
competition was good news for digital music
Neil Young’s Rockin’ in the Free World for up to
consumers, and variable pricing was welcomed
70p less than on Apple’s iTunes. Amazon, which
by labels who have long lobbied for songs to be
also offers albums for as little as £3, said the
priced according to fans’ perceived value. But
reductions were being made indefinitely.
he warned: “Music has been pretty devalued
already. If they continue to sell at a discount that
3 The news comes as Apple – which is estimated
becomes the de facto price and anything else
to control upwards of 70% of the legal
seems expensive. A single track has got to be
downloading market – announced some of its hit
worth more than 29p.”
tracks would increase in price, while other back
catalogue songs would be reduced, as part of
7 Record labels are not the only ones concerned
the company’s introduction of variable pricing.
about pricing. Scottish dance artist Calvin Harris,
A spokesman confirmed that songs would now
whose single I’m Not Alone is expected to reach
be available at the iTunes store at 59p, 79p and
the top five in the singles chart, posted a shocked
99p but refused to fuel speculation about an MP3
comment on Twitter after discovering the price of
price war, saying the company did not comment
his song at Tesco. He wrote: “Good Lord! I just
on competitors or future pricing strategy.
saw you can buy it at Tesco’s for 57p! 57p! That
track took me two years! 57p! Two years! 57p!
4 Music industry analyst Mark Mulligan,
No wonder music’s in trouble.”
vice-president of Forrester Research, said
Amazon’s actions were the first serious threat
to Apple’s dominance of the music download © Guardian News & Media 2009
market. “Until this point Amazon have been First published in The Guardian, 08/04/09
something of a sleeping giant, we are now seeing
some real grandstanding,” he said.

5 But despite the online retailer’s marketing
offensive, the Apple crown was unlikely to be
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Level 3 Advanced
3 Comprehension check

Choose the best answer according to the text.
1. Amazon has cut the prices of its music downloads …
a. … in order to change people’s habits.
b. ... in order to move away from selling physical music.
c. … in order to take a share of a market dominated by Apple.

2. Apple has announced it intends …
a. … to increase the price of its online music.
b. … to reduce the price of its online music.
c. … to increase the price of some online tracks and reduce the price of others.

3. Music industry analyst Mark Mulligan believes …
a. … Amazon will soon challenge Apple’s dominance of the music download market.
b. … Apple’s dominance of the music download market is unlikely to end soon.
c. … traditional music buyers will soon convert to digital.

4. Mulligan also believes …
a. … the main question is who can build on the achievements of iTunes.
b. … the main question is who can challenge the dominance of iTunes.
c. … the main question is whether aggressive pricing can work.

4 Find the word

Find the following words and phrases in the text.
1. A two-word expression meaning a situation in which businesses compete to attract customers by lowering
prices. (para 1)
2. A two-word expression meaning a plan or method to set prices. (para 3)
3. A two-word expression meaning an important player in a particular sector who has, up to now, been inactive.
(para 3)
4. A verb meaning to make someone in a position of power lose that power. (para 4)
5. A three-word expression that means to reduce the differences that separate two things. (para 4)
6. A two-word expression meaning an approach to fixing prices that allows them to rise and fall. (para 4)
7. A five-word expression meaning something that is available to help you achieve something difficult. (para 4)
8. A two-word expression that means actual, even though not official. (para 5)
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Level 3 Advanced
5 Verb + noun collocations

Match the verbs in the left-hand column with the nouns or noun phrases in the right-hand column to form
phrases from the text.

1. slash a. the market
2. make b. people’s habits
3. change c. speculation
4. bridge d. a comment
5. fuel e. the gulf
6. find f. prices
7. post g. ways of doing something
8. control h. reductions

6 Word building

Complete the sentences with the correct form of the word in brackets at the end of each sentence.

1. Amazon may soon be a serious _________________ to Apple in the music download business. [COMPETE]
2. Both companies have adopted _________________ pricing strategies. [VARY]
3. This is seen as the first serious threat to Apple’s _________________ of the market. [DOMINATE]
4. Mark Mulligan is a music industry _________________. [ANALYSE]
5. Amazon has launched a marketing _________________. [OFFENCE]
6. The price _________________ are being made indefinitely. [REDUCE]

7 Discussion

Do you buy music online? Why? Why not? If you buy music online, what are the most important factors in
deciding which retailer you use?
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Level 3 Advanced

KEY

1 Key words 4 Find the word

1. revenue 1. price war
2. rival 2. pricing strategy
3. custom 3. sleeping giant
4. dominance 4. topple
5. slice 5. bridge the gulf
6. back catalogue 6. variable pricing
7. speculation 7. a weapon in your armoury
8. grandstanding 8. de facto
9. indefinitely
10. dent
5 Verb + noun collocations

2 Correct the statements 1. f
2. h
1. Apple has the largest share of the music 3. b
download market. 4. e
2. Amazon has cut the price of more than 100 tracks 5. c
to just 29p. 6. g
3. More competition is good news for digital 7. d
music consumers. 8. a
4. Amazon sells album downloads for as little as £3.
5. The Managing Director of Record of the Day thinks
music is devalued. 6 Word building
6. Calvin Harris’ new song is on sale at a supermarket
for 57p. 1. competitor
2. variable
3. dominance
3 Comprehension check 4. analyst
5. offensive
1. c 6. reductions
2. c
3. b
4. a
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Amazon advanced

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