From Billboard.com:
The digital album gift cards, which retail for $12.99, will be artist-specific and feature album artwork, and will come with bonus material. The card will contain a scratch-off that will reveal a PIN number that can be redeemed for a download at MusicPass.com.
While I applaud any initiative to keep the retailers in the loop, I just can't see how this is going to fare any better than previous attempts to create physical sales of online downloads (not to mention it will allow the labels to monitor who is downloading what).
Isn't the attraction of buying online the idea of convenience and immediate accessibility? Are consumers going to be able to burn a copy of the download? Will they be able to transfer it to an MP3 player, iPod or other? The article claims DRM has been dropped, so I'm a little at a loss how it's progress to include extra steps in the purchase of online music.
Plus, the list of "retailers" sort of damages the claim that Sony BMG is trying to help the retailer.... most of the retailers involved in the program are electronic stores or chains. One's a drug store.
The music stores -- the guys out on the front lines actually invested in trying to sell music to people who want to buy it -- appear to be left out in the cold yet again by the labels.