iPod and iTunes are digital music’s top act, but the marketing muscle of Virgin’s Richard Branson makes him a “challenger to be feared,” Alex Salkever writes in the latest column at Business Week Online. Virgin is the “first potential challenger with branding moxie that can match even Apple’s,” he adds. The group, which posted revenues of US$7 billion in 2003, also “has far better natural distribution channels for digital music than Apple,” the columnist opines. He expects Virgin to use its “constellation” of airlines, cell-phone networks and media stores to hawk its own music service.
