Amazon UK MP3 music - passes the Roderick Falconer Long Tail Test.

The Beeb notes that Amazon has entered the lists to joust with Apple for Music Downloads in the UK.

Amazon MP3 will sell tracks from 59p and albums from £3.

The new music store will offer more than 3 million songs that will work on any digital music player, including Apple's iPod.

The move puts Amazon in direct competition with Apple for a stake in the growing market of online music sales, which in Britain alone was worth an estimated £163m in 2007.

With Apple at a gouging 79p in the UK, its great to see competition - especially with a DRM free model - and its interesting to see Amazon taking the "Microsoft" role to Apple in the music game. The real shame is on Planet Mobile, whose market this should have been before Apple, and who could still have played the Amazon hand 3 years ago.

Ball, dropped......... I wonder whether Planet Video will drop the same balls today?

As to how useful it is - I use the "Roderick Falconer Long Tail Test", which Amazon passes with flying colours*.

To explain - Roderick Falconer is a little known today (micro-cult?) late Glam/early new wave 70's musician who had a brief bit of fame in my Uni days (alt.disco.thank_god). If a system is mining the long tail as far as him, then it is likely to be interesting enough to be worth bothering with as a source of music (Napster got to him in about late 2000).

Now I happen to like some of his stuff (ie if you like Bowie, Roxy, Talking Heads etc ), but pick your own Roderick if you don't - be fascinated to know who you would test for as your micro-cult....

* and 79p a song.....premium for the micro cult customers