Comments on: Universal Music To Apple: Adieu Perhaps?

By: Amazon Adds Warner Music to DRM-Free Roster

Amazon Adds Warner Music to DRM-Free Roster — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 16:11:31 +0000

[...] going with Amazon first on DRM-free tunes, EMI is snubbing Apple much like Universal Music Group did earlier in the year. The music labels don’t like the power Apple has gained over them and [...]

By: Musik und Filme Downloaden - Schnell, Sicher & Gratis

Musik und Filme Downloaden - Schnell, Sicher & Gratis — Sat, 28 Jul 2007 15:34:27 +0000

Bis zu 150GB gratis Musik und Filme downloaden…

Dort sind die 3 bekanntesten Usenet Anbieter im deutschsprachigen Raum aufgelistet…

By: Chráňme duševné vlastníctvo, ale obmedzený čas : M+M+M+M (4M)

Chráňme duševné vlastníctvo, ale obmedzený čas : M+M+M+M (4M) — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 09:41:04 +0000

[...] Poznáte iTunes? To je ten prvý, minimálne marketingovo, úspešný elektronický obchod, kde sa dali legálne kúpiť pesničky. Zdalo sa, že Apple svojou veľkosťou presvedčí vydavateľské firmy a nová forma distribúcie dostane zelenú. Až do nedávna. “Universal Music Group (UMG) has turned down an offer to renew it’s contract with Apple for 2 years, instead moving to a month-to-month sales basis with Universal allegedly moving to end it’s music sales on iTunes all together.” Zdroj: Universal Music To Apple: Adieu Perhaps? [...]

By: Did The Music Folks Really Kill Those Damn Pirates?

Did The Music Folks Really Kill Those Damn Pirates? — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 09:21:52 +0000

[...] En del i bransjen har nok begynt å skjønne dette, men det er definitivt langt igjen. [...]

By: Pierre Col

Pierre Col — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 16:08:33 +0000

The biggest issue with iTunes is the fixed price : Universal Music and other music majors cannot choose to sell their back catalogue for 50 c / track, and their new hits for 1,5 $ / track !

Fixed prices reduce the competition, for sure. This is interesting for Apple, not for content ptoviders like Universal Music, because Apple makes far more profits with iPods and iPhones devices than with iTunes tracks, and Apple does not share the iPod + iPhones profits with content providers…

By: Concrete Stain

Concrete Stain — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 14:02:55 +0000

I hate to see companies act so stupidly…

- I don’t see itunes going above 99 cents for a long time..

By: tekwek

tekwek — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 01:01:00 +0000

don’t think it’ll add to piracy….most of iTunes buyers are folks that don’t know how to use a torrent or think its a hassle or are just against piracy…..so if they can’t find songs on iTunes they’ll go to the next provider of Universal’s music, be it Microsoft or Universal itself…..

By: Mike

Mike — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 21:00:53 +0000

This is very stupid of Universal. By taking their tracks off of itunes they are sending the wrong signal to consumers. They basicly are saying well were not going to make it easy to purchase music so go ahead and pirate.

By: bw

bw — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 18:44:55 +0000

I really don’t understand this move and totally agree that this will lead to more piracy. The consumers have spoken.. they are unwilling to pay money for a form of entertainment that has been devalued to to oversupply and uncontrolled, ubiquitous P2P distribution.

As a small label, I’d rather sell more tracks inexpensively than less at a higher price. I also think an inexpensive subscribe-to-own model ala eMusic could be a winner. Encourage new listeners, encourage people to do the right thing.. make it cheap and easy.

By: jalbert

jalbert — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 18:43:09 +0000

This is 100% warning shot across the bow of itunes. I like itunes and deal with them quite a bit, however placing all online distibution in the hands of one entity is dangerous for both the labels and the consumer. Locking into a multi-year agreement where you have no leverage is not good business sense when it requires that you give all digital content to them. If you look at the film studio model, the studios are hesitant to give ITunes the deal they require because they don’t want to lock users (and the studios) into a monopoly (which it will in essense become). ITunes is seeking to own each vertical from creation (Disney) to distibution (itunes) to hardware (IPod/AppleTV/iPhone/etc). Can’t fault them for that, and they make great equipment, but they can’t be the only player in town.

Let’s see what happens in Q4 with Amazon and down the road with others. Until then, why lock into something you don’t have too

By: Mac Lender

Mac Lender — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 18:18:14 +0000

UMG profits on iTunes music is way higher than their profit on actual CDs. UMG is now being greedy. I for one will boycott UMG if they pull out….

By: Henry

Henry — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 18:11:59 +0000

Completely disagree with Drew. If Apple doesn’t care about music, why introduce an iPod at considerable risk to them as a company. Remember it was Apple’s insistence of a single price, single DRM and per-track purchases that revolutionized the industry.

If it weren’t for Apple we’d still be pirating music.

Like most consumers, I choose to have an iPod, because it’s by far the best music player, as the iPhone is by far the best phone/music player/internet device. That means I use iTunes and by from the iTunes store. My “lock in” doesn’t feel like much of a lock in. It’s like - OMG, you stop me buying music where it’s often more expensive, I have fewer rights to play it, and is managed by poorer software. I feel such a victim of a company that believes mediocrity is unacceptable.

People have a choice, if they buy a Zune, they use the Zune Marketplace, if they buy something else, they probably use some other store that’s probably dying now Microsoft have screwed them over. Apple are selling music, why don’t the labels want that? I’m confused.

By: Loic

Loic — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 17:49:59 +0000

Agree with Drew too. Having all majors saying “yes” to iTunes will end to a distributor monopoly. Competition is good. I don’t mind to buy UMG songs on Amazon, Virgin or other online stores.

By: Drama 2.0

Drama 2.0 — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 16:05:06 +0000

Drew: exactly. While I don’t think it would necessarily be a wise move for UMG to leave iTunes, the fact of the matter is that the interests of the two parties are not very well aligned, and that’s never good.

By: Sprague Dawley

Sprague Dawley — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 15:33:45 +0000

Drew has it. This is an attempt to wrest some control from Jobs, who uses (their) content to sell his hardware.

By: Upanisad

Upanisad — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 15:30:14 +0000

A suicide move, if true. For one simple reason: most artist know (and buy ?) only iTunes tracks. Will an artist be happy when he learns that is contract renewal has a no-iTunes clause? I’d never sign that!

By: TechBeta» Blog Archive » Universal Music To Apple: Adieu Perhaps?

TechBeta» Blog Archive » Universal Music To Apple: Adieu Perhaps? — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 15:25:41 +0000

[...] more: Techcrunch.com Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and [...]

By: Robert Seidman

Robert Seidman — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 14:57:06 +0000

the odds of Universal walking away from iTunes ultimately are as good as Universal walking away from Wal-Mart and Best Buy — in other words, not good at all. As the 3rd largest retailer of music in the USA now, I don’t see Universal walking away from Apple.

Content may be king, but without distribution, not so much…

By: John

John — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 14:45:32 +0000

Universal is run by a bunch of idiots…the same ones that bought mp3.com and didn’t have a clue what to do with it so they sold it.

I wonder how many of their execs have taken an economics course…

By: Drew Robertson

Drew Robertson — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 14:34:59 +0000

Not to carry water for UMG but….. Apple doesn’t give a piss about the music business. iTunes is at best a break-even proposition that helps them sell more 30Gb+ iPods. The share of hard drive taken up by legit iTunes purchases is trivial compared to sideloads and illegal downloads. Consequently music is free. Bad news for UMG and the other labels but also for the other folks in the industry including the “artist”. The labels last chance is to try to mess up Apple’s ecosystem. First by undermining iTunes and then maybe offering hardware alternatives to iPod. Will they succeed? Dunno. But playing Apple’s game has been a disaster so far. They’ve got nothing more to lose.

By: Paulpod

Paulpod — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 14:14:15 +0000

Great Universal, it took 4 years but you (er, apple) managed to get people into the habit of picking up tracks (but not albums so much) legally online and now you think you can walk away?

Cos finding pirate tracks has got so much harder these past 4 years… a fragile peace.

UMG probably think they have a ‘killer brand’ to build their own store around no doubt… arf!

By: Greg

Greg — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 13:44:34 +0000

Huh. I guess they’re starting to play hardball with Jobs about the 99 cent pricing. I hope he just lets them walk, and doesn’t give them the variable pricing or “buy this crappy song to get this good one” bundling.

Kind of funny how EMI is offering DRM-free downloads on iTunes, and Universal is going the opposite direction, and likely moving to a more restrictive, less convenient retailer.

By: PookieBadmuffin

PookieBadmuffin — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 13:14:50 +0000

Price increases for… black. Disposable iPods without replaceable batteries. OS upgrades every 14 months.

Greed, indeed.

By: az1324

az1324 — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 13:09:35 +0000

What happened to all those companies reverse engineering Fairplay so that other providers could start selling ipod compatible drmed music?

By: Coralpoetry

Coralpoetry — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 13:04:55 +0000

Hi,

Adieu? It could be a case of sour grapes over a half-hearted discussion by Apple to invest in Universal Music in 2003.

Regards,
Coral

http://www.coralpoetry.blgospot.com