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Amazon Offers 70-30 Revenue Split for Kindle Magazine and Newspaper Publishers

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Amazon yesterday announced that as of December 1st it will begin offering new revenue sharing terms for magazine and newspaper publishers seeking to bring their content to the Kindle. Under the new terms, Amazon will keep 30% of revenue while passing along the remaining 70% to publishers, with delivery costs for content moved via paid services such as the company's Whispernet cellular data package shared between publishers and Amazon at the same 70-30 level.
Amazon.com, Inc. today announced that magazine and newspaper publishers will soon be eligible to earn a larger share of revenue from each title they sell in the Kindle Store (www.amazon.com/kindlestore). For each magazine or newspaper sold, publishers will be able to earn 70 percent of the retail price, net of delivery costs. These new 70-percent royalty terms will become available on December 1, 2010.
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In order to be eligible for the program, publishers must comply with a set of requirements ensuring a quality customer experience, including at least a 95% match of content to that offered in the print edition and delivery of the content to Amazon at least three hours before print delivery begins.

Amazon's move to what is quickly becoming the standard revenue sharing model for digital content has been seen as a response to Apple's negotiations with publishers in which it is offering a similar split. For their part, publishers have been in large part holding out in hopes of moving their subscriptions outside of the traditional App Store or In App Purchase delivery streams for Apple's devices, looking to avoid having to give a 30% cut to Apple. With Amazon and Apple now on roughly the same page regarding delivery of magazine and newspaper content to their devices, publishers may finally be willing to come onboard with the stabilized pricing structure.

Article Link: Amazon Offers 70-30 Revenue Split for Kindle Magazine and Newspaper Publishers
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2010/11/09/amazon-offers-70-30-revenue-split-for-kindle-magazine-and-newspaper-publishers/
HLdan

HLdan

macrumors 603
Aug 22, 2007
6,383
0
Wow, just wow. As soon as Apple does it everyone else does it. I guess if Apple did 50/50 split Amazon would've copied that too.
 
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Astro7x

macrumors regular
Mar 3, 2010
168
21
What's to stop any of these publishers to release a free App for their magazine, and then make them subscribe via Credit Card to access the content? Other apps do this, like the Sirius radio App, and I would imagine it would be a way to get around the 70/30 split.
 
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Zunjine

macrumors 6502a
Jun 26, 2009
715
0
I recently bought a Kindle. I plan on buying the next iPad when it comes out. For me the two devices aren't in competition but rather each has strengths and weaknesses. For some sorts of magazines, those which rely most on photojournalism and graphical representations of information the iPad is clearly superior. For text heavy stuff I would choose the Kindle. I desperately want more of this sort of content on both devices.

For me, print is a dead medium. There is little that printed content can do which can't be done better and cheaper over the web or on smartphones, tablets and e-readers.
 
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al2o3cr

macrumors regular
Oct 14, 2009
210
0
Note to the haters: this is actually a serious *improvement* over Amazon's existing revenue split. They currently take 55% of retail (yes, more than half) on physical stuff sold in their store by third parties.
 
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dacapo

macrumors 6502
Jan 25, 2010
403
10
al2o3cr said:
Note to the haters: this is actually a serious *improvement* over Amazon's existing revenue split. They currently take 55% of retail (yes, more than half) on physical stuff sold in their store by third parties.
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I don't think anyone's hating the policy. (It doesn't affect consumers one bit.)

It's the fact that Amazon made a change that mimics Apple's policy that people are scoffing at.

But one thing is for sure, Amazon is not doing this to be a copycat. All it is is reactionary policy because Apple's pricing structure is making them less competitive. Make no mistake about it, Amazon is not doing this to be a copycat or to be benevolent. Their backs are against the wall, that's all.
 
BillyBobBongo

BillyBobBongo

macrumors 68030
Jun 21, 2007
2,535
1,139
On The Interweb Thingy!
dacapo said:
It's the fact that Amazon made a change that mimics Apple's policy that people are scoffing at.
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I don't believe it's got anything to do with Apple.

A 70/30 split is pretty common in business. I can't imagine that Apple are the first people to draw up a contract with that sort of sharing, and they wont be the last. People on this site are far too quick to assume ideas are the property of Apple.

Arn is seriously clutching at straws here to pass this off as 'Apple' news.
 
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paul4339

macrumors 65816
Sep 14, 2009
1,448
732
dacapo said:
All it is is reactionary policy because Apple's pricing structure is making them less competitive. Make no mistake about it, Amazon is not doing this to be a copycat or to be benevolent. Their backs are against the wall, that's all.
Click to expand...

I agree, Amazon is just trying to be competitive... this move will also probably be good for Apple as well.

P.
 
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commander.data

macrumors 65816
Nov 10, 2006
1,057
183
It'd be interesting to see Apple change their revenue split to 75/25 once their new data center is up and stable just to see everyone else scramble to react.
 
atari1356

atari1356

macrumors 68000
Feb 27, 2004
1,582
32
Regardless of whether or not this is Apple news... I think it's important, as the 70/30 ratio is great for those generating the content.

I'd love to see some of the stock photo sites take on this model (the last time I checked, I think iStockPhoto was something like 10% to the photographer/artist?). Granted, creating photos and digital art can generally be done quicker than building an app or writing a book... but it would still be nice for artists to be paid more for their talents.
 
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bocomo

macrumors 6502
Jun 29, 2007
495
0
New York
this is why it's news:

"For their part, publishers have been in large part holding out in hopes of moving their subscriptions outside of the traditional App Store or In App Purchase delivery streams for Apple's devices, looking to avoid having to give a 30% cut to Apple. With Amazon and Apple now on roughly the same page regarding delivery of magazine and newspaper content to their devices, publishers may finally be willing to come onboard with the stabilized pricing structure."
 
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audio_inside

macrumors regular
Oct 7, 2003
128
1
Boulder CO
bocomo said:
this is why it's news:

"For their part, publishers have been in large part holding out in hopes of moving their subscriptions outside of the traditional App Store or In App Purchase delivery streams for Apple's devices, looking to avoid having to give a 30% cut to Apple. With Amazon and Apple now on roughly the same page regarding delivery of magazine and newspaper content to their devices, publishers may finally be willing to come onboard with the stabilized pricing structure."
Click to expand...

It may well be "news", but simply mentioning Apple as a competitor in a business tech article about Amazon doesn't make it "Apple news". Apple is such a diversified company now that you could reprint nearly the entire Tech section of the Wall Street Journal with that rationale.

-Steve
 
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Zunjine

macrumors 6502a
Jun 26, 2009
715
0
audio_inside said:
It may well be "news", but simply mentioning Apple as a competitor in a business tech article about Amazon doesn't make it "Apple news". Apple is such a diversified company now that you could reprint nearly the entire Tech section of the Wall Street Journal with that rationale.

-Steve
Click to expand...

I would say it's Apple news because it directly impacts a significant part of Apple's current growth strategy for arguably it's most important product. Over the next decade we'll see a big shift in the publishing industry and the big question now is who will be the power players in 2020. This news is a point on the graph.
 
Mr. Retrofire

Mr. Retrofire

macrumors 603
Mar 2, 2010
5,064
518
www.emiliana.cl/en
Amazon writes:
"publishers must comply with a set of requirements ensuring a quality customer experience"

Yeah, Apples hard- and software engineers should read that too. The list of Apples soft- and hardware disasters grows daily.

Here are a few:
iPhone 3G -> overheat issue, low performance
iPhoto '11 deletes all your photos
Mac OS X 10.6.4 makes most serious games unplayable, and slows down OpenGL based apps
3rd generation MBA has again heat issues and problems with the graphics hardware
...and much more (the above are just from the last 3 months)
 
M

mdatwood

macrumors 6502a
Mar 14, 2010
913
889
East Coast, USA
Mr. Retrofire said:
Amazon writes:
"publishers must comply with a set of requirements ensuring a quality customer experience"

Yeah, Apples hard- and software engineers should read that too. The list of Apples soft- and hardware disasters grows daily.

Here are a few:
iPhone 3G -> overheat issue, low performance
iPhoto '11 deletes all your photos
Mac OS X 10.6.4 makes most serious games unplayable, and slows down OpenGL based apps
3rd generation MBA has again heat issues and problems with the graphics hardware
...and much more (the above are just from the last 3 months)
Click to expand...

And one that my friend still complains about...the non-working Airdisk 'feature' from the AEBS from a couple years ago. When asked about it SJs response...'buy a TC.' Oh wait, TCs have a graveyard website dedicated specifically for them.
 
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bellvis

macrumors newbie
Jan 31, 2009
1
0
BillyBobBongo said:
A 70/30 split is pretty common in business. I can't imagine that Apple are the first people to draw up a contract with that sort of sharing, and they wont be the last. People on this site are far too quick to assume ideas are the property of Apple.
Click to expand...

Thanks for pointing that out. I was just complaining to a friend how some sites are trying to pretend a 70/30 split on electronic media is something new invented by Apple. That share's been the standard for nearly a decade, undoubtedly borrowed from other contract standards. (Everyone has apparently forgotten all previous online stores.)

paul4339 said:
65/35, I think.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/06/magazine/06fob-q4-t.html?_r=1
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That story refers to books, not newspapers and magazines. Different beasts.
 
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oocq

macrumors newbie
Jul 7, 2010
3
0
60-40

I'm an app developer and I'm pretty sure I get 60-40. I think all of the AppStore's pricing is standard between categories so it sounds like Amazon are actually undercutting Apple.
 
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