Yes, because every crack marketer knows that consumers prefer to pay more and get less, as long as they're FANS of some band or other.
Your attitude far exceeds your aptitude, buddy.
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Apple and EMI Music Launch 'iTunes Pass' Short-Term Subscriptions
- Thread starter hanschien
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Yes, because every crack marketer knows that consumers prefer to pay more and get less, as long as they're FANS of some band or other.
Your attitude far exceeds your aptitude, buddy.
No, I don't believe the pass covers previous releases. It sounds like it only covers content released within a set time period.
It sounds like you do keep the downloaded content after the time period has passed.
If I were that much of a fan, I'd rather have the full quality CD version which I could rip into lossless format, not to mention the physical album art that comes with it. Although, unlike the current trends, I don't buy any of my music in digital form. It still seems iffy.
I'm actually a pretty big fan.
But I'm still not convinced. Perhaps if this turns out to be an incredible value offering something like 50$ worth of content, I'll change my mind. But, knowing the record companies, I'm dubious about all this.
Give me strength!
It's like deciding to go on a diet while sitting in a bakery after 12hrs of fasting...
Anyways, I guess if you knew that your fav band was going to release some kickass stuff like CD's, videos, exclusive singles, special booklets (in PDF form of course) then this may not be a bad idea. Too bad it's Depeche Mode...
I do like Depeche Mode (3.40 GB of my iTunes collection), but this sounds like the TomTom subscription: get all the map updates we'll release within the next 90 days for free! And then there aren't any updates for 91 days. Or maybe the Woot bag o'crap.
Not paying until I know what I'm getting.
Why is this so hard to understand?
1) This iTunes-Pass is geared towards fans of the band it is for, the first one released being Depeche Mode.
2) You do know what you are getting: $18.99 gets you the album (13 tracks) plus additional remixes and bonus songs not on the original album. So you are paying approximately $5 more for additional songs, music videos, etc. Granted you won't exactly know what songs but Depeche Mode have already announced a box set where they have more songs then what's on the album, so you could possibly get the additional songs without having to purchase the box set which will be quite a bit more $$$. For $5 it's worth the price for fans IMO.
3) You keep the music, videos, etc. It's not like you are renting the files, you basically get to keep anything released by this band until the expiration date, which could be worth alot more than the $18 they are charging if you were to buy it separate.
1) This iTunes-Pass is geared towards fans of the band it is for, the first one released being Depeche Mode.
2) You do know what you are getting: $18.99 gets you the album (13 tracks) plus additional remixes and bonus songs not on the original album. So you are paying approximately $5 more for additional songs, music videos, etc. Granted you won't exactly know what songs but Depeche Mode have already announced a box set where they have more songs then what's on the album, so you could possibly get the additional songs without having to purchase the box set which will be quite a bit more $$$. For $5 it's worth the price for fans IMO.
3) You keep the music, videos, etc. It's not like you are renting the files, you basically get to keep anything released by this band until the expiration date, which could be worth alot more than the $18 they are charging if you were to buy it separate.
There is no "need" for this. There is very little "need" for anything. What you don't realize is that EMI (probably with a little support from Apple) is the first record company that "gets it".
For years and years and years all the music companies have been concentrating hard on how to make it as inconvenient as possible for customers to buy their products. That's why we had/have DRM, that's why there are so-called CDs that I can't play on my MacBook, only on my old G4, that's why they are suing thousands in the USA. They concentrated on "intellectual property" instead of concentrating on what they should do: Making money!
Here we see for the first time that EMI takes the music of one band, and instead of thinking: How do we make it as hard as possible for people to listen to this music in case someone dares making copies? they think: How can we give our customers as much product as possible and draw as much money as possible out of their pockets. That's what a good business does: Produce the best possible product and extract as much money as possible from its customers.
Of course this is not for everyone. This is music from _one_ band. If you like them a lot, buy the package. If you like them a little, buy the record. If you don't like them, don't buy their music. Ninetynine percent of the music on iTMS I would never buy. And of the remaining one percent, most of that I would never buy because it would cost me more than £50,000 and I don't have that money to spend on music. So what?
This portion stuck out to me:
"... the price of the pass will not exceed the value of the contents offered."
If I'm reading that right, then you will be getting $18.99 worth of content, for the low-low price of $18.99.
I don't understand how this would be an attractive deal. You pay $18.99 for an album and extras, and you don't know what those extras are yet.. why not wait, buy the album and get the extras if you are interested later. it's the same price.
"... the price of the pass will not exceed the value of the contents offered."
If I'm reading that right, then you will be getting $18.99 worth of content, for the low-low price of $18.99.
I don't understand how this would be an attractive deal. You pay $18.99 for an album and extras, and you don't know what those extras are yet.. why not wait, buy the album and get the extras if you are interested later. it's the same price.
No, you are reading it wrong, it's reverse. You will pay $18.99 and the price won't be raised depending on what's released. So if you end up getting 10 more songs in addition to the album which could be purchased for $20+ separately, you still get it with the pass for $18.99.
i read it as anything the artist has created. but i see how you take that reading from it. the language is confusing. is it anything ever, or anything the artist releases during a specified time period. anything ever would obviously be the better deal (man, just think if SJ and The Beatles struck such a deal . . . nope, never gonna happen) and $19 for an album (typically $10) and a couple videos and singles for another $9 . . . this doesn't seem like a good deal for something you've never even heard.
it would make more sense to me if it was the artist saying, hey, i have new album, get that and pay a little extra to download anything i've ever produced.
Because they get your money earlier and it can accrue interest in their bank accounts for you to sit and wait for the album to come out while you listen to your "bonus" crappy remix content.
How is that not an attractive deal?
The confusion in this thread stems from arn's poor choice of words in the title of the article. He calls the iTunes pass a "short-term subscription". When people see the word "subscription", they immediately think of some kind of Napster or Zune Pass type of service where you get "all-you-can-eat" for a recurring fee.
The "iTunes Pass" is no different than any of the other countless times when Apple has offered albums for "pre-purchase", where you pay for the album before its released and the album auto-downloads on the release date. Except that the "iTunes Pass" is a stupider version of pre-purchase because they're basically saying they havn't even decided what they're going to release between now and June. Just "Give us 19 bucks now while we decide what we're going to release later on."
But yeah... using the word "subscription" in the title of the macrumors article is very misleading. In fact, the word "subscription" doesn't appear once in the linked article.
The "iTunes Pass" is no different than any of the other countless times when Apple has offered albums for "pre-purchase", where you pay for the album before its released and the album auto-downloads on the release date. Except that the "iTunes Pass" is a stupider version of pre-purchase because they're basically saying they havn't even decided what they're going to release between now and June. Just "Give us 19 bucks now while we decide what we're going to release later on."
But yeah... using the word "subscription" in the title of the macrumors article is very misleading. In fact, the word "subscription" doesn't appear once in the linked article.
Do people like to complain just to complain? I don't understand why people complain about things that don't affect them. I mean you DO NOT have to buy this pass.
I would only complain if I bought something and didn't get what I paid for, but complaining about what is being offered is just silly.
I would only complain if I bought something and didn't get what I paid for, but complaining about what is being offered is just silly.
That would mean you basically get old music for a smaller charge, which is not how the music industry works nor I think will ever work.
This deal is telling you that for this amount of money you get everything this artist releases in this time period. You are basically paying for the album plus any singles, remixes, etc they release in this time period. Certain artists this would not be worth getting if it was just an album release. However with Depeche Mode they are known to have extras so this would be worth it for the fans.
Ahh, well. That makes more sense. If that's the case, it will be interesting to see how this proceeds. I'd certainly consider buying a similar package for my favorite artists when a new album comes out.
Ok...
This is some sort of chnace targeted to fans.
This is the thing:
If a band is going to release a new album, you can get ALL the media related to that album for 15 weeks instead of looking for each thing in different places or not even know a "thing" was out there.
This is actually good for the labels because they release a lot of promotional material that never gets anyware and many fans never get it.
For example: I am in Venezuela, I may get the Depeche Mode CD, but I won't get the videos or the interview untild they are posted on youtube. Nor the remixes of the themes.
If I was in Germany probably I could get a load of stuff BUT not the promotions created for the US.
Usually a label create a campaing but they get lost.
This iTunes offer will be giving you every new release of your favorite band as long the promotion goes, specially singles and remixes.
I believe is a good help for the fans, a good way to fallow up.
This is some sort of chnace targeted to fans.
This is the thing:
If a band is going to release a new album, you can get ALL the media related to that album for 15 weeks instead of looking for each thing in different places or not even know a "thing" was out there.
This is actually good for the labels because they release a lot of promotional material that never gets anyware and many fans never get it.
For example: I am in Venezuela, I may get the Depeche Mode CD, but I won't get the videos or the interview untild they are posted on youtube. Nor the remixes of the themes.
If I was in Germany probably I could get a load of stuff BUT not the promotions created for the US.
Usually a label create a campaing but they get lost.
This iTunes offer will be giving you every new release of your favorite band as long the promotion goes, specially singles and remixes.
I believe is a good help for the fans, a good way to fallow up.
From what ARN wrote, it could be taken either way (downloads of all releases from an artist within a specific time frame could be read: any and all music an artist has ever released will be available during a certain time frame; or it could be read: only music the artist releases during a certain timeframe):
"EMI Music announced today that they have launched the first 'iTunes Pass', providing automatic downloads of all releases from a given artist within a specific time period. The first artist available under this program is Depeche Mode, with the current iTunes Pass [iTunes] available at a cost of $18.99 and good through June 16th, 2009."
But the press release confirms what you were saying, that is is the 2nd choice:
"The first iTunes Pass debuts today in conjunction with Depeche Mode's forthcoming 12th studio album, Sounds of the Universe, to be released on April 21 in the US. Fans who sign up starting today get the alternative/dance pioneers' new single, Wrong, as well as the Black Light Odyssey Dub Remix of the new track Oh Well. They will also receive the new album on its street date plus great music and video exclusives before and after the album's release over the next fifteen weeks. The Depeche Mode iTunes Pass can be purchased starting today for $18.99."
I guess for die hard fans of DM (of which I am not) this could be attractive. This is an interesting model and will be a good case study for future artists/record companies to consider. We'll all see, I guess.
I like the concept of a "season pass for a band", but at the same time I don't think this service has it the right way around. No way would I give Apple my moneys now in the hope of content over the next 15 weeks. If it worked out cheaper then yea, but no.
Some Of You Guys Don't Get This!!!
I see that the American people still don't know how to read correctly. (Yes, I am an American too...)
The article clearly says that for a certain period of time, you will "Automatically" (which is a cool part about this) get all the content that a certain band, group, individual has released. This can include the full album, any singles (including remixes), any music videos, and of corse the booklet.
Everyone on here keeps saying that they aren't going to pay for iTunes now. LMAO!!! Re-Read that article for all of us before you post something. Please...
I think this has some great potential. Say you are a NIN fan. And you purchase a pass for their next album release. NIN does a LOT of stuff behind the music to promote there CDs. That means you'll get all the music, remixes, (and possible even studio samples), music videos, interview videos, "The Making Of..." videos. Plus the digital booklet for your viewing pleasure.
Now IDK about anyone else on here...but if you are a BIG fan of a certain group...this is a real steal for the consumer at only $19. (CD=$9.99, Remixes=.99-9.90 (depending on 1-10 of them), music videos=$1.99-$7.96 (depending on 1-4 of them). So littlest amount would be around $12.97, and maximum amount would be around $27.85.
ON TOP OF ALL OF THIS...it ail automatically download these for you. No more getting onto iTunes and searching for any new music from your favorite bands.
I really think this could blow up huge!
I see that the American people still don't know how to read correctly. (Yes, I am an American too...)
The article clearly says that for a certain period of time, you will "Automatically" (which is a cool part about this) get all the content that a certain band, group, individual has released. This can include the full album, any singles (including remixes), any music videos, and of corse the booklet.
Everyone on here keeps saying that they aren't going to pay for iTunes now. LMAO!!! Re-Read that article for all of us before you post something. Please...
I think this has some great potential. Say you are a NIN fan. And you purchase a pass for their next album release. NIN does a LOT of stuff behind the music to promote there CDs. That means you'll get all the music, remixes, (and possible even studio samples), music videos, interview videos, "The Making Of..." videos. Plus the digital booklet for your viewing pleasure.
Now IDK about anyone else on here...but if you are a BIG fan of a certain group...this is a real steal for the consumer at only $19. (CD=$9.99, Remixes=.99-9.90 (depending on 1-10 of them), music videos=$1.99-$7.96 (depending on 1-4 of them). So littlest amount would be around $12.97, and maximum amount would be around $27.85.
ON TOP OF ALL OF THIS...it ail automatically download these for you. No more getting onto iTunes and searching for any new music from your favorite bands.
I really think this could blow up huge!