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Apple and EMI Music Launch 'iTunes Pass' Short-Term Subscriptions

Maybe the "answer" (or rather lack thereof) popped up somwhere along the way and I just missed it while skimming the pages; all things considered, assuming this "season pass" is transferred to some other artist, this would obviously require said artist to release some album, singles, and more (videos etc) within the given timeframe.
I'm most likely not as up to date as others with the artists I'm interested in, but aside from a "blockbuster album" any given famous band/artist is going to release, it's not like they go all Jason Mraz and release 2 songs every week for an odd month or more. Am I missing something?
 
I don't get it. If they told you up front what you are getting, then I can see it. For example, if they said that "you get the album and a special inside interview that is released every week between now and June 16" then I can see doing this. Especially if all the interviews added up to waaaay over the pass price.
 
Really Stupid!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pass? For new releases? How many LPs and singles do you think are going to be released in any 15 week period by current artists? 2 singles, 1 LP, and a video? Why would I just wait for the release to come out as normal, doesn't sound like I'm getting a deal.

And, it has to be a 15 week period that Apple has inside info on. Would you be happy spending $19 on a 15 week period when nothing comes out? Talk about a gimmick! Why not offer a pre-release sale price, that would solve everything.

This is something that has zero benefit really. And... Apple has to know in advance what is coming out, otherwise they would potentially lose money by not charging enough, and then having a ******** of content released.

So here is what I know. Apple knows exactly what you get, you don't. You know there aren't going to be 2 full length albums coming out in 15 weeks. Why would I waste money up front for content I'm guessing will come out?

Apple, get your head out of your arse! This is what happens when Steve Jobs is out sick. Let's all donate to medicine so he can live forever....

Bryan
 
Can this really be called a “subscription”?

iTunes Pass doesn't seem like a "subscription" to me, at least not in the way that other digital media subscription services (eg Ruckus) have worked.

As far as I can tell, the difference here is that you do indeed own the items bought with iTunes Pass after the "subscription" expires. This is in contrast to other subscription services where you get a license to use the material while the subscription is valid, but after which point it all goes dark.

This more like a traditional magazine subscription where you get a new copy of the mag each month while your subscription is paid up, but you don't have to send the mags back when your subscription runs out.

M@
 
ray648 said:
This is actually genius when you think about it. You pay money up front for the subscription then when the singles from that album are released over the next few months you can download them for free. I don't know about in america but in the UK downloads count towards the charts. This means anyone who got the subscription is already contributing to the chart success of the singles whether they like it or not. Singles in the charts leads to more radio airplay which leads to more people buying so in the end the artist/record label/apple make more money.
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For a band, even like a small college band, with a dedicated following this model has so many pluses. It's very much an old style art patronage model.

I know a lot of people just aren't going to get it.
It does require the bands to be generous towards their benefactors or as noted people just won't bother and just buy tracks as they appear.

But bands like DM where you know that post album there is going to lots of remixes, appearances and live cuts that could all be spun out over the period that might not have been worth releasing otherwise, that could all be added.

Look at Radioheads In Rainbows and the masses of additional material thats been released along side the album.

Lessor known bands could pre-sell albums this way to a dedicated base to push themselves up in to higher attention levels.

Also opens up an alternative income for A&R managers they could sell season passes on new talent they find.
 
TBH this just sounds confusing and annoying...

iTunes is already bothering me enough with my iTunes Plus upgrades growing daily, sometimes even right after I purchase something....:(
 
rockosmodurnlif said:
Why does it only have to be for new releases?
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Because if they added the Beatles' catalog to the iTunes store, they would just add it all at once.

I honestly understand how this isn't this completely self-explanatory. This is just pre-paying for all NEW material that a band releases, as it is released (with some theoretical savings, assuming you would have actually wanted it all anyway).

It's just like how you can't buy a Season Pass for a season of a TV show after it's over... because you just buy the whole season at one time.

matthewsinclair said:
Can this really be called a subscription?
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No, and Apple doesn't call it one. Blame the MacRumors headline for that wording.

https://www.macrumors.com/c.php?u=h...e.woa/wa/iTunesPassLearnMorePage&t=1235538602 (link to the iTunes store's explanation)
 
Basically... it's pre-ordering an album on iTunes?

So then as soon as it comes out you can just DL it. So then you don't have to wait in the virtual line for all the people rushing for it! Or so they don't run out of downloadable copies for you! Maybe you'll get the collectors album art? Hahaha

Wow. I see no advantage. Maybe this article missed an important point. I understand you get bonus content with it. A new video or something, but you're not getting it for free because the subscription is more than the album cost.
 
Eduardo1971 said:
The winner!

Mods: PLEASE closed this thread (seriously Mave1969 your reply is bloody ace and sums up the vast majority of 'replies' on this thread).
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I can't seem to find the original post anymore, but seriously, time to update that old .sig :D
 
ViViDboarder said:
Basically... it's pre-ordering an album on iTunes?

So then as soon as it comes out you can just DL it. So then you don't have to wait in the virtual line for all the people rushing for it! Or so they don't run out of downloadable copies for you! Maybe you'll get the collectors album art? Hahaha

Wow. I see no advantage. Maybe this article missed an important point. I understand you get bonus content with it. A new video or something, but you're not getting it for free because the subscription is more than the album cost.
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Given the previous release "policy" of DM, you will most likely get the album (of course) and three or four singles with 5+ mixes each. Assuming that all this is covered by the iTunes Pass, you will get more than 20 $ worth of music for less than the 20 $ you paid for the Pass. Chances are that the digitial singles will contain more mixes than their physical counterparts - stuff you would have to flock out a lot of money for on eBay because it's only available on limited promotional CDRs issued by the label.

If you are a DM fan and care about remixes, the Pass is for you. If you don't care about the mixes and only want the album, you won't need it. But just because you don't need it doesn't mean that it's worthless.
 
For all those arguing so bitterly about whether Depeche Mode are "pop" or not - well it's easy to get confused, as they've keep changing!

Clearly here they are the cheesiest of cheesy pop bands.

But here and here they have clearly morphed into something, ahem, a little different :cool:
 
That's ridicolous. Make a flatrate for the complete ituns store or nothing as such a ridicolous thing.
 
weird and not sure if this is at all useful, what are these marketing people smoking?

Well the title says it all, not sure if there's a market for this, maybe they'll create one, but I see no use for this at all.. iTunes needs to expand their artist offerings, many more smaller offerings are out there that are not in the catalog, and start some promotional scheme for newly discovered artists, not just the ones with big labels and big budgets to support them. How about a dedicated day each month introducing brand new artists in a variety of genres, and get something truly new out there. :apple:
 
Owww! Why are people still having such difficulty understanding this? Surely it's all evident from the original article - even if you can find ambiguity, surely a bit of common sense is all that's needed?

1. You pay Apple a set price

2. You get anything an artist releases between two specific dates. And you get it TO KEEP. Do you really think that they're going to release stuff on the last day of your subscription that you only get to "own" for 24 hours? Think in terms of a magazine subscription, you subscribe for a year, you get every edition of the magazine just for that year but you keep them for ever.

3. Apple guarantee that the value of what you get will not be less than the price you paid for your pass - so if you pay £10 and the album is released on iTunes at £7, you are guaranteed to get at least £3 worth of extra stuff. And the intention will be that you will get more. So you'll hopefully end up paying £10 and getting perhaps £15 worth of material. Of course you can argue about whether you would normally want this extra material, but that's why this is aimed at the "must have everything" fans.

It really can't understand the problem people are having understanding this - or is it just people are in too much of a hurry to see their earth-shattering "Houston, we have a problem" postings up for all to see that they don't think first?

There's an old Japanese proverb that goes something like this: "It is better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool than to open it and remove all doubt"
 
Wirelessly posted (iPhone: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 2_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/525.18.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.1 Mobile/5H11 Safari/525.20)

Mudbug said:
Hooray! They finally managed to take something as simple as buying music in iTunes and make it thoroughly confusing.
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Tell me about it.
 
DoubleU said:
It's an offer, you can choose not to accept it.
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Who knows...

PP30555-the-godfather-offer~The-Godfather-Posters.jpg


:D
 
People need to relax

Why are people so upset about this? It isn't confusing, and if you don't like depeche mode it doesn't even effect you. Apple isn't screwing you over. They tell you right up front exactly what they're offering. If you are a huge fan of the band (the only people who should really care about this) then you get all the stuff they release surrounding their new album. I don't think it's necessary to accuse Tim of running apple into the ground. The music industry is looking for ways to make money off a diminishing market. If they go with giving fans more of what they want, I applaud that. It's better than the alternative of suing consumers and screwing them over. If it works out and they release a foo fighters or weezer deal I might be interested. Also, just because it's there doesn't mean you have to buy it.
 
c-Row said:
Given the previous release "policy" of DM, you will most likely get the album (of course) and three or four singles with 5+ mixes each. Assuming that all this is covered by the iTunes Pass, you will get more than 20 $ worth of music for less than the 20 $ you paid for the Pass. Chances are that the digitial singles will contain more mixes than their physical counterparts - stuff you would have to flock out a lot of money for on eBay because it's only available on limited promotional CDRs issued by the label.

If you are a DM fan and care about remixes, the Pass is for you. If you don't care about the mixes and only want the album, you won't need it. But just because you don't need it doesn't mean that it's worthless.
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Yea, I get that. Assuming there is more than a few bucks worth of tracks then it's a good deal. At the moment, it doesn't seem that way. I was assuming that there were only 5 tracks added on or something. Which seems like a rather small gain for pre ordering.

That being said, I'm a much bigger fan of getting music free. Bands like Brad Sucks, Bomb The Music Industry, Radiohead and NIN can survive just find releasing their music DRM free on their websites at no cost. Brad Sucks and NIN even release lossless versions for making your own remixes :D (I'm not sure about Radiohead on that one).
 
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