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Apple Paid $500,000 for Exclusive Access to Chance the Rapper's 'Coloring Book' Mixtape

Kaibelf said:
Not everyone steals things.
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Yes they do. Just to different degrees. We/they justify it as being inconsequential.

I need a pencil, I’ll just borrow that one on that desk. They won’t mind. Stealing.
I’m paid for eight hours at work but I’m going to take a longer lunch won't make any difference. Stealing.
 
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Pentium said:
half a million?? I think I made a wrong decision when I went medicine lol :D
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Both take unique talents - you can survive in science and medicine through hard work and persistence. Not a Nobel laureate, but pay the bills. Being a successful artist requires some innate talents for which there is no substitute. Sure the hard work has to be there, but at the end of the day you've either got it or you don't. i.e., don't quit your day job :)
 
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Solomani said:
You think Apple will still buy my song? I'll drop the asking price. I'll only ask them for $8 million. Tim Cook might bite, right?
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As long as you don't mention Mac Pros or user serviceability, you have a chance! Also, throw in some emojis to really sweeten your luck.
 
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winston1236 said:
I'm sure the stockholders are thrilled with such a well thought out use of their money.
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Appleaker said:
What a waste. They wouldn't even make a return on that investment. But oh well, i'm sure people like exclusives more than new Macs.
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Mad Mac Maniac said:
What's your point? By that logic Apple should give me $100,000 just because, who cares that's couch cushion change. I think that's a terrible investment decision regardless of whether they had the money to make it.
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Do the maths. Apple takes $120/year in revenue per Apple Music subscription. Let's assume they have margins of 10% (it's probably more, but whatever), so that $12/year per person.

So they'd only need 50,000 extra subscribers to more than cover their investment.

A quick check on Twitter, and Chance has 3.5 million followers, so it'd only take 1.5% of those fans to sign up for it to be a rock-solid investment.

Regardless of your taste in music, those cold, hard stats don't sound like dumb business choices to me. Quite the opposite.
 
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eyeseeyou said:
You'll probably get closer to making half a million dollars in medicine a lot quicker than 90% of the aspiring rap(music) artists out there.
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hehehehe, thanks for the cheer up, I have a medical board exam coming soon ;)

DogHouseDub said:
Both take unique talents - you can survive in science and medicine through hard work and persistence. Not a Nobel laureate, but pay the bills. Being a successful artist requires some innate talents for which there is no substitute. Sure the hard work has to be there, but at the end of the day you've either got it or you don't. i.e., don't quit your day job :)
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and I totally don't have the talent, I prefer my patients ;)
 
Kaibelf said:
Not everyone steals things.
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Well enough people do if it isnt on the streaming service of their choice. Who is going to subscribe to multiple services doing the same thing just to get one album? Making albums available on every streaming services gives them at least 0.xy cent instead of nothing

Mascots said:
The album is free today and if he didn't go through Apple Music, it would have been free on release.
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Meant it in general, not just him
 
RichTF said:
Do the maths. Apple takes $120/year in revenue per Apple Music subscription. Let's assume they have margins of 10% (it's probably more, but whatever), so that $12/year per person.

So they'd only need 50,000 extra subscribers to more than cover their investment.

A quick check on Twitter, and Chance has 3.5 million followers, so it'd only take 1.5% of those fans to sign up for it to be a rock-solid investment.

Regardless of your taste in music, those cold, hard stats don't sound like dumb business choices to me. Quite the opposite.
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Right, I am not talking about covering their investment. I am talking about the return on investment. I don't think 50,000 people would have bought/switched to Apple Music because of this exclusive deal. But I could be wrong, maybe it is really effective.
 
Appleaker said:
Right, I am not talking about covering their investment. I am talking about the return on investment. I don't think 50,000 people would have bought/switched to Apple Music because of this exclusive deal. But I could be wrong, maybe it is really effective.
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You're looking at it on a small scale, and not looking at the big picture of what Apple is trying to do. If Apple did 40 exclusive albums a year at $500k a piece, that would be $20 million a year. If they can convert 1-2 million people to sign up for Apple music each month (based on their current growth) they are generating $10-20 million in revenue per month.
 
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Appleaker said:
Right, I am not talking about covering their investment. I am talking about the return on investment. I don't think 50,000 people would have bought/switched to Apple Music because of this exclusive deal. But I could be wrong, maybe it is really effective.
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I don't know either, but the numbers are small enough that I don't see how it can be called a "stupid" investment, or even a significant risk. (EDIT: I know you personally didn't say it was "stupid" as such, so apologies for being a bit over-general with that remark, I was replying to a few posts at once)

And on the flip side, that "50,000" number drops lower if Apple Music's margins are more than 10% (likely?) or if those subscribers stay for more than a year (also likely?).

So yeah, we don't know for sure, but my point was just that it can't really be seen as a dumb business move by Apple, regardless of whether you do or don't like this particular artist.
 
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And in related news, Apple files civil suit against Chance the Rapper for breach of a mutual non disclosure agreement related to an exclusive availability deal signed between the entities in 2016. Apple is seeking unspecified damages, in excess of US$1,000,000, claiming undefinable and unascertainable damage to future negotiation ability as it relates to other artists.
 
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A_A said:
You're looking at it on a small scale, and not looking at the big picture of what Apple is trying to do. If Apple did 40 exclusive albums a year at $500k a piece, that would be $20 million a year. If they can convert 1 million people to sign up for Apple music each month (based on their current growth) they are generating $10 million in revenue per month.
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Again, that's not necessarily a return on investment that is just growth and it can not be measured how many of those subscribers have joined Apple Music due to that exclusive (although I'm sure there is a way - perhaps it's one of the first things they listen to after joining). I guess at the end of the day it's a form of advertising and they can pay it off, even if itself doesn't provide a significant return on investment, the fact they commonly have exclusives is a selling point itself.
 
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