Apple Quietly Ends Free iTunes 'Single of the Week' Promotion After 11 Years

[Slix]

I discovered a whole lot of cool songs and new artists through the free singles every week, and I'd check it out every week, so when they haven't put one up the past 2 weeks, I knew something had to be up. Sad to see them go. I just hope that it means there's a better alternative down the road soon.

 

[i4m]

it was quiet until you beat the drums

 

[coolfactor]

They are probably sick of having to be insulted for giving out some little things for free.

I will admit that the negative comments left by some people on the Free Songs really turned me off from wanting to view more. I did download about a dozen over the years, but that's it. Had people been more appreciative and thankful for a free song, then there would probably be a happier feeling around that section of the store for me. Going to almost any YouTube video and reading the comments gives me the same feeling of "why am I here?".... ugh, this world is cracky.

 

[Gav2k]

A massive overhaul is long overdue. I have more than 10'000 purchased tracks in my library. I Tunes Match has definitively become unusable with this scale of content. The alternative is to constantly repurchase albums to keep them as purchased items. This is just an expensive confusing mess. The local iTunes Store branch in Switzerland does a really bad job in maintaining the store. They often alter metadata, which causes purchases to disappear temporary or even permanently.

Not to say that the store doesn't support me in finding new or alternative content. It has obviously been a cash-cow for several years. But now it's more like a dying one.

I'd disagree on the iTunes match side. I am bouncing of the limit for tracks and have no issues with it. I have 100's of smart playlists etc with no issues.

 

[coolfactor]

Nobody wants crap. Even if it's free. I think that U2 album taught Apple this lesson.

Crap by YOUR pathetic standards. Don't forget that. Personally, I found quite a few jewels through the Free Song giveaway, but it was complainers like you that turned me off of it.

 

[Doctor Q]

No fair!

Why didn't the MacRumors editors give me credit for being first to point out this news?

Perhaps this is a sign that the free iTunes program is nearing the end.

Then again, I made that post in 2005, so I guess I wasn't really clairvoyant!

 

[Antares]

any other ones that became hits?

Of Monsters and Men kind of blew up after Little Talks was single of the week. I was thinking that was the biggest success from the free song promo. This was prior to their full album being released and this was one of the rare digital albums that I actually bought (I still prefer to buy CD's).

When I think about it, most of the digital albums that I bought were because of the free song promo. About 80% of my digital album purchases, I'd say.

 

[fluchtpunkt]

Love people jumping on apple for this. You could offer to pay the artist 99p per download if they run it free.

Using last years 800 million device figure (just iOS devices) if just 1% download that's $8m add the free app download which is a dam sight more popular apple spends more than any other phone/tablet manufacturer on freebies.

I'm pretty sure these deals work different. You get a call from Apple, they ask you if you want to give away your stuff for free.

Or is there any indication that artists or developers are compensated for these promotions? I haven't seen any.

 

[jarofclay73]

In memory of the "Single of the Week," I offer my favorite songs:

"Fireflies" - Owl City
"Love Song" - Sara Bareilles
"Already Home" - Ha-Ash
"Right Love, Wrong Time" - Anuhea

 

[SvP]

tim must still be upset about the whole u2 songs of innocence pushback...

"no soup for you"

 

[jovada]

I'm an iTunes customer since 2006 and this is the first time I've heard of this free single. Did it exist in every country?!

 

[rekhyt]

The end of an era, I suppose.

 

[bbfc]

Why would you actually call up to ask about this? Seems like some people have too much time on their hands. Most reviews (like the same for the 12 Days of Christmas) were negative anyway.

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I will admit that the negative comments left by some people on the Free Songs really turned me off from wanting to view more. I did download about a dozen over the years, but that's it. Had people been more appreciative and thankful for a free song, then there would probably be a happier feeling around that section of the store for me. Going to almost any YouTube video and reading the comments gives me the same feeling of "why am I here?".... ugh, this world is cracky.

I downloaded a few in the past, but we live in society full of people who think they are entitled to something for nothing.

 

[Michaelgtrusa]

Perhaps money was the reason?

 

[stewy]

Apple is finalizing deals for streaming music and Beats. Meanwhile the record labels are telling them to lose the free single promotion or they won't play ball. That's all this is. Apple doesn't care but it's surprising the record labels do care about 1 lousy free single.

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It wasn't forced upon them. That would imply resistance and no one knew about this until after the fact. it was snuck in kind of like the way updates are now snuck into OS X.

They certainly resisted it once they realised it was there.

 

[ELMI0001]

What a load of bologna.

iTunes prices are not at all ridiculous. I'm pretty sure the most expensive movie I have seen is $20. You go into stores like Target and Walmart and you'll see a many BDs more than $20. As far as "older movies" for less than $14.99, you apparently don't check out their weekly sales. This week there are a bunch of action movies that are $7.99, including the Kill Bill movies, Machete and Gangs of New York.

As far as competitive prices in general, Gone Girl is $15 on iTunes, $18 on BD from Amazon. Lucy is $15 on iTunes, WILL BE $23 when its released on BD on iTunes.

And complain all you want about rental pricing because that's set by the movie studios. Google Play, Amazon and every pay TV provider will charge the same prices on those rentals. If you like Redbox, fine. But there are only so many titles that can be stored in any given box and you still have to actually travel to a location to find the movie.

Bologna? Please.

You and I can cherry pick titles of movies all day and find differences. But, many many people agree with me - as you can see by my up vote. Why do the movies have to be on sale to be $7.99? These are older movies. They should just be $7.99. When the sale is over the prices will go back to 12.99/14.99/17.99/19.99. The point is these are older movies that should always be $7.99. check the prices after the sale and get back to me.

FWIW - Kill Bill Volume 1 is $7.50 on Blu Ray at Amazon right now.

As far as rentals are concerned Amazon is usually $1 cheaper. Yes Apple has their $1 weekly rentals but it's usually 1 movie or a collection of movies that fit 1 genre. Redbox is very limited but you can sometimes find the movie you want there while places like Amazon/iTunes/Google Play are only offering the movies available for purchase. It happens with new releases constantly. Redbox at one time could go out and buy the movies and put them into rental circulation immediately. I think this has stopped.

Why would I rent Boyhood for $5.99 from iTunes when I can reserve it at Redbox for $1.50/night? (Also, it's $4.99 at Amazon, supporting my previous statement). In my case my grocery stores have Redbox kiosks. I go to the grocery store frequently so it's just as easy to reserve the movie online and pick it up instead of clicking rent in iTunes. And I save a bunch of money.

Apple doesn't care about their customers anymore. They are in it to make as much money as possible. If people are too lazy to comparison shop and let Apple take your money, fine. But it's foolish on the consumers part and apparently consumers, like you?, are letting Apple get away with it.

Keep in mind, this is all coming from a STOCKHOLDER!

 

[Truffy]

Well, heck, I've just learned that Apple had a regular free single of the week just as they no longer have a regular free single of the week.

iTunes prices are ridiculous. Yes, they do sales occasionally. But I don't need all the Harry Potter movies for $55. I would like to see some older movies for less than $14.99 occasionally. Perhaps a price more competitive with Blu-Rays or Amazon.

$3.99 and $4.99 to rent a movie? For 24 hours? C'mon. That's ridiculous when there is a Redbox in every McDonalds in the US.

I really wanted to own a copy of The Prestige. I figured iTunes was an easy choice. Until the movie was $17.99. It's $9.99 on Blu-Ray.

Hey, you know what I do? I buy the DVD/BR. No downloading and I get to watch it again. Cheaper.

Same for their music. I use the previews on iTunes, and if there enough tracks that I like, I buy the CD. Not only cheaper, but I get to rip to ALAC not some crappy mp3 bit-rate.

If more people eschewed Apple's ri-ff prices, perhaps they'd get real.

 

[fluchtpunkt]

Apple doesn't care about their customers anymore. They are in it to make as much money as possible. If people are too lazy to comparison shop and let Apple take your money, fine. But it's foolish on the consumers part and apparently consumers, like you?, are letting Apple get away with it.

Keep in mind, this is all coming from a STOCKHOLDER!

But even as a stockholder you have no idea how the iTunes Store works.
The iTunes Store works with an agency model. The content publisher (e.g. developer, artist, movie studio) sets the price and Apple gets 30%.

Apple can't change the price of an item. The contract they have with publishers does not allow this. If you see an item in a promotion Apples asked the publisher for permission to change the price.

 

[rorschach]

Apple is so damn greedy. It would be nice if they appreciated their customers.

Non-hardware examples;

No 12 days of Christmas. Not a huge deal but no real explanation behind it.

iTunes prices are ridiculous. Yes, they do sales occasionally. But I don't need all the Harry Potter movies for $55. I would like to see some older movies for less than $14.99 occasionally. Perhaps a price more competitive with Blu-Rays or Amazon.

$3.99 and $4.99 to rent a movie? For 24 hours? C'mon. That's ridiculous when there is a Redbox in every McDonalds in the US.

I really wanted to own a copy of The Prestige. I figured iTunes was an easy choice. Until the movie was $17.99. It's $9.99 on Blu-Ray.

I understand there is no need to push product since these files are not taking up any real estate but a sale or competitive prices would be nice.

We're all in the ecosystem, just throw us a bone with some incentives and real sales.

This is coming on the heals of an unfortunate incident last night in which I was unable to stream Capt America on my Apple TV (a movie I purchased on iTunes), but the Netflix app on my Apple TV worked fine. I just remember when it felt like Apple cared about their few customers instead of ripping off all of their customers.

/end rant

Huh? Apple does not set those prices. The movie and television studios do.

As for some of the prices Apple does control:

-iWork used to be $79 standalone; $49 with a new Mac. You can now buy the individual apps separately for $20 each, and they're also free with a new Mac.

-iLife used to be $49 standalone. Now you can buy iMovie for $15, GarageBand for $5, and iPhoto for free. They also come for free with a new Mac.

-New versions of OS X used to cost $129. That dropped to $29 for Lion then $19.99 for Mountain Lion. OS X upgrades are now free.

-MobileMe cost $99 a year. iCloud is free with even more services.

-iCloud storage prices used to be $20/year for 15GB. You can now get 20GB for $12/year.

Just saying.

 

[Risco]

I have not downloaded one in 11 years.

 

[cambookpro]

The negative rating is perhaps part of the problem. It's a promotional gift that Apple used to lure people into the Store and occasionally introduce barely known artists. I've found two artists that I still listen to that way. Why would you leave one star for something that obviously doesn't match your taste and you probably would not have bought anyway? It almost discredits the artists.

I think the concept, along with 12 Days, is just not as beneficial anymore as it used to be. People will just download the stuff and don't pay for anything else, then even complain about it in the comments. Which artist/developer wants to be associated with this?

Pretty sure he's talking about rating it one star in his library, not on the Store. Wouldn't affect anyone but himself.

I'm personally a bit sad to see this go, I'd always download the single and often it was quite good. My favorite was probably 'I Need A Dollar' by Aloe Blacc, but there were numerous other.

 

[Tech198]

oh well.... Easy come... Easy go.....

 

[japanime]

Why didn't the MacRumors editors give me credit for being first to point out this news?


Then again, I made that post in 2005, so I guess I wasn't really clairvoyant!

Ha-ha! Doctor Q, your posts often crack me up and are among the best here at MacRumors.

I want to thank you and your team, too, for maintaining the list of free songs for all these years.

 

[Kar98]

That's alright. XBox Music served up over a 100 free entire albums over the holidays and that was music I actually listen to instead of the starbucks compilation grade dross Apple offered as free iTunes single of the week. In eleven years, there was a grand total of two songs I downloaded and kept.

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-iLife used to be $49 standalone. Now you can buy iMovie for $15, GarageBand for $5, and iPhoto for free. They also come for free with a new Mac.

Except iPhoto is gonna get the axe, and I never had need of iMovie or GarageBand.

-New versions of OS X used to cost $129. That dropped to $29 for Lion then $19.99 for Mountain Lion. OS X upgrades are now free.

And quality control? Useful new features? Useful, I mean, not "pretty". After Leopard or maybe Snow Leopard, I can't see any progress.

-MobileMe cost $99 a year. iCloud is free with even more services.

-iCloud storage prices used to be $20/year for 15GB. You can now get 20GB for $12/year.

And you get 5 GB "free", no matter how many devices you buy. Microsoft gives me ten freaking terabyte for free. With the purchase of ONE device (that happens to come with a free 1 year sub of Office 365)

Just saying.

Just saying...

 

[Alisstar]

I, like some others, discovered some artists I enjoy through this weekly promotion. Since I enjoy Spanish music, I used to go to the Latin genre section and get the Latin Single of the Week, too. I'm really going to miss this promotion.

I hope that Google doesn't stop offering free songs and albums at the Google Play store. Not only does Google offer free singles, but they offer complete albums for free on occasion. I'll continue going there from time to time to get and discover new music as long as they continue to offer it.