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Apple Still Negotiating With Music Labels Over Streaming Terms Days Before WWDC Launch
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Naysayers can rag all they want to. Apple is feeling the absence of Steve Jobs. Steve was very talented at putting favorable deals together, and his absence is noted. Steve Jobs was very good at getting his way, and Apple isn't quite as magical as it was at one time. Whatever magic is left was Steve Jobs inspired or produced.
Well... if the the labels weren't a part- I'm sure the same 30/70 split that has worked so well on the App Store could apply! I don't get the competitors comment... to the record labels, I suppose both Spotify & Apple seem more business partners than competitors. The deal they cut with either seems little to do with competition. The labels aren't running a streaming service of their own, they're simply leasing the content they strongarmed the rights to.
And yet people think streaming will be the future... and buying/downloading music is for dinosaurs.
I can see both sides. Streaming gives you the ability to listen to tens of millions of songs at any given time (assuming you've got an internet connection)... while purchasing lets you buy your favorite songs and you can listen to them anywhere.
I'm curious to see the music industry in 5 or 10 years.
Apple have over 800 million credit cards on file. That's a lot of potential revenue at 55% for the music labels.
Say 10% of users sign up in 12 months. That's 80 million customers. At $9.99 a month and 55% that's $439,560,000 to the labels. Why oh why would the labels jeopardise a deal with Apple just to make a few more bucks?
This deal is far more win for the music labels than it is Apple. Asking for 60% cut is just greedy. I'd rather see Apple walk away from the whole deal just to stick it to them.
Say 10% of users sign up in 12 months. That's 80 million customers. At $9.99 a month and 55% that's $439,560,000 to the labels. Why oh why would the labels jeopardise a deal with Apple just to make a few more bucks?
This deal is far more win for the music labels than it is Apple. Asking for 60% cut is just greedy. I'd rather see Apple walk away from the whole deal just to stick it to them.
Ah, ok that makes sense. I thought you were referring to deals like the Music deal, etc. Thanks!
Would Apple also front bands money to cover recording costs? Touring? Marketing?
Apple doesn't want to get into the music label, app publisher, or tv/movie making business because it's expensive, risky and many times complicated/messy. Setting up a store front and taking 30% as a middleman is a much easier way to make a buck.
T-Mobile doesn't count music streaming against your data. One of the primary reasons I've stayed with them. That and they are about $10 cheaper then the other carriers for 1gb data + unlimited voice and text. Free unlimited data when traveling internationally as well.
I'm happy to pay my $20/mo to Tidal for lossless streaming. However, if literally anyone else offers lossless as an option, I'll jump. Tidal's catalog is missing too much, the curation (which used to be great and musically diverse) has gone to garbage post-Jay-Z, and there is still no fricking native client (and the Flash solution in Chrome is a real battery killer).
All that said, I don't see what any of this has to do with WWDC.
If Apple are indeed going to release a music streaming service, i would be interested in seeing how it differs from the competition, Apple only get into areas where they know they can make a difference. Personally i like to purchase my music from iTunes, but i might be interested in a Apple streaming service if they have the ability to save the songs or playlists for offline use.
Most people interested in a subscription is already paying someone. Those are the people who are going to pay, Apple has to get them to switch and I don't see that happening for Spotify users unless it is way better or cheaper.
Different times, different market circumstances. Steve would not be able to do the same thing now.
It is time people start understanding that success is not only dependent on the manager but equally on the market situation and the company stage of maturity.
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If you take a step back and look at your comparisons there is only one choice that makes sense.. streaming.
I don't think the majority of people care about owning music anymore.