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Apple to Extend iTunes Song Previews to 90 Seconds in U.S.

Funnily enough I was reasonably content with 30 seconds but 90 will be AWESOME once it is allowed in more countries.

My gripe with the previews was always that i felt that the 30 seconds chosen to preview didn't show most songs in their glory... often playing boring or lacklustre sections of what is an overall great song.

90 seconds of a preview should allay this.
 
Always a joy when things are struggly for apple. this clearly a sign of competition from spotify etc.
 
I totally want longer previews, but this just seems bad to me. Apple already has a touch and go relationship with record labels because they think Apple has too much control. I can't imagine that is really going to be helped by Apple strong-arming them like this. If their relationship falls apart, it's us as the consumers that will be on the losing end.
 
So what about music that is only 90 seconds long or less, are they going to let us listen it in it's entirety?
 
Chaszmyr said:
I totally want longer previews, but this just seems bad to me. Apple already has a touch and go relationship with record labels because they think Apple has too much control. I can't imagine that is really going to be helped by Apple strong-arming them like this. If their relationship falls apart, it's us as the consumers that will be on the losing end.
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The old model should crumble. Apple should add a 'song store' along the lines of the app store where musicians can submit their own music and get 70%. Apple could have clear rules and conditions pertaining to audio quality and content (i.e. lyrics) and an approval process (not taste but adherence to rules).
 
Sucks for those selling songs that are 1 minute 31 seconds long :D

Great for everyone else, especially:

TsMkLg068426 said:
I hated listening to30 sec. of Dance/Electronic music which takes a while to even get to the good part of the song
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Yep. Nothing like a 30 second preview in the middle of a 45 second breakdown. iTunes is not quite a "hands in the air" environment!

I always thought it needed either this or a randomisation of which part of the clip it previews (I guess if it was randomisation people would just write scripts to stitch it together and get a free song)
 
This "memo" looks fake. Would such a huge decision be handled so flippantly? That is, I would expect a company requesting something to take more of a meek attitude and at least make it more personal instead of "Dear Label Representatives" and having it signed by "The iTunes Store Team". Heck, it reads like a form letter. And you don't need a form letter when you are only dealing with a handful of labels. The letter's tone is also disrespectful and arrogant. It's like daring the labels to remove their music. It could even lead to the labels removing their content out of spite because we all know the lables and Apple already don't have a great relationship.
 
nilsemil said:
Always a joy when things are struggly for apple. this clearly a sign of competition from spotify etc.
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This is evidence that iTunes sales are softening. Concerning download pricing, I think the sweet spot is 4.99/5.99 per album. This will happen if subscription takes off.
 
I don't get it!

Why is it that services are always available in the U.S. and not globally? What do these idiots at these major labels and hollywood execs think will happen to their content that isn't happening in the U.S. As an American that lives overseas, it pisses me off that I can't buy movies, tv shows or other content until I return home for vacation. It's just stupid plain and simple. It especially doesn't make any sense for video content as most of that is still under Apple DMR and can't be illegally distributed anyways. Their just shooting themselves in the foot by limiting their customer base. And it's not like people in the U.S. down illegally distribute content, so what's the big deal about not offering these kinds of services globally?
 
DarkKnightNine said:
Why is it that services are always available in the U.S. and not globally? What do these idiots at these major labels and hollywood execs think will happen to their content that isn't happening in the U.S. As an American that lives overseas, it pisses me off that I can't buy movies, tv shows or other content until I return home for vacation. It's just stupid plain and simple. It especially doesn't make any sense for video content as most of that is still under Apple DMR and can't be illegally distributed anyways. Their just shooting themselves in the foot by limiting their customer base. And it's not like people in the U.S. down illegally distribute content, so what's the big deal about not offering these kinds of services globally?
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Take it easy. Apple is American. They're dealing with the American labels because this is their homebase. It will happen for the other stores when it happens. They're not shooting themselves in the foot at all. How can you possibly come to that conclusion? American Itunes store: American labels selling to American-based customers. You're one of a very, very small minority out there, I'm sorry to report.

You don't think Americans have gotten screwed? There are tons of things not available in the American Itunes store that I can't buy - bonus tracks, even albums, that are only available in non-American Itunes stores. Here's the MAJOR downside of CDs going away: it becomes much more difficult to get Japanese and European exclusives. In the past, I just went to a local indie store or Tower Records and paid a pretty sum for it. In the future? It won't be available at all. AT ALL.

Besides all this, as an American in Japan, can't you just sign in with your Itunes account info that you use at home and access the US Itunes?
 
kas23 said:
This "memo" looks fake. Would such a huge decision be handled so flippantly? That is, I would expect a company requesting something to take more of a meek attitude and at least make it more personal instead of "Dear Label Representatives" and having it signed by "The iTunes Store Team". Heck, it reads like a form letter. And you don't need a form letter when you are only dealing with a handful of labels. The letter's tone is also disrespectful and arrogant. It's like daring the labels to remove their music. It could even lead to the labels removing their content out of spite because we all know the lables and Apple already don't have a great relationship.
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I agree, I think the report has basis in fact, but, the memo looks like it was made to back up the reporting, I don't think Apple would send out a Memo like this given the seriousness of the situation and the change in the terms of how they operate on musical previews...
 
The real issue is that this primarily involves the publishers, but Apple is strongarming the labels into dealing with it. Mechanical royalties are a function of federal law, to circumvent that, the labels are going to have to cut individual deals with each songwriter/publishing company. It's a lot of paperwork, AND for indie labels.. maybe an impossibility.

For example.. Say I'm an indie label that has signed an artist.. he co-wrote a song with his ex-girlfriend, they don't get along anymore. I put a ton of money into recording, marketing this artist, etc.

Before, to sell a track on itunes, the 30 second preview didn't require that we pay his ex girlfriend anything, only when it sold.. Now that it's 90 seconds.. we owe his ex money every time someone previews it.. even if nobody purchases it, unless we get her to sign a document authorizing the use royalty free.
 
DarkKnightNine said:
Why is it that services are always available in the U.S. and not globally? What do these idiots at these major labels and hollywood execs think will happen to their content that isn't happening in the U.S. As an American that lives overseas, it pisses me off that I can't buy movies, tv shows or other content until I return home for vacation. It's just stupid plain and simple. It especially doesn't make any sense for video content as most of that is still under Apple DMR and can't be illegally distributed anyways. Their just shooting themselves in the foot by limiting their customer base. And it's not like people in the U.S. down illegally distribute content, so what's the big deal about not offering these kinds of services globally?
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Because record deals and publishing deals are traditionally Territorial. An artist has the ability to be signed to Universal in the US, EMI in Europe, and Warner in Japan. Maybe they cut an indie deal in Australia.

We're dealing with a lot of old contracts, going back in and re-negotiating for worldwide rights on everything is going to be expensive and time consuming.. plus some artists just don't want to do it.

The same goes for TV shows.. what may be controlled by Universal/NBC in America could be distributed on an different network entirely in Japan. It isn't fair to have NBC undercutting the company that paid for Japanese rights.
 
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Whoever selects the 30 second clips lacks understanding of what is useful to hear. There are many tracks I've listened to that are a very poor reflection due to the 30 seconds selected. Maybe 90 seconds will make their job more difficult...
 
This is bad news for me personally. I'm going to spend more time listening to previews before making up my mind about which tunes to purchase!
 
NicoleRichie said:
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Whoever selects the 30 second clips lacks understanding of what is useful to hear. There are many tracks I've listened to that are a very poor reflection due to the 30 seconds selected. Maybe 90 seconds will make their job more difficult...
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I suspect 90 seconds would make it less likely they pick a totally unrepresentative section such as just the bridge for example and more likely they pick enough to give an more representative over view of any normal length song even if it is a random selection. Sorry that is a very long sentence ...
 
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I support the artist and if the song is good I'll buy it even if it's on YouTube in its entirety.
 
This news made my day. I heard it was coming and now it is! Thanks Apple .... I'm almost willing to forgive you for the white iphone 4 blunder now.

TsMkLg068426 said:
Like everyone else thats going to keep on saying: ""ABOUT FRIGGIN TIME" LOL!;):p:D I swear I hated listening to30 sec. of Dance/Electronic music which takes a while to even get to the good part of the song now finally I will be able to enjoy a bit more first and not have a difficult time to decide if I want to buy it.


Next step Apple is: fix the Album cover download issues at downloading correctly or the correct ones and also I don't know if this has to do with the Record Labels how they upload it on iTunes but can we separate tracks but gapless rather than one whole track with no track listings? Apple finally is doing something interesting to iTunes unlike ping and the lame design changes iTunes 10 got that made people mad about it.
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EXACTLY the case for me. Since I've deferred my music tastes to pretty much progressive trance and house (note the key word) as well as electronic music, I don't get the taste that I need in order to determine if a song is a worthy purchase. When the buildup is going, I don't get the hear the drop most of the time. So dang frustrating. I also don't want to keep flipping to Youtube all the time to find out if I want to buy a song.

Speaking of electronic songs, iTunes really needs to step up their game and get the mixes Europe and BPM offers. Seriously, US iTunes. There are a lot of mixes we don't get. But the 90 second preview .... well that's just fantastic!

Doctor Q said:
This is bad news for me personally. I'm going to spend more time listening to previews before making up my mind about which tunes to purchase!
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dang, me too.
 
With most of today's dance tracks you could Wiretap the 90s, loop it to 3 mins and there's your track. Mind you, some of them you could achieve this with a 10 second preview. Simply overdub the words "Oh Yeah" a few times if you feel it's still lacking something.
 
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