Two weeks is everything, a huge chunk of sales happen during that time. If you take a look at most albums by popular artists you'll see that first week sales alone can be more than 1/3 of total sales in an album's lifetime.
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Lady Gaga's New Album May Be First Loss for Apple Music After Universal's Exclusivity Changes
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Exclusives don't work for music. It will just lead to very high piracy. I don't use Apple music nor do I plan to. I love iTunes and I will continue to do so.
Apple music is a failed product for Apple.
Apple music is a failed product for Apple.
Is anyone who's NOT subscribed to Apple Music really going to pay $9.99 to listen to an exclusive song/album? What's the point? Oh, I know...so the record labels can get more money from Apple. Not sure if the artist actually sees any of that "exclusivity money", but in the end, it's the fans who lose.
Personally, I don't care one way or the other about Lady Gaga, but it's just the principle. I have enough things to worry about already...needing yet another music subscription shouldn't be one of them.
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Personally, I don't care one way or the other about Lady Gaga, but it's just the principle. I have enough things to worry about already...needing yet another music subscription shouldn't be one of them.
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Because they are no better than other products, they have failed.
FWIW, the website canistream.it, and their related app, are usually pretty good for nailing down how a movie/show is available, without visiting each of the sites in turn.
As far as exclusives go, I think they're not a good idea, but I want the artists to be able to decide whether or not to go that route, rather than having it dictated to them by some bigwig behind a desk.
I find Google Play Music (and the desktop Music Manger) better. BY FAR. $14.99 Family plan for 5 users and 10 devices EACH is nice too.
I don't mind the exclusive deals, as long as I'm with the one that has the better artists. For me I'm loving Apple Music and some of its exclusives it's had.
It should have been from the beginning imho. I have always had this issue. I still can't freaking cut the cord because every app wants to authenticate with a provider. In other words the tv/movie Paradigm is totally rigged.
Well, if I just see the matter itself I support their claim to stop exclusive rubbish.
And AM is a controversial product at its least. Grabs money a hell of lot faster than Spotify, yet user reaction is definitely a mix, not dominantly good or bad. Perhaps the same as Spotify. Oh, library.
We say we hate exclusive in here but is it the human nature to like to own something "exclusive"? And this could show some sort of "privilege"? "I have it but you don't have so I am better than you!"
And AM is a controversial product at its least. Grabs money a hell of lot faster than Spotify, yet user reaction is definitely a mix, not dominantly good or bad. Perhaps the same as Spotify. Oh, library.
We say we hate exclusive in here but is it the human nature to like to own something "exclusive"? And this could show some sort of "privilege"? "I have it but you don't have so I am better than you!"
As long as it's still available on Apple Music from day 1 I'm happy. Can't wait for her comeback. 
Exclusives are not a big deal with services where you BUY the music. Because whether you buy the album from iTunes or Amazon or Target or whatever, you end up paying the same for the album and it's yours forever.
But for STREAMING services, exclusives are extremely annoying because you pay for those services every month, and it's too expensive to be subscribed to several of them. Life is already too expensive; I'm not going to subscribe to Spotify AND Apple Music AND Amazon.
But for STREAMING services, exclusives are extremely annoying because you pay for those services every month, and it's too expensive to be subscribed to several of them. Life is already too expensive; I'm not going to subscribe to Spotify AND Apple Music AND Amazon.
Actually, I'd argue that exclusives are a big deal for purchased music when they venture into the territory of what you can purchase rather than when you can purchase - if/when they do "you can only get the disc with these extra live tracks / alternate mixes / whatever if you buy from Target", meaning, if, say, you already bought the album from iTunes, you have to buy the entire thing again from Target to get the additional tracks. That sucks. The "you can only get it here*" (*: for the next two weeks, then it's everywhere) deal, that isn't so bad. (They say patience is a virtue.)
Generally the distributor will offer the artist extra money for such a deal, it's a question whether that extra money offsets the loss of goodwill with fans, or the lost sales because people can't get it from their preferred source when it's the new shiny thing and then are less interested two weeks later. I still think the decision whether to do time-based exclusives ought to rest with the artist and not some guy in a swanky office on the top floor. The artist ought to get to make the decision and deal with the consequences good or bad.
Which means you can theoretically support up to 50 devices through 5 accounts. This is way more generous than AM, uh, maybe.
It's better that control be distributed across many labels than consolidated entirely in Cupertino. And while it's possible that no one will promote Gaga's new release unless they have exclusive rights, my guess is she will get more visibility by also having her album showcased on Spotify (and whatever other streaming services are out there). Lastly, Apple gives better terms not to benefit artists, but to crush competitors. Once they demolish (or fail to demolish) Spotify, I suspect they will be as generous to artists as they are to everyone else they dictate terms to. I honestly didn't think it was possible for a company to make me miss Microsoft's cut-throat business tactics in the 90s, but preset day Apple comes close.
Other than those three things I agree with you, what's 2 weeks? The only people an exclusivity window will affect are hardcore music fans who want to hear albums as soon as they're released. It will be healthy for Apple to compete for those ears on a level playing field rather than just buying a short-term monopoly to avoid competition.
