Music Labels Wary of Apple?

[MikeBike]

This is the most backwards opinion I've ever heard!
The record companies are scared that Apple will succeed? What a load of rubbish. They NEED apple to succeed in order that they don't lose millions of dollars revenue from illegal downloads.

I would imagine the record companies have a large say in which artists are promoted. For example, I doubt Apple gets to choose which song the give away for free each week. I would imagine that is dictated by the record companies.

Completely agree.
Bad misinformed journalistic SPECULATION.
( Which we here are all experts at! )
The records companies are AFRAID to make money by selling music in a Protected Format.

The record companies LOVE MTV.
Anything to sell music works for them.

The only thing I can add is ITUNES is a WAKE UP call to these execs.
90-90% percent of the songs downloaded are NOT the POP music genre
they care about, so ITUNES is hardly MTV.
But, it points out that what the labels are pushing IS NOT what we are BUYING!

 

[doogle]

Apple: spin off iTunes as a separate entity that is a music label as well - avoid perhaps the Apple Music lawsuit. Sign up artists directly, cut out the recording industry altogether and start publishing albums/music/videos that are made for the mediums of net and iPod.
If they are fearful of you controlling the market then do like M$ and do it.

yup they are talking about it (http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/may2004/tc2004055_8689_tc056.htm) and some joker laughed at me for suggesting it a few months back. Be careful it might just happen.
iPod.com/iTunes.com here we come?

 

[~Shard~]

not with that attitude.

Hey, I'm all for it - I'm just trying to be a little realistic. The way the music industry is right now, how blind and antiquated they are, and with all the other factors at play, I just don't see it happening. Trust me, I'd love it if it would though!

 

[hchaput]

Article is FUD

The article referenced is worthless. No named sources. Only a reference to "industry insiders," which could be the girl behind the register at Tower for all we know, and "a source familiar with the issues," which could be anybody who listens to music.

My question: Are the "big five" in Europe the same "big five" in the US? If so, why are they worried about iTunes Europe and not iTunes USA? (If not, there's no story.)

There's been a lot of FUD surrounding iTunes, and expect more as its success continues. The story is crap. It's hardly a rumor. I'm surprised it made it onto the front page of this site.

 

[SeaFox]

Totally agree, just like billy boy wants to impose a 'tax' on email, some how M$ will profit from that.

I might be crazy but I think you're right.

Microsoft might profit from an email tax since they own Hotmail one of the largest providers of web-based email.

 

[nsb3000]

Does iTunes "dictate which stars or records succeed or fail by deciding which to promote on its site," as the articles states?

The point is, they could. I am sure the decisions that Apple makes about which albums to put on the front page make a tremendous difference in terms of which songs sell well and which ones don't. As the ITMS become more dominant, these decisions could start to have a impact on what songs are popular in general, and that is the kind of the influence the record industry is (apparently) cautious about delegating to apple, or anyone else that matter. They would rather there by multiple competing distributors.

 

[Matthé]

scared majors

they are scared as hell that eventually the apple-loving musicians (which artists doesn't create his music on a mac?) will be free to sell their songs through iTunes WITHOUT being signed to a major
the whole purpose of the existence of majors - distribution - is very much in question
just look at what smaller labels are doing -> http://www.bleep.com
bleep refused the itunes store because of quality issues and royalties
on bleep, artists get 50% after costs of each song sold
personally, i think it's a matter of time before all music is sold this way and majors will be kaput
let's hope so

 

[NOV]

There have been anumber of posts suggesting that Apple cut out the labels and deal directly with the artist. This is not going to happen, Apple have signed a deal with Apple Corp (Beatles label) not to do this.

They could probably overcome this by creating a 'new' company called iTunes, blurring the link with Apple.

 

[Analog Kid]

overproduction is an industry hazard. creating monsters like britany spears and micheal bolton or even clay atkin. I'm tired of being programmed to think "perfect sound = perfect recording". Sometimes perfect can be a Robert Johnson record. Thank goodness for technology which is creating a new industry business model. Purely out of necessity. Then maybe the big 5 will finally not be force feeding me crap. My music may be bad and poorly produced... but at least its got what I want. Complete control.

There are no rules anymore.


long live lo-fi

Amen.

I'd hate it if mediocre artists had to work for a living just because they didn't have big money behind them and putting them on Big Mac giveaways...

 

[Analog Kid]

I just can't get Ice Age out of my head... I read stuff like this and all I can think of is that nervous little squirrel trying to protect his nut.

 

[Sabenth]

Let it be known now that the recording industry is like a bank..... What you put in they double there income off you. As an artist your not going to get anywear near the cash flow you dream of ..


Hell if you want to make money setup your own website and broadcast and let the world know that your out there it dont cost anything for word of mouth dose it www.myband.com and i dont know if thats for real just put it in as an exsample ..

As for europe its gona get harder now that theres now 23 new countires to work with ...

 

[johngordon]

Not to be a geek, but I guess it's too late for that....anyway, I wouldn't know about 80% of the music I am currently listening to if not for the iTMS. Most of it I've heard about or listened to according to what people who bought a song I bought bought -make sense? (that feature on the top right) or by going through the just added/new release sections every tues. I have discovered so many great indie and alternative bands this way and am more than happy to get away from the mainstream crap that's being forced upon me every which way. If not for iTunes I wouldn't be spending much $ on music at all- I'm sure my credit card could use the break, but since my first iPod (1st gen 5gb) I have been 100% more into music and what's going on and coming out. Isn't that a good thing? If they mess with the pricing or permissions too much it'll probably totally turn me off and I'll go back to taking my chances with p2p. Isn't that a situation that the record idiots want to avoid? Why are they such d&*k's?

i know exactly what you mean. was just looking at the i-mixes last night, and the idea, once again, is brilliant in its simplicity. look through there, see mixes with the sorts of stuff I like on, and spot some stuff there that i don't have or don't know, and immediately i'm interested in a *well, if they like what i like, and they like that too, then i might like that track i've never heard of* - and for only 99c i can download it and have a listen. (well, I can't, because i'm in the uk, but you get the point.)

also - since i've had the powerbook, i've been using i-tunes like i never used media player - because its so damned good. and i've found that in the last couple of months i've bought more cds than i have in the last couple of years probably - partly because there's a lot of good music about at the minute, and partly because the whole i-tunes / i-pod thing has really lured me back into it.

Iain

 

[billyboy]

iTMS is a store, just like Amazon.com is a store. For a music industry to be frightened of any outlet that sells millions of units of your product is a bit bizarre. Apple are surely only putting up for sale all and any decently produced music that they can get their hands on in order to attract people to their site - the lure to iPods. Apple must surely be at liberty to set out their store however they see best, and take account of the needs and expectations of customers, suppliers, and programmers/site designers.

But on the supply side, the music industry is setting all the rules (with a little guidance on DRM from Steve Jobs) The big five model at the moment means the big five can dictate pricing. ie Apple are playing by the financing rules of the music industry, sending them, is it 70%? royalties on all sales etc. Likewise the big five control the artists who are tied to contracts, so however much an artist thinks it is neat to go straight to an iTunes shop front, they cant go independent till they are out of contract etc.

But the fear for the music industry must be in terms of changes from within the music industry. ie If artists see the value of changing their ways dealing with labels and eventually go independent to get more control of their music, and see the iTMS as a good outlet for their own music, so be it, Apple will offer their store as a platform, but the iTMS will just sell music from sources that reflect changes made by artists and execs within the music industry.

On the surface at the moment it can't be in Apple's interest to actively change the way record industry works, nor even make incy wincy rumour noises about signing bands up, else they will instantly lose all the music from the big five and be stripped down to an independent label music store. So iTMS will stay a bit of a puppet to the big five, ie nothing to be afraid of - unless of course the stats show that the independents song sales are strong enough to keep iPods sales strong, then who knows what Steve Jobs has up his sleeve for the next revolution in how music is sold.

 

[denm316]

This is ridiculous, the RIAA cries and complains that they are trying to give people alternative choices rather then downloading illegally, now they want to take away the best choice given.

If they screw up iTunes, by either takin it away or by raising prices, I will be right back to Limeiwre without a second thought.

 

[e-coli]

Dave Matthews' debut was in '92 or '94 on RCA. RCA is not an indie label.

Actually, Dave Matthews Band's first album, Remember Two Things, was self-released in 1993, and was reissued by RCA in 1997.

Check Amazon.

 

[whooleytoo]

I'm not surprised the big labels are worried. Apple made some very smart decisions when iTMS was launched that took quite a lot of power out of their hands.

- Equal pricing: By varying the price, lables can 'nudge' listeners in the direction they wish. Equal pricing not just makes the store simpler, it makes all songs equal 'citizens'.

- No advertising in iTMS: similarly, labels have no way of pushing their favourite artist.

- Liberal iPod DRM rules: Makes iPod the best option for playing back purchased music, and thus (though it's an ugly term) locks in listeners to the iTMS format.

- Multi year deal: Allows iTMS to build up momentum before the deal needs to be renewed.

So it's no wonder they're scared, imagine if Starbucks sold 70% of all coffee, how much control and power they would have over the coffee producers. (Bad example, Starbucks probably do! )

 

[csimmons]

can anyone back this up with inside info from a record company?

One of my closest friends is the head of Product Management at Universal Music (one of the "Big 5") here in Germany, and she basically confirms this way of thinking, afterwhich I proceded to tell her what an ass backwards way of thinking this is.

The music industry as we know it deserves to die.

 

[Colonel Panik]

There have been anumber of posts suggesting that Apple cut out the labels and deal directly with the artist. This is not going to happen, Apple have signed a deal with Apple Corp (Beatles label) not to do this.

Also whilst I agree the reported fear of Apple by the major labels appears moronic, I firstly have to ask myself if it is true. There is very little, if any, supportive evidence that this report is fact.

He He, just wait until Apple (our Apple) buys Apple (Beatle's Apple). Then they can sign up artists...

Although, at that point the record labels would complain that Apple is favouring it's own artists...

 

[fixyourthinking]

Title/post and opinion a little off base

The record labels are upset because Apple is selling lots of songs and they're getting lots of profit.

If this isn't clear-cut proof that the RIAA is only interested in power, and couldn't care less about anything else, I don't know what is.

Don't get the RIAA (recording industry association of america) confused with an EU body.

But I agree - it is all about power. It's been said a 1000 ways to Sunday already on this board - but MTV makes MEGASTARS out of people by showing videos. Apple is in it's own right creating fame and fortune for those that would HAVE NEVER HAD IT - like the "she bangs" guy from American Idol.

Beyonce Knowles is wealthy beyond imagination on her own - but after looking at the statistics the other day (as the most downloaded artist on itunes) and receiving a personal take of $520,000 NET ACTUAL DOLLARS in her pocket (off of 3.4 million of her songs downloaded) from the iTunes Music Store - what the heck are these "governing bodies" worried about? I think they fear that the artists are getting too much again.

 

[Windowlicker]

It is now possible purchase the equipment needed to make a studio quality album in your basement for the cost of one session in a studio (maybe more maybe less but not by much though). With the fact that Apple now includes the software to make this possible for a relatively cheap cost (Garageband being the easiest as it is included in iLife), has them terrifiied out of their minds.

Pretty much true, yes. but don't you think you should change the Garageband to Logic or something like that? I have to admitt I have only briefly tested the garageband, but it seems to me like it's more just for playing around with and making some nice little projects (for a home made movie for example), but if you want professional sound, you're gonna need something else. ...with the exception that if the music includes mainly guitar, bass, drums (and a singer), you can always use garageband as a sequencer, which might result in a very nice sounding song.

 

[joemama]

He He, just wait until Apple (our Apple) buys Apple (Beatle's Apple). Then they can sign up artists...

Although, at that point the record labels would complain that Apple is favouring it's own artists...

...Kind of like how we (on this forum) complain about M$ shipping Internet Explorer and Media Player with evey copy of windoze......

 

[PretendPCuser]

FUD

hu*LLLOOOOOO!!!

Record companies. You dumb*ss greedy sons of Thor!! 70 Million songs. You got paid. Would you rather that be 70 million songs on Kazaa?

"But we won't ever be able to make the profit margins we were making selling overpriced CDs for umpteen years."

No. You won't. And that's what consumers have said time after time about you. You're ripping everyone off. Including the artists. Period.

Oh, i see. (read the article). They don't want to be "put over a barrel" like MTV did. Well, you didn't learn your lesson then about innovating and using technology. Older execs were too busy counting their $$ and screwing the customer.

So, in a sense, what they are saying is, "We don't want to be the b1tch, much like we've made the consumer and artists our b1tches. WAAAAAA!!!"

I'm not crying for them.

Please, someone stop me before I get going....

 

[mustang_dvs]

The reason behind all the RIAA actions: Saving humanity from aliens

I, my friends, have inside information that explains everything...

A source close to the head of Sony Records told me that the Big Five understand things much better than us beer-swilling plebeians and are acting in our best interests, much like our founding fathers, when they created the electoral college system - if they give us the ultimate decision-making authority, we will doom ourselves.

You see, they understand that brain-dead manufactured pop like Brittney Spears, Nick/Aaron Carter and Beyonce are a stain on the fabric of society just crying out for a good squirt of OxyClean, but they also understand that they and their legacy are the key to the future of humanity. You see, they know that sometime in the future, a race of huge green aliens will attempt to conquer Earth in search of a rare flower/power source/cultural icon/(untranslated Japanese idiomatic phrase). Although the human race will have developed giant transforming robots, our true hope will be the music of a pop-singer, who with sounds the aliens have never heard before, disarm, befriend and shrink them.

Even now, rumor has it, that much of Columbia Music's revenue for the last five years has gone into researching and rebuilding a giant alien spaceship that crashed in the south Pacific and TimeWarner-AOL has taken a serious hit on the bottom line because it has been applying some of that research into turning fighter jets into transforming fighting robots.

So you see - the high cost of music is justified by the music industry's investment in the keys to humanity's survival.


[/sarcasm]

 

[PretendPCuser]

It...it all makes sense!!!

Too funny!!! Glad somebody did some investigative reporting and came back with the real scoop!!! Good job!

I, my friends, have inside information that explains everything...
[/sarcasm]

 

[PretendPCuser]

iTMS downs record labels (speculation)

Okay, here's a philosophy for you.

Y'know how there are millions of "Setup your own store on the internet" dealies now, where in about an hour you can have a site setup ready to do business on the web?

What if Apple followed suit and allowed any band that is unsigned to set up a store in a particular corner of iTMS and sell their own music. I guess that's what MP3.com's model was kind of like (haven't been there in years). Granted, the artists have to promote their own music and band, but it's a bit more grassroots and the artists themselves get more of the revenue.

It'd be almost like the minor leagues of music. If iTunes had a small section of top unsigned bands, record labels could choose to court certain ones and the musicians would have the option to say "Naw, we're doing well on iTunes. We don't need your 'deal'."