appleinsider.com — Apple has threatened to close down its iTunes Store should regulators approve a royalty hike that would grant artists a 66 percent increase in commission for each song sold through online download services.
Sep 30, 2008 View in Crawl 4
amishjimOct 1, 2008
The Record companies have to realize that the Business Model has changed. Their time has passed. They are no longer needed.
astrotrainOct 1, 2008
The iPOD evolutionized portable music?... And Al Gore created the Internet...No sorry, portable music has been around much longer then the iPod Jobbs pulled out of his ass. Sony walkman with cassette tapes, portable 8 track players.... if you want digital you had the MP3 player "RiO" from Diamond back in the late 90's that was under fire with allowing people to copy music to another device, this is when the RIAA started getting involved with how people manage their music without their supervision.iPod is just 'another' MP3 player with a hefty price tag, and popularity status. Just as with the 80's designer jeans, or the 50's hula-hoop.
fruitboyOct 1, 2008
Shutter?!
8270369Oct 1, 2008
I don't get it -- why don't the record labels pay the difference from their 70 percent? Why must iTMS get stuck with it? The labels are already making boatloads off this -- without it they'd be dead, physical CD sales have dropped that far.Half the comments here seem to be coming from RIAA shills, BTW. Shame on you.
dysonluOct 2, 2008
If you're smart, and Apple is, you would announce the same "threat" for all to know. This kind of thing polishes your image with the general public. Wow, Apple is resisting at all cost the price hike of songs! Apple is the hero defending the poor little consumer!Apple is brilliant at manipulating public perception and its image. But reality is, it will NEVER shut down iTunes. iTunes sells music but what people don't realize is that it sells iPods too. Moreover, iTunes is a strategic asset for digital content distribution for Apple. This threat is total BS.
felopOct 2, 2008
Are YOU serious?Apple has created a wealth of opportunity for artists and labels alike, and delivered it via a medium that people love. If the labels aren't worried about losing out to the millions of people that buy songs through iTunes, then they shouldn't be worried about Apple's threat. But they ARE! So that makes Apple a very valuable revenue stream for them.The reason they want to increase royalties is because they're not getting full bang for an album of bulls**t extras anymore like they used to. With iTunes, you can buy that one song you actually like, not the filler s**t that the label pushes into an album. iTunes business model encourages labels to ensure their musicians produce great songs EVERY TIME, instead of distributing their precious hits across multiple albums for maximum profit. iTunes is good for the musician, good for the label and good for the fans.If you don't want to buy music from iTunes, don't buy it. If the labels want more money, sign good musicians and let them take time to write their music. If the artists want more money, they should start their own label.In defense of labels: what most people don't realize is that it takes a s**tload of cash to market a musician. Getting them in interviews, radio spots, magazines, music videos, concerts, tours, etc. This s**t ain't cheap. Without that exposure, you'd never hear of the musician and they'd be playing as a journeyman at Lillie's Bar and Grill.
uncoolcentralOct 6, 2008
Yeah... I'll go right ahead and get hired by apple to fix this pronto! Idiot. I use winamp instead. Smaller footprint, faster, better auto-tagging, syncs with ipod just fine, etc.