p2pnet.net news:- Will Apple’s iTunes, already seriously overcharging for movie and music downloads, launch a rental bid? And if it does, will anyone care?

The corporate music industry insists iTunes is where it’s at, and that may be the case for the tiny (relatively speaking) handful of punters who keep the iTunes fiction alive by paying $1 and up for downloads worth only a few cents, and $10 and up for movies worth only a dollar or so, top whack.

The vast majority of online music lovers, however, get their downloads from the growing range of affordable and independent download services and the free p2p networks Warner Music, EMI, Vivendi Universal and Sony BMG are trying so desperately to kill.

Unsupported Apple figures put the total number of sales since it started up in 2003 at somewhere arounnd two biillion. However, one billion songs a day are shared online as mp3s, says a new IDC white paper.

And that’s a conservative estimate, it says.

Instead of figuring out ways to tap this mind-boggling market, which would make their shareholders wealthy beyond their wildest dreams, the Big 4 are trying to gain control by driving anything which looks even remotely like competition out of business, and suing their own customers.

“The world’s biggest music companies are expected to ask Apple to introduce a music subscription service to its iTunes digital media store as part of negotiations to renew their agreements with the computer company,” says MSNBC.

“Those discussions will begin in earnest next week when Universal Music, the largest record company, sits down at the bargaining table with Apple. Universal’s competitors, Sony-BMG, Warner Music and EMI, have either commenced talks with Apple already or are poised to do so, according to people close to the matter.

“This year’s talks are vital for the record industry because they come amid a continued deterioration in compact disc sales.”

It might be more accurate to say, “a continued deterioration in compact discs”.

Be that as it may, “What is clear is that the labels are looking for a way to curb losses they blame on digital music sales,” says Top Tech News. “The numbers are telling. A new report from Enders Analysis forecasts global music sales will fall to $23 billion in 2009. That’s 16 percent below last year’s sales and about half of the $45 billion industry peak in 1997.

“According to the Enders report, the decline in CD sales will slow in 2010 as MP3 penetration plateaus. Meanwhile, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry reported 2005 digital download sales doubled to $2 billion.”

The negotiations, “offer another example of the tensions between traditional media companies that create content and the technology groups that distribute it online,” says MSNBC, adding:

“The record industry, in particular, has long been frustrated that Apple has reaped most of the profits of the burgeoning online music market through sales of its iPod player. By contrast, they have earned only modest royalties from digital music sales because most of the songs on iPods and other devices result from illegal download.”

Slashdot it!

Also See:
conservative estimate – 1 billion songs a DAY shared online, March 8, 2007
MSNBC – Music labels ask Apple to adopt subscription, April 12, 2007
Top Tech News – Will iTunes Adopt a Subscription Model?, April 12, 2007

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