Free, unlimited iTunes?
p2pnet news | Music:- Apple boss Steve Jobs reckons he’s figure it out a new way to skin Apple users.
“The company is in discussions with the big music companies about a radical new business model that would give customers free access to its entire iTunes music library,” says the Financial Times.
Terrific.
But wait. There is, of course, a catch.
Anyone signing up for the new scheme would have to pay a premium for iPod and iPhone devices, says the story, going on:
“The ‘all you can eat’ model, a replica of Nokia’s ‘comes with music’ deal with Universal Music last December, could provide the struggling recorded music industry with a much-needed fillip, and drive demand for a new generation of Apple’s hardware.”
Executives familiar with the negotiations, “said they hinged on a dispute over the price the computer maker would be willing to pay for access to the labels’ libraries, says the FT.
“Nokia is understood to be offering almost $80 per handset to music industry partners, to be divided according to their share of the market. However, Apple has so far offered only about $20 per device, two executives said.”
Consumers, “would pay a premium of up to $100 for unlimited access to music for the lifetime of the device, or a monthly fee of $7-$8 for a subscription model,” according to research, says the FT, adding:
“Apple, which is thought to make relatively little money from the iTunes store compared with its hardware sales, is also understood to be examining a subscription model” for iPhone devices, “where it has a monthly billing relationship with customers through the mobile phone operators offering the device, while the ‘comes with music’ model would work with iPhones and with iPods.
“The subscription models under discussion in the music industry include the provision for customers to keep up to 40 or 50 tracks a year, which they would retain even if they changed their device or their subscription lapses.”
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Also See:
Financial Times – Apple mulls unlimited music bundle, March 18, 2008
‘comes with music’ – Nokia to share music money with ops, January 28, 2008
relatively little money – Is iTunes making money?, March 13, 2008
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March 19th, 2008 at 9:55 am
I thought Steve was dead set against subscription music.
People want to “own their music”. Until a subscription service is his idea that is. I’d buy an ipod for this. Comes with 50 songs a year to keep as well as unlimited rentals? Whta’s better than that? maybe Qtrax
March 19th, 2008 at 10:28 am
Qtrax?
hahahahahahahaha
March 19th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
Most artists don’t even own their own music….
Why should the fans?
March 19th, 2008 at 3:28 pm
Fuck that I’ll just keep using limewire, at least you get to “own” the music without paying a subscription fee for themusic that you download.
March 19th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
Anything to keep you inside Apple’s “orchard”. I’m betting the files available under these “deals” would be DRM infected to make sure you can ONLY USE THEM WITH APPROVED APPLE PRODUCTS. The rest of the world is rapidly backing away from DRM, treating it like the crappy deal that it is. Buy your music files from Amazon or one of the other e-tailers that are selling non-DRM infected MP3 format songfiles (they really do “Play For Sure”!).
Speaking of DRM, DON’T “PURCHASE” MOVIES FROM THESE ONLINE STORES UNTIL THE MARKET SHAKES OUT FOR A GOOD WHILE, IF EVER. Lots of them will inevitably go out of business. Virtually all of the movie files are hobbled with DRM, so once the company is gone, your ability to play the files goes away at some point, never to return, like if you get a new computer or reformat. It already happened to those gullible enough to “buy” movies from Google. Just my 2 cents.