Apple looks to OTA downloads for 3G iPhone, record labels look for cash
By Joshua Topolsky 
posted May 19th 2008 1:41PM
posted May 19th 2008 1:41PM
[Via AppleInsider]
posted May 19th 2008 1:41PM
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Well if only the ipods would not randomly delete music when syncing. I have over $18 worth of music that up and vanished. And no, it is not on my ipod and not on my pc. I did check everywhere on both. So paying more for music. Bah! If they cannot fix the issues with Itunes. What is the point of paying any premium for music I already own. And ripping CD's seems to be removed from the ipod touch as soon as you resync with the pc. Manually or automatically. The ipod is one device I will not buy again. And I enjoy using apple products. But man my first ipod is my last. Back to pc and alternatives.
Seriously. I am the record companies' ideal customer. I believe in paying artists for their work - I would bet there are fewer than 100 non-paid-for tracks in my >40GB music library. I have spent multiple hundreds of dollars on iTunes and Amazon's mp3 store, and I don't buy CD's anymore. (I used to buy CD's and copy them but all they do is clutter up my house.) But to want me to shell out more money to download the song over the 3G network instead of over Wifi is just flat out greedy and stupid - the record company didn't provide the network or have anything whatsoever to do with it!!!!! If they manage to push this through, I won't download any music unless it's from my PC or over wifi, just to deny them the revenue. And let me tell you, I *frequently* wish I could download a song when I hear it on the radio in my car. By the time I get home, I've forgotten. Bye-bye revenue!
Fair warning to all of my friends (yes both of them):
If I call you and hear a "ringback" tone, I will never call you again!
Ringtones are lame enough as is, please make it stop! lol
Here's why Apple needs the labels ok: in order to sell something over AT&T's network, AT&T gets a cut of the revenue, generally a very generous one at that. They aren't going to allow this traffic for free, especially as part of an all you can eat plan. even though they aren't fulfilling the purchase or billing for it.
So, given Apple has a fixed revenue split with the record label for the songs sold over iTunes, now it's a 3-day revenue split that has to be negotiated. Keeping the 99 cent price when you are paying ATT as well would drastically reduce the revenue for both Apple and the label.
If the agreement between Apple and AT&T is anything like the Key Terms Agreement I've seen (we didn't get the iPhone gig!), then AT&T will only see a share of the _profits_ of songs sol on iTunes. So, no agreement with the Labels required. This also is likely (interestingly) to cover songs bought via wifi too.
It is unlikely that Apples existing agreements with the Labels allow for purchase of music via a carrier (in part, this would be to protect agreements between the labels themselves, and the carriers); thus -- although there is nothing technically to stop Apple offering this now with a 2.75G iPhone, legally they can't.
Also in my experience of how Labels view song purchase via cell phone, they view the convenience factor as adding additional value, therefore can gouge customers for more. Wrong, in my view, but what do I know, I'm just a customer...
@ everyone who thinks that piracy hurts artists on major labels
It simply isnt true. artists make their money from promotions, appearing on shows, from live tours, and other such publicity-related events. artists make little to nothing on record sales.
The more people they can get their music to, the more people turn up for a gig. The label finances their album and also takes any loss or most of any profit.
my brother has probably paid $100 in gig tickets in the last 12 months, all becuase of a CD a friend 'lent' him. . . .
WTF!!!
I call BS.
Sprint offers their music downloads for $.99 and that includes a phone and a computer download.
Granted you must have a Sprint data plan for your phone, but those are required for the iPhone anyway.
And for you smarty-pants out there, the Sprint required data plan to get these are $20 a month, and the iPhone included 200 sms, but the Sprint data plan that includes this discount, data, and unlim texts is $30, $40 for that on the iPhone.
Record companies, shut the f up.
go spam yourself.
Because of this extreme greed from the stupid record labels, I support all efforts at making piracy easier and more widespread. Maybe someday these morons in Hollywood will figure it out --- Until then, I hope all the major labels become obsolete.
p2p is alive on the iphone...
http://blog.wired.com/music/2008/05/file-sharing-co.html
There is absolutely no way I will ever in my life pay more money for something I could easily do at my computer for less, and then transfer to the iPhone anyways. Do the record companies really want to push people more and more into pirating, because at this point, I'm considering never buying digital music again. I'll just get it on a cd before I overpay.