itunes music store
Latest
Can you believe these ads once ran on Apple's website?
On April 28, 2003, Apple forever changed the face of the music industry when it launched the iTunes Music Store. And to help usher in a new age of digital music commerce, Apple ran a series of ads on its website that you could never imagine running today. Hell, I'm surprised some of them were even green-lit back then. The ads depict everyday people singing along to their favorite songs, iPod in tow. Sounds innocent enough, but check out the videos Apple actually chose to grace its website. First up, we have a likable-enough fella named Nick singing Sir Mix-A-Lot's seminal hit, "Baby Got Back." Funny enough, at the time this ad first aired, "Baby Got Back" wasn't even available for purchase via the iTunes Store. But wait, there's more! Here's a kid named Jacob singing Eminem's "Lose Yourself." As far as I know, these ads only ran during the iTunes Music Store media event and on Apple's website. In other words, I don't think these advertising gems ever hit the TV airwaves. But thanks to the magic of the internet Wayback Machine, I did discover that these ads lived on Apple's website up until December of 2004. At a certain point, though, Apple completely removed Nick's and Jacob's videos. I guess Apple realized that having a random dude singing the lyrics "makes me so horny" wasn't exactly a good look for its website. Also, Eminem took to suing Apple in May of 2004 for using his song without permission. Not to worry, though. Some of the adverts actually featured some talent. Here is Nava singing the Jackson 5's "I'll Be There." And here's Tyra with an impressive rendition of Pink's "Get The Party Started." That talent I spoke of just a minute ago? Well perhaps I spoke too soon. And a point of interest, a MacRumors post from mid-April 2003 highlighted a casting call for an Apple commercial searching for people of all ages "who are not afraid to sing their favorite song with lots of energy." And so it began. One final observation: As someone who's had a hate-hate relationship with Apple's earbuds for many years now, what I find most surprising about these videos is not that they used to grace Apple's website, but rather that the earbuds depicted stay put for the duration of each commercial. CGI, perhaps?
iTunes among the world's largest media companies
Bloomberg's Edmund Lee took a look at Apple's iTunes in an online post today, and notes that Apple's media business is huge -- in fact, it's bigger than "most major media companies." How big is that? Well, if you take the iTunes Music and App stores together, they make more than the New York Times, publisher Simon & Schuster, Warner Bros. film studios, and Time Inc. combined. In fiscal year 2012, Apple pulled in $8.5 billion in revenue from its media stores, while the combined revenue for all of those "media giants" was only $8.3 billion. While iTunes pales in comparison to the likes of News Corp. ($33.88 billion in sales in Apple's fiscal year) and Disney ($42.28 billion), it is growing faster than the bigger media companies with a growth rate of about 35 percent annually. It's expected that iTunes will eclipse Viacom Inc. by 2014. The largest part of Apple's media influence comes not from the sales of music and apps, but from the 435 million iTunes accounts stored in its databases. According to Talal Khan of Credit Suisse Group AG, "that's what gives Apple the power to come into media companies and ask for terms."
Spotify director Sean Parker: Apple tried to keep Spotify out of the United States
Daniel Ek (co-founder of Spotify) and Sean Parker (Director at Spotify) just took the stage here at D10, with Walt Mossberg asking the two about the company's impact in America, negotiations with record labels and -- perhaps surprisingly -- its links with Apple. Outside of confirming that there's still around 10 million Spotify users worldwide (with around three million of those being of the paid variety), the duo also confirmed that it's working daily to improve the catalog. Said Ek: "We're up to 18 million songs, growing at 10,000 or 20,000 songs per day -- it's very much a growing catalog." Walt was curious as to why iTunes had upwards of 30 million tracks, and why all of the services simply don't have the same library, but both players were quick to brush off the topic and pivot directly to the importance of playlists. Ek stated: "If you look at iTunes, the vast majority of songs haven't been purchased by anyone -- it's driven by hits. We see 80 percent of our whole catalog listened to." Following that, Parker contributed: "The playlist is now the CD. It used to be a few songs were wanted by the consumer, and the rest of it was garbage. It's the new mixtape, but accelerated on a massive scale." As it turns out, Spotify actually sells "bundles" (which are glorified playlists) as pay products in Europe, and when Walt asked why these weren't available in America, Parker obliged: "We just haven't released it yet." In other words, they're coming soon.
iPod owners notified of RealNetworks-related lawsuit's class action status, given chance to cash in (updated: not Real)
Remember the 2005 lawsuit over Apple's effort to keep RealNetworks' Harmony DRM off of the iPod, calling the countermeasures an abuse that locked customers into Apple's FairPlay copy protection and the iTunes Store? You're forgiven if you don't -- the complaint was filed in 2005. Even with iTunes having gone primarily DRM-free over three years ago, though, owners of iPods bought between September 12th, 2006 and March 31st, 2009 are just now getting notices that they qualify for a slice of any damages if they register and Rhapsody's former owner the class action group wins in court. Of course, there's no guarantee that RealNetworks former Rhapsody users will win and get you music money to feed your iPod, iPod classic, iPod nano or iPod touch, but unless you're planning to sue Apple yourself, there's no penalty for a legitimate claim. Update: RealNetworks has chipped in to let us know that it's "not involved in any way" with the lawsuit, which is actually an independent complaint centered around the Rhapsody users themselves. RealNetworks hasn't embroiled itself in a legal fight with Apple to date.
Apple reportedly to launch iTunes Music Store in Latin America in December
We got a couple tips from our South American readers indicating that the iTunes Music Store might be heading to Brazil. Now Veja, a Brazil-based magazine, says this store will launch December 8 and will include Roberto Carlos, a popular singer who has yet to make the digital transition. The Next Web, who provided the translation, said the December 8 launch will include all of Central and South America. Mexico already has an iTunes Music Store. However, to start with, customers are restricted to using international credit cards and will pay in dollars. Veja stated local currency should be available within the next six months. This isn't that unusual, as until recently China had similar restrictions with the App Store.
How Steve Jobs got the Internet to pay for content
Just about every Internet and print news outlet has paid tribute to Steve Jobs over the past few days, but PaidContent.org -- a website dedicated to discussion of the sale of digital content -- had one of the more interesting plaudits. In a post by Media Guardian's Charles Arthur, Jobs was rightly given his place in history as the "man who got the Internet to pay for content." Arthur reflected on the sad state of affairs in the media biz just ten years ago. He notes that "if you wanted to download some music, your best bet was Napster or one of the filesharing systems such as LimeWire or KaZaA." For the services that were actually considered legal, there were services like PressPlay and MusicNet requiring US$15 monthly subscriptions for low-quality streams that couldn't be burned to CD. Jobs came along with the iPod, and then followed up with the iTunes Music Store. If it hadn't been for Jobs persuading the music companies in 2003 to license their songs to Apple, the store wouldn't have happened. As Arthur notes, the music companies figured that Apple was just a tiny company with a minimal market share in the computer business, so they went along for the ride. And a huge ride it was -- Apple sold a million songs in the first week of the iTunes Music Store, which at that time was only available in the U.S. The iTunes Store now sells TV shows, movies, apps, and books in addition to songs, with sales of both songs and apps in the tens of billions. As Arthur comments towards the end of his post, "Jobs was a champion of getting customers who would pay you for your stuff." By focusing on "getting something great to the customer with as few obstacles as possible," Jobs was able to insist that customers pay for that value and the content. While he is largely known as the man who brought the world some "insanely great" hardware, Jobs should also be remembered for his lasting impact on sales of digital content.
Report: iTunes costs $1.3 billon per year to run
An interesting report from Asymco estimates that it costs Apple US$1.3 billion per year to run the iTunes store. That sum was reached by examining known numbers, like the total number of songs, movies, TV shows and apps that have been downloaded, plus the number of iTunes accounts and how much Apple has paid out to developers. Those figures were cross-referenced with the average price of songs and apps to get a monthly "content margin." Asymco estimates Apple's monthly content margin cost for iTunes at $113 million, which is more than $1.3 billion per year. Based on past statements by Apple executives, Asymco assumes that the iTunes store is a break even business, and any profits it realizes go right back into its maintenance and expansion. Specifically, Asymco's researchers believe that most of the profit goes into serving content (traffic and payment processing), while some goes to "curation and support," and anything left over goes towards increasing storage capacity and other services.
Sony denies rumored plans to exit iTunes
Sony is preparing to launch its Music Unlimited service in the US today and has used this occasion to debunk the rumor that it was pulling out of iTunes. A recent interview with Michael Ephraim, chief executive of Sony Computer Entertainment Australia, hinted that Sony may leave iTunes if its own Music Unlimited service saw widespread adoption. Sony Network Entertainment COO Brandon Layden responded to this report by stating: Sony Music as I understand it has no intention of withdrawing from iTunes, they're one of our biggest partners in the digital domain. I think those words were either taken out of context or the person who spoke them was unclear on the circumstances. This latest statement confirms that, under current circumstances, Sony's media content will stay in iTunes. This is good news for iOS users as Sony's Music Unlimited service in the US will be available for the PS3, networked television sets and Blu-ray players. Mobile devices are not included in its immediate plans, so iTunes will continue to be the easiest way to get the latest Avril Lavigne album on your iPhone or iPod touch. [Via Electronista]
Sony hints at pulling music from iTunes
Sony introduced Music Unlimited in Europe last year and is slated to kick off the streaming music service in Australia soon. The subscription service has a library of 6 million tracks that can be streamed wirelessly to Sony TVs, Blu-ray players and the PlayStation 3 with support for portable devices and mobile phones in the future. Before this Australian launch, Michael Ephraim, the CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment, sat down with The Age, a Melbourne-based newspaper. During the course of the conversation, Ephraim confirmed that Sony needs to be in iTunes as that is the popular format right now. If Music Unlimited takes off as a streaming music service, Sony could withdraw from iTunes and invest themselves entirely in their own delivery system. ''Publishers are being held to ransom by Apple and they are looking for other delivery systems," says Ephraim, "Sony is waiting to see what the next three to five years will hold.'' These comments come fresh on the heels of a growing battle between Sony and Apple over the rejection of the Sony Reader application for the iPhone. The app was reportedly rejected from the App Store because it did not include a mechanism for purchasing ebooks within the application. Apple is rumored to be considering changes to its terms of service that would require publishers to sell their digital content within each publisher's iOS application. [Via AppleInsider]
Mobile version of iTunes Store gets Genius recommendations
The desktop version of the iTunes Store has had Genius recommendations for quite some time, but the feature has been missing from the iPhone/iPod touch version of the Store -- until now. Tapping on the "More" tab at the bottom of the iTunes Store app will reveal the usual options, with a new option for Genius recommendations. Just like on the desktop version, you'll be able to view recommendations for music, movies and TV shows based on your purchase history. You can preview recommendations and rate them "thumbs up" or "thumbs down." Results for music recommendations can be filtered to show songs or albums, and you can also filter results by genre. Just like the recent introduction of search filtering in the iPad's App Store app, you don't need to download anything to start using the new Genius features. All the necessary changes have already been made on Apple's servers, so you can start tapping away and previewing Genius recommendations on your iOS device whenever you're ready.
The Beatles invade iTunes charts within 12 hours
It's been just over 24 hours since the release of The Beatles' complete back catalogue on iTunes and they are already dominating the album charts in a rather unusual way. In fact, as reported by MacObserver, within 12 hours of availability The Beatles had 15 albums placed in the Top 40 best-selling albums chart and 17 albums in the Top 100. That's a lot of albums to have in the Top 100 at any one time, let alone the Top 40. As of this writing, the numbers are even more impressive. The Beatles now have three of the top ten albums (Abbey Road is at number seven) and 16 of the top 50. Apple announced the release shortly before 10 a.m. Eastern on Tuesday morning, after a full-page takeover tease was displayed at Apple.com on Monday. Some have felt a tad let down by the announcement, following the hype and speculation that ensued after the tease appeared. However, ifoAppleStore.com notes that Apple is making the most of the announcement in its retail stores across the U.S. and Canada. Apple staff are being issued special name tag lanyards with the slogan "The Beatles. Now on iTunes" with the Abbey Road album cover just below it. The name of the staff member is printed just below that. Also, high-profile Apple Stores are replacing their current window displays with special Beatles promotional presentations. Other stores will replace the current FaceTime display with a picture of The Beatles looking out at shoppers.
Today is just another day I will forget
When Apple teased "Tomorrow is just another day. That you'll never forget" on their home page yesterday I hoped it was going to be something really cool -- like cloud-based iTunes or a subscription iTunes service. When the news began to leak out that the event was the Beatles coming to iTunes finally it was cool, but a day I'll never forget? Nope. Don't get me wrong, it's great to finally have the Beatles on iTunes, but Apple, lets keep this in check. For $149 and the click of a button it's nice to get all of the Beatles tracks from iTunes if I want them, but most Beatles fans had the band's entire discography ripped when MP3s started going mainstream back in 2001. Heck, hardcore fans probably had their tracks encoded at such high levels in Ogg Vorbis or FLAC that they needed a separate hard drive just to contain their Beatles tunes (and if they don't yet, Amazon will help them out -- today they lowered their Beatles Stereo Box Set to only $129). Seven years ago a Beatles/iTunes announcement might have earned the "never forget" slogan, but not today in 2010. And while it's only been three hours since the release, the iTunes Store music charts confirms that this isn't the earth-shattering news it was made out to be. Not one Beatles song has cracked the Top 10 list yet, while a new song from Katy Perry or the Black Eyed Peas usually shoots up the charts within minutes of being released -- and without taking up 40% of the real estate on the iTunes Music Store homepage or the front page of Apple.com like the Fab Four has. I also want to point out that for all the hoopla over today's "event" one thing that could have made it somewhat memorable is a Beatles-branded iPod touch. If a band-branded iPod is good enough for some guys from Dublin, surely a group of four lads from Liverpool deserve one too. Beatles: glad to have you on iTunes. Apple: I've already forgotten something you said I wouldn't. Wish I could remember what it was...
Apple's iTunes nears 10 billionth song download
Apple has announced it is nearing the 10 billion mark for iTunes music downloads. iTunes changed the way you buy music, making songs and albums available for download, day or night. Seven years later, we're about to celebrate our biggest milestone for music, yet -- 10 billion songs downloaded. In celebration of this, Apple is running a promotion that awards a $10,000 iTunes gift card to the person who downloads the 10 billionth song. The promotion is open to residents (age 13 or higher) of all fifty States, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada (excluding the Province of Quebec), Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. You can enter up to 25 times a day by buying songs. Alternatively, Apple doesn't require you to purchase a song to qualify for the promotion: they've set up a handy "No Purchase Necessary" form which you can fill out up to 25 times per day. From the tally on their counter, it looks like they come 1,000 songs closer to the 10 billionth download every eleven seconds. At the time of this writing, that means they should hit the 10 billion mark in a little over two weeks. Apple has posted the Official Rules here.
Why iTunes needs to offer an album-based subscription service
One of the key announcements to come out of Apple's "It's only rock and roll, but I like it" event on September 9th was iTunes LP. As implied in its name, iTunes LP seeks to provide a more rich album experience, something that has taken a backseat given the decline of physical albums. iTunes LP includes features typically found on physical albums, such as liner notes and photos, as well as exclusive video content. One of the goals of iTunes LP is to resuscitate album sales, which have been struggling in the iTunes age of à la carte individual track sales. While iTunes LP provides a means to resuscitate the album, an album-based subscription service would further this goal even more.
Incredible: Apple responsible for 25% of US music sales
The NPD Group has released amazing numbers this week: Apple is generating one quarter of all US music sales. Equally impressive, but less surprising, is that Apple is also responsible for 69% of all online music sales. Wal-Mart is #2 for US music sales at 14% (that's a combination of both their online and CD sales) and Best Buy is third. Speaking of CDs, the aging format is still the overall top seller in the US and Wal-Mart is the top CD distributor. However, NPD expects that Apple's sales will equal that of CDs by 2010. I know it's impossible to say what I'm about to without sounding like a grumpy old man, but here it comes anyway. For me, the tremendous thing isn't that Apple has commandeered the market so handily, it is the rate at which the distribution model has evolved. I'm only 38 years old, but as a kid I had a box of records. By the time I was in junior high school I was buying cassettes and in college I bought CDs. Today, I can't remember the exact last time I bought music in a format I could physically hold in my hands. I'm glad the big wigs in the music industry are starting to get it. Now if only the TV execs would follow suit.
Apple, record labels working to spur album sales with interactive goodies, tablet due this September?
Let's face it, folks -- the CD insert is no longer "the new hotness." And besides, those wacky PDFs included with iTunes album purchases never did much more than take up valuable hard drive space anyway, right?. In an effort to get consumers to stop buying single tracks and start buying more filler entire albums, Apple has reportedly joined forces with EMI, Sony Music, Warner Music and Universal Music Group in a project that's being codenamed "Cocktail." Financial Times is reporting that said initiative is considering adding "interactive booklets, sleeve notes and other interactive features with music downloads," with one executive familiar with the situation saying that "it's not just a bunch of PDFs; there's real engagement with the ancillary stuff." Of course, all of this should still be taken with a pinch of salt for now, as even the music companies mentioned above refused to comment. And given the tremendous indifference consumers have shown with that other interactive tech that's being pushed so hard right now, we're not even sure it'll have the desired effect.In related news, another sect of folks "briefed on the project" have stated that these new content deals could be launched alongside a new, full-featured "tablet-sized computer in time for the Christmas shopping season, in what the entertainment industry hopes will be a new revolution." Adding fuel to the already raging fire, the report asserts that the "touch-sensitive device... will have a screen that may be up to ten inches diagonally," and while it will "connect to the internet like the iPod touch, it'll probably [do so] without phone capabilities." You do know that Apple has been good for a music / iPod-related event right around September the past few years, right?[Via AppleInsider]
iTunes 101: Deauthorize all computers at once
Many iTunes users are aware of the 5-computer limit for purchases made through iTunes. But what happens when you reach this limit? Well, you could go to each computer and de-authorize it by going to Store > De-authorize Computer, but this doesn't work if you get rid of a computer and forget to de-authorize it. If you have reached your 5-computer limit, then launch iTunes, click iTunes Store, and then click your iTunes user name in the top-right corner of the store window. Once you login, you should see a page with all of your account information on it. In the middle of the page, you should see how many computers are currrently authorized. When you reach your 5-computer limit, a new button will appear here called "Deauthorize All." When you click this button, and confirm, your computer limit will start over at zero. You will then need to re-authorize the computers that you want to keep. From iTunes, go to Store > Authorize Computer. Update: As many have noted in the comments, this deauthorize all button can only be used one time per year. So, if you only have one or two computers to deauthorize, it might be best to do it manually. You can learn more about iTunes de-authorization on this Apple support note.Want more tips and tricks like this? Visit TUAW's Mac 101 section.
Apple's 10K filing shows $3.34 billion in 2008 iTunes sales
Apple's annual SEC 10K filing showed that music-related sales increased by US$844 million (or 34%) to $3.34 billion in fiscal 2008, up from US$2.5 billion in 2007. Apple cited "heightened consumer interest in downloading third-party digital content" as the reason for the hefty increase. Apple noted increased net sales from the iTunes Store in each of its geographic regions. An increase in the amount and types of content available at the iTunes stores was pegged as part of this growth. Apple is the largest U.S. music seller, having knocked Wal-mart from the #1 spot in April of 2008. The revenue figures for the music-related business do not include iPod or iPhone sales.[via eWeek Apple Watch]
Apple launches iTunes 8, NBC comes back, TV shows at $1.99, Genius in the house
Just in time for couch season, Apple has busted out iTunes 8 with a slew of new features, like the Genius sidebar. Also, NBC is back on board with its lineup of TV shows. According to Jobs, "The Office is coming back, Monk, Battlestar Galactica, 30 Rock... and they're coming back in HD." HD versions of shows will run you $2.99 while SD versions run a reasonable $1.99 (when compared to, say, a full month's cable access). Meanwhile, "Genius" is a new feature that Apple says will change the way you browse your media. "Old browsing wasn't efficient," said Jobs. "in iTunes 8 you can look by album cover, and this new bar at the top let's you look at anything graphically in little tiles." Basically, Genius is a contextual iTunes store recommendation tool that will, in essence, make it easier for you to spend money. It also makes custom playlists on the fly based on your habits, and shares them (anonymously, they promise) with other users. So what's missing so far? None of the rumored subscription services, for one, and any mention of new hardware or iPhone functions, like, say disk mode. We'll keep wishing. Apple says it is making iTunes 8 available immediately (which, to them, may mean "some time later"), so let the download races begin!Update: We've got a gallery of iTunes 8 -- check it out below.%Gallery-31533%
Apple tops 5 billion mark in iTunes sales
When the iTunes Store was first introduced (hey, remember when it was called the iTunes Music Store and all you could buy were DRMed music tracks? Those were the days) I thought people wouldn't spend much money there. Sure, it was pretty and easy to use but people don't want DRM laced music, thought I. Clearly, as with many things in my life, I was totally wrong. Apple just announced that people have downloaded over 5 billion songs from iTunes (notice they say 'downloaded,' and not 'bought.' This number includes all those freebies we list, as well as any promotional freebies Apple hands out with partners). Any way you slice it, that's a lot of songs.Apple also said that people are renting and downloading over 50,000 movies a day. Not too shabby, given the greater expense and file sizes involved with movie transactions on iTunes.Thanks, Cameron!
