“Apple Computer Inc. has emerged as an increasingly important player in the music industry because of the success of its iPod digital players and its online music store,” Reuters reports. “Hopes are high among the makers of instruments and accessories that Apple, with its recently introduced ‘GarageBand’ program, can have the same energizing effect on their market that the computer maker’s iTunes digital music store has had for recorded music.”
“‘For us, all of a sudden music is the No. 1 priority of the company,’ said Rob Schoeben, Apple’s vice president of applications marketing. ‘We’re trying to be a part of the music evolution overall. In a digital environment, our iPods and iTunes are making people excited again about acquiring music. Now we’ve added musical creation to that lifestyle,'” Reuters reports. “The GarageBand program essentially turns a Macintosh computer into a recording studio, enabling users to write and record their own compositions by plugging a guitar or keyboard into the PC and sampling from prerecorded tracks.”
“That type of software has long been available from other firms, but analysts say Apple’s marketing clout and easy-to-use design will kick-start the market. ‘It’s a pretty significant innovation for a targeted audience of amateurs,’ said Phil Leigh, analyst with Inside Digital Media. ‘I would say this niche market has historically been in the tens of millions of dollars, but Apple could theoretically triple the market. If it expanded it into the PC market, it could increase the market tenfold,'” Reuters reports.
Reuters reports., “Noah Dater, head of marketing for SoundToys, a maker of ‘plug-ins’ that extend the functionality of programs like GarageBand, said Apple created an attractive entry point for teenagers with dreams of rock ‘n’ roll stardom. ‘We’re excited because the level of knowledge among 13-year-olds will improve with GarageBand, who will then move up to more complex programs,’ Dater said.”
Full article here.
I just showed a couple of my friends Garageband and all of them said that they want to switch for mac. They thought it cost me atleast 500 dollars and then I told them it only costs 50 and their jaws dropped. Then I told them it also includes iPhoto, iDVD, and iMovie and they were even more amazed. It is a great deal.
Sorry ’bout the “rant” earlier but I just don’t want apple becoming known only for its great products related to music. They should be given awards for their music applications/hardware as well as their software and hardware.
Apple, in recent years, has lost a lot of ground in the music making industry… despite their claim that they are the platform of choice…. progs like acid and sonar made it easy and cheap for amatuers to get into the act using cheap PCs…. As PCs became popular, music software companies began developing for Windows first (if not exclusively for windows like Acid and Sonar)… and with that PCs took the lead in this industry… sure, the big artists still used macs, but a majority of all artists used Windows…. the PC was not only cheaper, in some ways it was better….
With Garage Band, and the new features Apple is putting into Logic PRO…. Apple is well equipped to take over this market again…. I don’t see anything that can match Apple’s Logic 7 (when it does come out)… their focus on this industry is more than suprising… it’s unbelievable… The PC will soon be second class again… Apple has decided not to leave it to 3rd party developers to develop new and exciting programs… finally apple is doing it all by themselves… and it couldn’t have been better… leaving it all up to MOTU, Bias, TC and such hasn’t been working…. they’ve been beaten by cakewalk and sonic foundry… But with apple at the helm, man… cakewalk and sonic foundry doesn’t stand a chance…. we’re going to see some changes in the audio software industry some time soon… similar to whats happening in the video industry when apple came out with final cut, DVD studio pro and shake… way to go apple
>Re: Apple publishing music and bypassing RIAA, etc.
>
>This is a BAD IDEA. For purely legal reasons, of course. Could you
>imagine the field day the Beatles lawyers would have with this? Apple
>PRODUCING music?? No way. It’s not going to happen. Ever. Apple’s
>already walking a fairly tight line as it is.
It would work fine if Apple Computer would just get it over with and buy out Apple Corps. Apple Corps. can’t be worth all that much. They don’t even own any Beatles songs. Michael Jackson owns all of them. I don’t know if they DISTRIBUTE Beatles music anymore. In fact, I don’t know if they distribute ANY music anymore.
Personally, I’d like to see Apple bypass the RIAA.
Michael Jackson owns all of them.
No, Sony has acquired control of Michael’s catalogue acquisitions.
One note–the installed base v. market share thing is horseshit when considering Apple’s music products. What the hell use is a large installed base of pre-Firewire iMacs and iBooks, for example, when you can’t plug an iPod into them? Answer: about as useful as a non-DVD G4 iMac would be for using GarageBand.
There is a certain amount of cognitive dissonance involved in preaching installed base on one hand, bragging about how many people have older Macs, while on the other hand telling the people that have the old Macs that they should shut up and buy new machines.
Kenny said: “Apple appears to be pulling out of Education market–a key market for increasing the Mac’s market share. They also may be pulling out of enterprise–at least out of the office.”
Kenny, I would be interested in how you came up with this assertion. Apple continues to hit the education market hard. I know, I work in IT in education and the sales staff are all over me all the time. They are agressive, and intent on making Macs ubiquitous in the academy. Look for more supercomputing clusters built on the new Xserve G5s, continuing momentum in laptop sales (especially laptop programs for students), and enterprise level solutions. CommunigatePro runs on OS X and is quickly becoming a contender for enterprise level email systems. Apple also has a new enterprise solutions division designed to get corporations to move away from their dependence on MS.
See this article for an analysis of the Apple enterprise strategery.
If you have evidence that they are pulling out of the markets you suggest I would be interested to see it.
-B
What Apple needs now is some music learning software to help beginners learn the basics.
“This is a BAD IDEA. For purely legal reasons, of course. Could you imagine the field day the Beatles lawyers would have with this? Apple PRODUCING music?? No way. It’s not going to happen. Ever. Apple’s already walking a fairly tight line as it is.”
-Joel
Joel,
with all the music related stuff coming out of Apple lately do you honestly believe they could care less about what the Beatles lawyers think? I don’t.
Peter P: I know you backed down somewhat from this position, but I can’t resist pointing this out. You said:
‘They better get their priorities straight. They should be focusing on marketing OS X and their computers and trying to get more PC users to switch.’
OK, let that be their #1 priority.
‘They should also be focusing on IT and industry to switch over to mac.’
That’s #2.
‘They should also be focusing on making OS X better than it already is.’
That’s 3.
Then you said:
‘Music should be a distant second priority.’
Don’t you mean a distant FOURTH priority? Or do you count differently from other people when you get exercised about something?
Seriously, it’s very difficult to rank business priorities on any absolute scale. (Which is the #1 priority for a poultry farm, chickens or eggs?) And there are various ways of assessing what someone’s top priority actually is. Judging by the amount of capital they’re investing, Apple’s top priority is clearly the G5 line. Judging by what they’re pushing to dealers & educational customers, it’s probably Powerbooks & iBooks. If you go by R&D effort, OS X wins by a mile.
When an Apple MARKETING exec says their #1 priority is music, he probably means no more than: ‘This is what I’m personally paying attention to right now, because we’ve got to move faster than Jumping Jack Flash if we want to keep the lead in this market.’ Which is almost certainly true. In other words, it may be the #1 priority in terms of what consumes the largest share of management’s attention, but that doesn’t give it the largest share of Apple’s total resources.
neomonkey writes:
“I think GarageBand is a strong interest to about 50% of computer owners.”
You gotta be kidding. 50%?!! Try like about 0.05%. And 98% of it is made up of no-talent wanna�-be�s that think they can be the next hottest music sensastion. Two weeks of some teenie slogging around mixing somebody elses tunes on garageband and they realize it ain�t going nowhere fast, the software is shelved.
Even Apple thinks it is just an Extra gimmick – they bundled it with 5 other iLife programs.
Apple needs to bring out better, faster, cheaper computers. MacOS has a reputation of being too complex—lots of “Unix voodoo” that scares off the average consumer that wants something simple to own and operate.
eMac & iMac are dogs – don�t sell; they need to be replaced with a simple, inexpensive box and separate monitor.
(My new dream machine: separate, slim, portable monitor that hooks to the computer via wi-fi (so I can carry it around, put it on my lap or store it away when not needed); the guts of the computer in a package the size of the bottom-half of a laptop that is stored in my desk or on a bookshelf; wireless mouse and wireless keyboard.)
“It would work fine if Apple Computer would just get it over with and buy out Apple Corps. Apple Corps. can’t be worth all that much. They don’t even own any Beatles songs. Michael Jackson owns all of them. I don’t know if they DISTRIBUTE Beatles music anymore. In fact, I don’t know if they distribute ANY music anymore.”
Michael jackson owns a big chunk of them, but Paul McCartney still owns the rights to the later stuff.
“with all the music related stuff coming out of Apple lately do you honestly believe they could care less about what the Beatles lawyers think? I don’t.”
Here’s how I see it. Pretty much Apple’s only defense right now in their Beatles’ cases involves the difference between the two companies. Apple Computer is a computer/software company. Today, this necessitates the computer being able to PLAY music and now CREATE music. Apple Corps Ltd. is a music label. They don’t make music or play music. They just produce it. Once Apple crosses that line, then there is no real defense. I don’t know Apple Corps’ financial standing, but I would have to assume they aren’t going to sell easily (or Apple would have done it already). Furthermore, an acquisition of that nature would have to be quite lucrative being as Apple Corps is probably going to and will continue to make quite a bit of cash from these lawsuits.
-Joel
What does Apple Corps do? EMI and SONY deals with Beatles music. Even Paul’s stuff. When Paul was with Wings and solo, he did not use his own company!
Apple Corps does control one semi-popular band (Badfinger). Now that Apple is so much in the music biz, what Judge/Jury would tell them to stop? Either the Judge would say the contract in invalid because you cannot have a contract last forever. There has to be a time limit. Or if some judge upholds the contract they can either make Apple pay a licensing fee, or ban Apple Computers from existing in the UK. Look at the Earl(duke or whatever) of McDonalds or Budwieser of Czech. Neither one was able to force McDonalds or Budwieser to change their name. Budwieser is just not allowed in certain places.