“Music giant Sony-BMG is hopeful it will join Apple’s newly launched Australian iTunes music store and says a deal between the two is imminent. The record company is the only major label not to have artists listed on the digital download site, which went live in Australia [yesterday] morning,” Dewi Cooke reports for The Sydney Morning Herald. “Emmanuel Candi, general manager of business strategy and human resources for Sony-BMG Entertainment Australia, said the company’s US arm had met Apple representatives to discuss the issue. ‘There’s a couple of points left to finalise, the negotiations are going really well and we hope that they will be all settled soon and we’ll be on track too,’ he said.”
“Sony-BMG lists artists with other digital download sites including Telstra’s BigPond Music, HMV Music and Sanity’s DestraMusic site. ‘We’ve just passed our two millionth digital sale last month and we’ve got nearly 30 digital retail businesses licensed (to sell our artists). We love the digital space and we love the traditional retail space,’ Mr Candi said,” Cooke reports. “Sony-BMG and Warner Music avoided the iTunes Japan store, which opened in August, due to its pricing policy. Industry speculation is that the company’s current dispute with Apple is over the digital file format. Mr Candi declined to comment on this. The global head of Apple iTunes, Eddie Cue, said Sony BMG’s artists were keen to have their work available for download.”
Full article here.
Advertisement: The New iPod with Video. The ultimate music + video experience on the go. Buy it now at the Apple Store. From $299. Free shipping.
Congratulations to Sony-BMG Australia on their two millionth digital sale. That’s a very, uh, cute total. Now sign on the dotted line with iTMS Australia and you’ll double that figure within a few days.
Related articles:
Apple passes 600 million iTunes Music Store songs sold milestone – October 25, 2005
Analyst: Sony BMG’s boycott of Apple’s iTunes Music Store Australia won’t last long – October 24, 2005
Coles Myer to carry Apple iTunes Music Store Cards in Australia – October 24, 2005
Apple launches iTunes Music Store Australia – October 24, 2005
Report: If Apple launches iTunes Music Store Australia tomorrow, Sony BMG won’t be included – October 24, 2005
Japan music labels look to impose ‘iPod Tax’ while Sony, Warner still not signing with Apple iTunes – October 10, 2005
Why aren’t Sony, BMG, Warner, Victor making their artists’ music available on Apple’s iTunes Japan? – October 06, 2005
Sony and Warner holding out on Apple iTunes Music Store Australia – September 08, 2005
Musicians stage mutiny against Sony, defiantly offer music via Apple’s iTunes Music Store – August 10, 2005
Record company causes Apple to hit ‘pause’ on Australian iTunes Music Store – May 05, 2005
Between the lines. “Sony/BMG stays put while Apple negotiates in bad faith.”
Sounds like Sony will stay away from iTunes Australia and blame Apple.
I hope Apple won’t compromise with those idiots at BMG.
Sony is trying to come up with a solution as Apple has but can’t seem to attract the numbers like the iTunes/iPod formula. They’re working on software that even looks strikingly similar to iTunes. They’re also not looking at Applae as another distribution channel, it’s like the Sony Store was all there was, and SOny equiptment couldn’t be bought anywhere else.
Sony should be happy to take advantage of this distribution channel (and others).
All, IMHO – of course
Jb
kdoue8*&*&*& Sony-BMG. I will not buy anything from this company since they started using copy protection on their CD’s….Of course, it doesn’t really have any impact on me since I use a Mac, but all those peecee people that have a hard time putting certain CD’s/songs on their iPods do have a problem…So, I will not purchase anymore products from this company. Let Standard Oil of New York sink in their own sh-t. Their artists should revolt….Call out the lawyers…
Like Macgravy, I too am boycotting Sony and Microsoft. Their tactics have gone to far.
I know this issue has been dealt with before but I have to ask: How do you overcome the restriction of using downloaded music on five computers/burning the same playlist seven times ?
bikersrule–
Check this out: http://hymn-project.org/jhymndoc/