“With speculation regarding the negotiations between Apple and the [music] labels consuming quantities of newsprint it’s worth taking a quick look at some of the key issues,” Mark Mulligan blogs for Jupiter Research.
Dropping DRM: The most newsworthy aspect is whether Steve Jobs et al will convince the other majors to follow EMI’s lead and drop copy protection on their catalogue. It’s unlikely that they’ll get UMG, WMG and Sony BMG to echo EMI’s move, but Apple must be hopeful of gaining at least some concessions from one or more of them across at least some portion of their catalogue.
Variable Pricing: The one price fits all strategy proved an astute move for driving adoption of iTMS, by simplifying the consumer proposition. However it has now served its purpose and both Apple and the labels would benefit from a more flexible approach to pricing.
DRM Interoperability: Apple’s position is clear: they will not open up Fairplay. Is that negotiable? Perhaps, but only for something really good, like entire catalogue of remaining majors being made free of DRM.
Digital Bundles: The labels would love to see greater variation in product formats e.g. bundles of videos and tracks… There’s no reason Apple wouldn’t consider such options, indeed they’ve already started their own experimentation. In short, the digital down model doesn’t need to limit itself to trying to replicate the CD in digital form
More in the full article here.
