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“Universal Music Group, the world’s largest music company, has declined to sign a long-term deal with Apple Inc.’s iTunes music store, leaving open the possibility for exclusive deals with other services, an industry source said on Sunday,; Yinka Adegoke reports for Reuters.
Adegoke reports, “Universal will continue to sell music and videos of artists including 50 Cent, Mariah Carey and Black Eyed Peas via iTunes on a month-to-month basis, rather than be locked in to a two-year agreement Apple had proposed, the source said.”
“In effect, Apple will now have similar terms to those that Universal already has with the majority of its retail partners,” Adegoke reports. “Some music executives have privately expressed frustration that Apple’s dominant position may have hampered growth of the fledgling digital music market by keeping users locked within the Apple system.”
MacDailyNews Take: No iPod is required to buy and play music from iTunes Music Store. iTunes Music Store use is not required to play music on iPod. Therefore: no “lock-in.” “Lock-in” is nothing more than a fantasy for the weak-minded and/or for those who’ve been soundly-whipped in either the device and/or online content markets.
Adegoke continues, “Universal, which produces one in three albums sold in the United States, has been leading the push by music companies to demand that new technology and media partners who want to license music share in the proceeds of the new products as well. Last year Universal signed a deal with Microsoft Corp. to take a small share of sales of its digital media player, the Zune.”
Full article here.
Okay, so it took Microsoft nearly a year to stuff the channel with 1 million Zunes, so if Universal gets $1 per Zune, they made a whopping $1 million? No wonder they want a slice of Apple’s iPods and iPhones. Microsoft’s Zune is a desperate joke. It’s the WNBA of the digital media device world.*
Mediocresoft was so late, with so little, they would have signed anything because without Universal, the Zune would have been even more of a flop (if that’s even possible).
Does Sony pay Universal Pictures a royalty for every TV they sell? No. Does GE pay Universal Music a royalty for every AM/FM radio they sell? No. But, Apple is supposed to pay royalties to Universal on every iPod and iPhone sold regardless of whether any Universal content is ever even played on Apple’s devices? Why, because Apple is insanely successful? Is that why they should pay royalties where no one else does? Nonsense.
Universal is thinking like a dinosaur because they are one. They are also nuts. Universal et al. are crazy dinosaurs who, if they can’t get their act together very soon, face certain extinction.
*Boring mediocrity that real people couldn’t care less about propped up by vastly larger organizations with agendas unrelated to the product itself. Ginned-up “interest” cannot sustain failure for long.
Well…. Good-bye Universal.
Universal who?
Who’s going to be pissed? The bands.
UMG and NBC Universal are two completely different companies
As I said:
Yo Universal Muzak… !!!
Listen up… I am an iPod owner – since day one. Every generation including the U2 versons. I have 14,164 songs (not including my music vids, movies and podcasts – in my iTunes folder, of the which I have purchased 4,582 songs from the iTMS. Mostly ful complilations because I like it like that.
if this story is true – and for some reason, I find it plausable that you woudl actually slit your greedy-assed wrists – I will from the time of confirmation of the reality of this Universal BS – stop purchasing your label and any sub-label that you spin off or currently publish music. I know I am only one buyer. So, I am sure you will say “F*CK him, who gives a shite!” What’s true is that is what you have said for years to the artists, retailers and customers. All you care about it the little car that takes you from your house on Mullholland Drive to your offices in the Shitty of LA and back and the chicky who gives you head there and back. You D*ck wipes.
You are greedy phuques and always have been. You will never CHANGE!!!
MDN – change – as in music labels need to change and follow SONY’s example and get on the train.
Since I am now provided with proof of this idiocy, then I for one will make sure that any music or movies or anything that Universal Entertainment does is no longer on my schedue.
Yo Universal – “Chomp my choda!”…
You sorry assed greedy sucks…
At least Dracula is honest about his bloodsucking!
As for the “lock-in” crap that is being still bandied about by those who really do not know: I can take ANY song of my 14,000 + llibrary and burn it to a cd and “share it” – I can load those songs onto any player – like my Moto K1 – can you do this with the pile of shite Zune? (New colour for Zune – darker brown).
As for other music management software – show me something better. And a player that is better (not with more gadgets or gizmos that I don’t use anyway) – in the sence of elegance and ease of use – and I will buy it and move all of my music to it but then what do I do with the over 100 movies and 500 music videos and 200 podcasts and 50 audibooks? (Not all purchased from iTunes, either).
Hmmmm I guess I am “locked-in”! Why? Because I found something that ‘just works”…
Time magazine quoute “If you’re not ready to think different, then think ahead.”
Those might be good words for Universal! I wonder how the stockholders feel about this bull-shite? Maybe brown is a Universal way of looking at the world when you have your head so firmly planted up your okoli!
@ Petey,
what’s that 9 million dollar figure ?
Universal gets over 800 000 000 dollars from ITMS.
and, if u meant 1 dollar per iPod over two years u are very far away from the truth, apple sells over 40 000 000 iPods per year.
mark:Once you make an exception, there’s not much more to be said. Think about it.
Right. So there’s no lock-in for a small number of songs (this pleases me), and lock-in for the vast majority.
pr:You can buy and play music on a Mac, or a PC.
Right. Apple’s portable or Apple’s PC/Mac application. You have the choice between Apple and Apple.
I bought the Paul Simon CD, and imported the tracks to the computer
Right. Only if you buy a physical CD. Wasting money (i only want one song) and physical resources (plastic, paper, oh the environment!), which is why the online per-song purchase model is supposed to be superior.
But at that point it’s a matter of personal preference.
Right. Apple’s products do NOT allow you to use them AND exercise personal preference at the same time. You can either use all their products or none.
Would you think that if they opened it up they would take support calls on why an iTunes track won’t play in ANOTHER company’s software or player?
I’d expect them to verify that there’s nothing wrong with the standard AAC encoding of the file, yes. Beyond that, they would obviously not be responsible for supporting the 3rd-party player.
As MDN is fond of saying, it’s not like these are applications that are written for a particular computer and have to be re-written specially. They’re standard music file formats which anyone is free to license and use. The only thing Apple is doing is adding protection that prevents any other company’s products from playing them, and building products that won’t play any other company’s tracks.
I’ve never said there’s a better product out there. I strongly believe that there isn’t. But they’re doing what they’re doing, and MDN insists on pretending they’re not.
If they don’t want their users “locked within the iPod system” wouldn’t it make more sense to join the join the ” iTunes Plus” program, thereby remove the usage restrictions (and making more money per song)???
Also, artists won’t want contracts with a company which doesn’t have their music on iTunes. Universal’s talent pool will dry up.
If they truly don’t want consumers to be “locked in,” they should agree to drop DRM.
@ PC Apologist: I don’t think there’s any lock-in. But if you insist on calling the iPod-iTS relationship lock-in, then you also need to assert that WMA stores lock you into using a Windows computer (No Mac).
RE: we need balanced news”
“I wonder why MDN has chosen not to report the DECLINE of Mac software/hardware.”
“http://marketshare.hitslink.com/report.aspx?qprid=3”
“http://marketshare.hitslink.com/report.aspx?qprid=5”
“Internet Explorer use went up! GO MICROSOFT!”
BITE ME, YOU DESPICABLE STEVE BALLMER APOLOGIST ASTROTURFER. HAVE FUN WITH YOUR FRICKIN’ ZUNE!
mark:you also need to assert that WMA stores lock you into using a Windows computer (No Mac).
Aye. Though it’s not the stores, it’s Microsoft that locks Macs out of playing WMA files w/ DRM by not supporting the locked tracks on their Mac player.
But just because someone else is doing something wrong does not justify the same behavior by Apple. MS is known for their dirty tricks and anti-customer position. Apple is generally known for their PRO-customer attitudes. The iTunes-iPod situation is a rare (but major) departure.
I’m thinking “Apple Studios” as the next empire to build, and to thus dominate the recording industry completely. I will own everything but the artist’s vocal cords. I will record their music and sell it directly to the consumer, and give the artist’s the biggest share of the profit they have ever received.
Thus shall die the dinosaurs now known as recording companies.
Wikipedia: Buena Vista Music Group
Hey PC apologist…. I just bought a HD DVD and it won’t play on my Blu Ray player… so your point is WHAT exactly?
Universal is messed up all around, including Marc Shmuger, the schmuck who runs the film studio.
well personally I think Universal is crazy… but
I would like to point out that if UMG pulls out of iTunes, it looses 15% of it’s income. but by contrast, if UMG pulls out of iTunes, Apple looses 33% of it’s income…
Can’t say which is more $$’s, and it almost doesn’t matter. As a business man, 15% of my business overnight is much easier to swallow than loosing 33%.
But I still think all record labels are crazy, and I can’t wait for them to be gone…
@ PC Apologist
My girlfriend’s younger brother and sister purchase songs from the ITMS. Neither of them has an iPod. Both do however, burn CD’s and listen to their music in every CD player they have ever encountered… My car, their sister’s car, their home, their Mac Mini, their Dell Laptop, my entertainment center, Their CD Walkmans.
How are they locked in?
Apple should buy Universal and fire the Fu*&#xin;g a$$holes. I own some AAPL and would be happy to finance it.
Universal just became irrelevant. They will also never, NEVER get a royalty out of Apple for any version of iPod or iPhone EVER.
So let’s say Universal pulls the plug, and leaves Apple hanging. It may be a classic case of “be careful for what you wish, for you might just get it.”
If the arrogance of Universal Music Group is such that they dream for the good old days of MusicMatch and PressPlay, when they made consumers mere serfs under their utter control, may I remind them of the insane losses they took from file sharing? It was Apple that pulled their collective chestnuts from the fire, and this is how Universal proposes to reward them? By demanding a cut from every iPod sold?
My thoughts in response would be unprintable.
It’s little wonder why, despite the easy profits they get via the iTunes Music Store, Universal’s music business continues to erode. Having Microsoft whispering false promises in their ear helps nobody. It’s amazing though how those with cloven hooves can be so seductive, despite the fact that the Zune is a complete bust. The secretary-mounting, coke-snorting, middle-aged, toupeed comb-overs who run Universal would rather take a measily million from Zune profit sharing than to rake in real profits by a partnership with Apple. Brilliant. Frickin’ brilliant.
You can survive and thrive by working together, or you can fail alone. Universal has a choice. I hope for everyone’s sake that they make the right one.
Someday, I hope that artists will use the Internet to sell their music directly and bypass companies like Universal. So long as CDs outsell digital media, that’s still a pipe dream. But I would not be surprised if the day comes when companies like Universal are rendered obsolete by a combination of their greed, arrogance to artists and consumers, and an outmoded business model. If that day comes, I won’t shed any tears.
I suspect Universal will cave in.
If not, Apple could always start its own record label, and offer contracts to the best artists from Universal.
An Apple record label could, in theory, offer artists a generous cut of their own music sales, bigger then any other major label, while still being very profitable.
Apple is the #3 music seller in the US. This is NOT going to go down, it will only go up. It will either go up with UMG or without UMG. The only one who loses if UMG pulls out is UMG.
MW=any, as in, does any one at UMG have a brain?
we need balanced news,
Ummm, ‘tard, maybe it’s because this thread is about Universal Music Group?
Think about it…
< sarcasm > Oh yeah, I’m just clamboring for Universal’s new releases! < /sarcasm >
The only thing Universal has going for them is their back catalog, and stuff on the Verve label, IMO. Okay, so I like jazz better than thump-n-grind rap crap.
If UMG had the balls they’re trying to act like they have, the wouldn’t have even went month-to-month — they woulda said, “Royalties, or no tunes starting now.” They already know how this is gonna end.
from Daring Fireball in December 2006…
http://daringfireball.net/2006/12/apple_universal_conjectural_transcript
To: We Need Balanced News
Obviously, you didn’t bother to actually read the charts you linked us to. You have to add the MacOS and MacIntel columns together, moron! If you do, you see that Mac share went from 4.3% to 6.0% during the reporting period — a percentage gain consistent with other reporting sources.
Jeezus… the world is filled with PC fanboy idots.