Apple wants over-the-air music downloads for 3G iPhone

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
Apple is in talks some of the major music labels over a deal that would allow next-generation iPhone owners to purchase music tracks directly from the handset over cellular wireless networks, according to the New York Times.



Owners of the company's first-generation iPhone can already accomplish this via a mobile version of the iTunes Store that resides on the handset, but they must be connected to the Internet via a high-speed WiFi connection to do so.



The arrival of faster 3G cellular network access alongside the next iPhone, widely expected for an announcement during the second week of June at Apple's developers conference, would make it more "technically feasible" for Apple to offer the over-the-air route, the Times notes.



However, the paper reports that the music labels are holding their hand out, demanding that in return they be paid more than the 70 cent wholesale price of songs sold over traditional Internet lines.



Apple's hoping for "a big launch in June," according to one label executive familiar with the matter, and as such is also looking to expand its inventory of songs that are available for conversion to ringtones at 99 cents.



"The company is also hoping to add answer tones, also known as ringback tones—songs that a caller hears instead of the 'ring ring' sound while waiting for someone to answer," the report says. "In some cases, these command an even higher wholesale price than ringtones."



Given that the negotiations are only a few weeks young, it's reported that any deal may not be announced until after June 9th, the most likely day for the introduction of the much-anticipated 3G iPhone.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 102
    hutchohutcho Posts: 132member
    What the hell difference does it make to the music companies whether someone is downloading something over a fixed line or 3G connection? It makes no difference to them at all. It will make a difference to Telco's, but that is about it.



    Maybe it's just the fact that they are blood sucking scum. I hope everyone makes more of an effort to pirate music and that they slowly die.
  • Reply 2 of 102
    alpichalpich Posts: 96member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Hutcho View Post


    What the hell difference does it make to the music companies whether someone is downloading something over a fixed line or 3G connection? It makes no difference to them at all. It will make a difference to Telco's, but that is about it.



    Maybe it's just the fact that they are blood sucking scum. I hope everyone makes more of an effort to pirate music and that they slowly die.



    Why would you want a slow death. I much prefer the quick and decisive blow type of kill for the big record labels. Not that I just want to pirate music either. Just want more money to the artist and less cost for a song. Seriously. There are 6 billion people in this world. If you create 1 world wide hit you can sell 40 mill of it. Now I am not expert in these things but 40 mil at 99c each seems to be a fair bit of money going around. I mean really what one song on this planet is WORTH $39,600,000... and if there are any could someone give me one. I could do with some pocket money.
  • Reply 3 of 102
    jsonjson Posts: 54member
    I think that it is basically that the record companies already charge higher prices for downloading songs over the mobile network (using other services than iTunes) and they simply want to keep the price range they have managed to set.



    However I do agree that there should be no difference.
  • Reply 4 of 102
    dunksdunks Posts: 1,254member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ALPICH View Post


    Why would you want a slow death. I much prefer the quick and decisive blow type of kill for the big record labels. Not that I just want to pirate music either. Just want more money to the artist and less cost for a song. Seriously. There are 6 billion people in this world. If you create 1 world wide hit you can sell 40 mill of it. Now I am not expert in these things but 40 mil at 99c each seems to be a fair bit of money going around. I mean really what one song on this planet is WORTH $39,600,000... and if there are any could someone give me one. I could do with some pocket money.



    I'm waiting for the "upload to iTunes Store" button to appear in Garageband.



    Some of the homebrew stuff on radioheadremix.com is pretty listenable.



    (For those who don't know iTunes users are able to purchase the separate components of a Radiohead song and submit their own remixes of that song for voting by the public)
  • Reply 5 of 102
    nofeernofeer Posts: 2,427member
    WHY??? because they realize this is THE NEW PLATFORM, they will use every oppourtunity to push their tiered screw the customer agenda about pricing. we pay 99 cents for a higher quality song with better listening dynamics with itunes and ipod. i just bought a ringtone for 3.99 I only listen to 10-15 seconds before i pick up, and it plays through my tinpan phone speaker. how much does the record companies get for that download?? they realize and so does SJ that the iphone will be the moble itunes and i hope he kicks the record labels a..s for the years of price oppression since the cd has come out. SJ has done what antitrust and legislation hasn't been able to do (yea libertarians)



    i'm tired of paying for crap. also the carriers have the most piss poor way of getting a ringtone...errors, repeat downloads, they need SJ to kick their a..s so we the customer can get a better experience. after my last and ONLY paid ringtone (ac/dc--back in black), i won't do it till SJ and itunes with the iphone gets to my grubby hands. the only other ringtones i have downloaded were free, like God Bless America, and The Star Spangled Banner. i won't pay for crap anymore. $4.00 for low quality just so i can have a segment, if you priced it for the amount of time you "listen" the the ringtone junk quality it's more like 30-40 bucks ($3-4 per 15 seconds, now i bet thats what the record lables want, segment pricing)



    free us from record label oppression--i just won't or let my family download ringtones, my wife has a program that can take any itunes song and cut a segment and send to her phone....got it at apple store. yea.
  • Reply 6 of 102
    cubertcubert Posts: 728member
    Is anyone surprised that the record labels want to charge more for over the air downloads for no particular reason? It's ridiculous how much they want for ring tones and ringback tones. They aren't even whole songs!!!



    The money-grubbing record companies deserve to go under.
  • Reply 7 of 102
    imatimat Posts: 208member
    They didn't invent a thing. They do not provide ANY value for the customer (other than connection speed). They only are gatekeepers (very expensive ones that is). Music industry is just the same.



    Everybody is jumping on the iPhone like a golden egg chicken. All this greed will make the phone fail in the long run.



    It will become "just another mobile phone" full of "carrier specific crapware" (think about Vodafone live and similar services). No one will buy a song over UMTS (other than deep pocketed crazy adolescents).



    Sorry if I'm being harsh, but I saw that one coming. Everyone wants to jump on the iPhone ship. There will be so many softwares soon (Orange, Voda or whatever-specific) available that the iPhones will no longer be compatible one another and they'll feel like different phones.



    Apple should have opened up the platform like they seem to have, I only hope they will not sell it to carriers, content providers, ringtone makers... If they do this means the end of it (in the long run) because it takes away the "appleness" of the product.



    The major struggle here is that carriers have long tried (at crazy prices (for music and stupid screen photos)) to establish themselves as content providers, rather than simple carriers, in order to increase revenue streams.

    Apple has a long history (for modern tech) of content providing and was able to "do it all by themselves" (Nokia is trying like crazy to sell content as well, SonyEricsson much the same). The money is in the content, not in the phone nor in the "connection fees".



    The clash is all there. Who delievers content for the iPhone? Carriers or Apple? Which does which (ringtones, screensavers, music, whatever)?



    With a data flat rate subscription the carrier only makes that much money. If all the content is purchased through Apple, then they will LOSE a lot of money compared to other handsets in which they have their own "store" for music. Apple, by selling the very same content cheaper (at iTunes standard prices) will eat away market share and revenues like crazy.



    The big clash about who will control (and deliever) content for mobile phones has just begun.

    I fear that if Apple is too "open and relaxed" carriers will win this one.

    Prices? (exchange rate 19 may 2008: 1 CHF = 0.95 USD)

    SONGS

    Orange Switzerland and Swisscom: 1 song = 2.40 USD

    iTunes Store Switzerland: 1 song = 1.44 USD

    Dofference: one full USD more for every song....



    RINGTONES

    Orange Switzerland and Swisscom: 1 ringtone = 3.8 USD

    iTunes: (not available, but my guess is the same as US, i.e. same price as a full song)

    1 tone = 1.44 USD

    Difference: 2.4 USD each ringtone





    (not counting data fees for the download, depending on the subscription).



    This example is interesting as both carriers will bring the iPhone in Switzerland.



    That is the main problem. And as soon as Apple starts having significant market share in some markets, then there will be big problems. Other manufacturers will start selling songs on their own. We will have Nokia store, Apple store, Orange store, Vodafone store, Samsung store....

    All with non compatible DRM.



    I am not looking forward to that.... Not a bit.
  • Reply 8 of 102
    slewisslewis Posts: 2,081member
    Null.
  • Reply 9 of 102
    I don't see why the music business wants more money for over the air downloads either. I can see why they might cost a little bit more money because the carriers might want to make a little bit of money. After all they provide most of us with unlimited iPhone data plans but data does cost money for them to transmit. So with this pushing up data use, they might want to make a little bit per sale to cover that and keep them sweet so to speak.



    I'm from the UK but I'll take a dollar guess. Say an over the air download should be say 10 cents more at the most. I think they'd be able to get sales at that price of people who aren't near a WiFi spot and really want a song now. Anymore and people will just wait until they get back to their computers and it'll be pointless.



    It would be a big feature for the iPod crowd. A music player that you can purchase songs at no matter where you are.
  • Reply 10 of 102
    caliminiuscaliminius Posts: 944member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by NOFEER View Post


    WHY??? because they realize this is THE NEW PLATFORM, they will use every oppourtunity to push their tiered screw the customer agenda about pricing. we pay 99 cents for a higher quality song with better listening dynamics with itunes and ipod. i just bought a ringtone for 3.99 I only listen to 10-15 seconds before i pick up, and it plays through my tinpan phone speaker. how much does the record companies get for that download?? they realize and so does SJ that the iphone will be the moble itunes and i hope he kicks the record labels a..s for the years of price oppression since the cd has come out. SJ has done what antitrust and legislation hasn't been able to do (yea libertarians)



    Sorry, but if you WILLINGLY paid 3.99 for a ringtone, THAT'S YOUR OWN D**NED FAULT. Please don't b*tch about the music companies because of your own stupidity/foolishness.
  • Reply 11 of 102
    rot'napplerot'napple Posts: 1,839member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    However, the paper reports that the music labels are holding their hand out, demanding that in return they be paid more than the 70 cent wholesale price of songs sold over traditional Internet lines.



    Maybe with all their cash reserves, Apple Inc. should buy Apple Corp. and offer better contracts to the artists then the current record labels are offering, thus having artists defect from their current labels (once contract is up) over to Apple Corps. If anyone is more deserving of the 70 cents or more on the dollar it is the artist who creates not the label that thinks they are all that important because, what, they promote??? There are ways around that for the artists. The labels are too big for their own good and wasn't all that, the marketing, promoting and management hassles, the reason why the Beatles started Apple Corp. in the first place, that is, to help talented artists of all stripes who are just starting out in the biz?! If this came to fruition, Apple buying Apple, at least they can have some leverage and a catalog of music that will allow them to offer purchased downloads of songs on the iPhone with the help of 3G.



    Just a rambling thought... It's a Monday... \
  • Reply 12 of 102
    hattighattig Posts: 860member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by FastLaneJB View Post


    I don't see why the music business wants more money for over the air downloads either. I can see why they might cost a little bit more money because the carriers might want to make a little bit of money. After all they provide most of us with unlimited iPhone data plans but data does cost money for them to transmit. So with this pushing up data use, they might want to make a little bit per sale to cover that and keep them sweet so to speak.



    I'm from the UK but I'll take a dollar guess. Say an over the air download should be say 10 cents more at the most.



    That's about it, and that 10 cents would be payable to the carrier, rather than the music label.



    In terms of the purchased material, you're getting the same thing - a song downloaded over the internet, whether the back-end is a 3G mobile network or a standard home internet connection. There is no case for the music label's fee to be higher apart from sheer greed and artificial compartmentalisation of the marketplace.
  • Reply 13 of 102
    sapporobabysapporobaby Posts: 1,079member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by NOFEER View Post


    WHY??? because they realize this is THE NEW PLATFORM, they will use every oppourtunity to push their tiered screw the customer agenda about pricing. we pay 99 cents for a higher quality song with better listening dynamics with itunes and ipod. i just bought a ringtone for 3.99 I only listen to 10-15 seconds before i pick up, and it plays through my tinpan phone speaker. how much does the record companies get for that download?? they realize and so does SJ that the iphone will be the moble itunes and i hope he kicks the record labels a..s for the years of price oppression since the cd has come out. SJ has done what antitrust and legislation hasn't been able to do (yea libertarians)



    i'm tired of paying for crap. also the carriers have the most piss poor way of getting a ringtone...errors, repeat downloads, they need SJ to kick their a..s so we the customer can get a better experience. after my last and ONLY paid ringtone (ac/dc--back in black), i won't do it till SJ and itunes with the iphone gets to my grubby hands. the only other ringtones i have downloaded were free, like God Bless America, and The Star Spangled Banner. i won't pay for crap anymore. $4.00 for low quality just so i can have a segment, if you priced it for the amount of time you "listen" the the ringtone junk quality it's more like 30-40 bucks ($3-4 per 15 seconds, now i bet thats what the record lables want, segment pricing)



    free us from record label oppression--i just won't or let my family download ringtones, my wife has a program that can take any itunes song and cut a segment and send to her phone....got it at apple store. yea.



    One word: Amazon.



    Amazon beats iTunes in terms of pricing and higher bit rates. PERIOD. Your arguments are sort of baseless here. I ONLY purchase from iTunes if it is not available on Amazon and I do not feel like requesting that Amazon add it. Save yourself some cash, get better quality and head on over to Amazon.



    As for paying for ringing tones, I have been making mine for about 3 years, as well as making for my iPhone for as long as it has been cracked. The records companies are not in my pocket there.
  • Reply 14 of 102
    sapporobabysapporobaby Posts: 1,079member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    Apple is in talks some of the major music labels over a deal that would allow next-generation iPhone owners to purchase music tracks directly from the handset over cellular wireless networks, according to the New York Times.



    Owners of the company's first-generation iPhone can already accomplish this via a mobile version of the iTunes Store that resides on the handset, but they must be connected to the Internet via a high-speed WiFi connection to do so.



    The arrival of faster 3G cellular network access alongside the next iPhone, widely expected for an announcement during the second week of June at Apple's developers conference, would make it more "technically feasible" for Apple to offer the over-the-air route, the Times notes.



    However, the paper reports that the music labels are holding their hand out, demanding that in return they be paid more than the 70 cent wholesale price of songs sold over traditional Internet lines.



    Apple's hoping for "a big launch in June," according to one label executive familiar with the matter, and as such is also looking to expand its inventory of songs that are available for conversion to ringtones at 99 cents.



    "The company is also hoping to add answer tones, also known as ringback tones?songs that a caller hears instead of the 'ring ring' sound while waiting for someone to answer," the report says. "In some cases, these command an even higher wholesale price than ringtones."



    Given that the negotiations are only a few weeks young, it's reported that any deal may not be announced until after June 9th, the most likely day for the introduction of the much-anticipated 3G iPhone.





    Well duh!!!!!!! You think? This is nothing new except to the iPhone. OTA downloads have been available in other phones for a while. Just because Apple sees this as a new "oh wow" gimmick does not mean they are innovating it. What Apple should do is reconfig the iTunes store and current iPhones to allow downloads OTA regardless. If I have unlimited data, what do I care if it takes 6 or 7 mins to download a song?
  • Reply 15 of 102
    somynonasomynona Posts: 40member
    Wankers. Fuck em all.
  • Reply 16 of 102
    nasseraenasserae Posts: 3,167member
    The music labels are freaking out. Their problem is that they don't want to adjust according to technological evolution. They are really freaking out because they think once online music dominate artist will start recording and distributing their own music or that iTunes or Amazon will become the music label! The idiots don't realize that they can have control if they start moving forward and fix their business model.
  • Reply 17 of 102
    sapporobabysapporobaby Posts: 1,079member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Rot'nApple View Post


    Maybe with all their cash reserves, Apple Inc. should buy Apple Corp. and offer better contracts to the artists then the current record labels are offering, thus having artists defect from their current labels (once contract is up) over to Apple Corps. If anyone is more deserving of the 70 cents or more on the dollar it is the artist who creates not the label that thinks they are all that important because, what, they promote??? There are ways around that for the artists. The labels are too big for their own good and wasn't all that, the marketing, promoting and management hassles, the reason why the Beatles started Apple Corp. in the first place, that is, to help talented artists of all stripes who are just starting out in the biz?! If this came to fruition, Apple buying Apple, at least they can have some leverage and a catalog of music that will allow them to offer purchased downloads of songs on the iPhone with the help of 3G.



    Just a rambling thought... It's a Monday... \



    No ramble dude. A friggin fact. Good idea. Did you read where Jermaine (Jerkmaine) Dupree said that we the consumers were stupid and we should be happy for what we get. This all stemmed from the argument Jay-Z had with Apple about his "concept" CD for American Gangster.



    Double click on Limewire. Search: anything from Jermaine Dupree. Download all.
  • Reply 18 of 102
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by sapporobaby View Post


    Well duh!!!!!!! You think? This is nothing new except to the iPhone. OTA downloads have been available in other phones for a while. Just because Apple sees this as a new "oh wow" gimmick does not mean they are innovating it. What Apple should do is reconfig the iTunes store and current iPhones to allow downloads OTA regardless. If I have unlimited data, what do I care if it takes 6 or 7 mins to download a song?



    Your missing the point. I think the point is that Apple's present contract does not allow them to allow downloads over mobile data. This is probably why the iPhone is limited to WiFi only. I cannot believe it's because of the speed when they are going to allow people to download applications and games in the App Store over EDGE.



    I don't see this being mentioned as an Oh Wow feature. It's just a nice feature that Apple are trying to add.



    If you look at Nokia, SE, and providers music stores they are all vastly more expensive than iTunes. Clearly the music labels want to push Apple up to that sort of pricing for mobile downloads. Why they insist on more money for mobile downloads I have no idea. Probably because if it's too cheap they see it killing off their CD cashcow because it would be just so damn convenient.



    P.S. What does Amazon have to do with iTunes OTA downloads? Seeing as Apple don't allow Apps to interface with iTunes on Mobile OS X there isn't going to be an Amazon OTA store. Not unless Apple decide to allow it. Also the Amazon MP3 store is only available in the US, not much use for the rest of the world.
  • Reply 19 of 102
    nasseraenasserae Posts: 3,167member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by sapporobaby View Post


    One word: Amazon.



    Amazon beats iTunes in terms of pricing and higher bit rates. PERIOD. Your arguments are sort of baseless here. I ONLY purchase from iTunes if it is not available on Amazon and I do not feel like requesting that Amazon add it. Save yourself some cash, get better quality and head on over to Amazon.



    Actually, in terms of quality (for the same bit rate) and library size iTunes is still better than Amazon. Personally, 10c is not that much of saving.
  • Reply 20 of 102
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by sapporobaby View Post


    One word: Amazon.



    Amazon beats iTunes in terms of pricing and higher bit rates. PERIOD. Your arguments are sort of baseless here. I ONLY purchase from iTunes if it is not available on Amazon and I do not feel like requesting that Amazon add it. Save yourself some cash, get better quality and head on over to Amazon.



    As for paying for ringing tones, I have been making mine for about 3 years, as well as making for my iPhone for as long as it has been cracked. The records companies are not in my pocket there.



    You aren't really naive enough to think that the 89© Amazon charges is something the labels want to do, do you?



    You do understand that the only reason why they are doing that is to break itunes?



    The point being that they could then RAISE prices to the levels they are crying for.



    And, of course, that you are helping them to do that.



    By buying from Amazon, people will make it impossible for Apple to get the deal they want.



    But that thinking is too long term, right?
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