Surprised Apple hasn't bought a major music/media firm for further leverage. There could be anti-trust concerns but Apple could extend their vertical this way.
I actually don't understand why Apple has to negotiate with the record companies at all. I was under the impression that Congress has mandated rates for digitally delivered streaming music via the Library of Congress and Sound Exchange manages all this. I personally think Sound Exchange's rates are absurdly high and they almost put Pandora out of business, but it's there. I thought you HAD to go through Sound Exchange.
I do know that Sirius/XM does not use the standard rates, so they must have negotiated something with Sound Exchange, but I don't think they should have been permitted to do that. Everyone should have to play by the same rules. Even with that, Sirius/XM breaks up their monthly bill and separates out a music licensing charge.
Quote:
The record companies are run by the stupidest, greediest people on the planet. If it weren't for Apple and iTunes, at least half of them would be looking for jobs right now.
They may be stupid, but the labels are not exactly swimming in money. Total recorded music sales in the U.S., including digital sales from iTunes and others, are less than half what they were in 1999, when the industry peaked. And that doesn't even include inflation. In equivalent dollars, it's probably only 40% of 1999 sales. So maybe you should look at some actual numbers before you make such statements.
The are many issues, including the competition for leisure time and the fact that there's an awful lot of music up on places like YouTube, for which the labels get next to nothing, but one of the main problems is that consumers have returned to buying singles, not albums. That worked back in the 1950s and pre-Beatle 60s when acts went into the studio and recorded three songs in a session that were released two weeks later, but it doesn't work in an age when acts obsess about their recordings, use multiple studios, multiple producers; record, mix and master in different studios and take a year to release. It's simply not sustainable. Back the late 60s-80s, singles were mainly sold (in the U.S.) to 14-year-old girls.
We're down to only three major record companies: Sony, Universal (owned by Vivendi) and Warner (owned by Access Industries). That's not a very healthy industry. Their problems are largely of their own making (being slow to respond to digital, lousy music, refusal to develop acts over the long term, etc.), but there's also many factors that weren't their fault, such as the fragmentation of the marketplace. We're never again going to have a Sinatra, Elvis, Beatles, Stones, Springsteen, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Garth Brooks, etc. Each act appeals to a relatively small number of people. I don't think any albums have been certified Diamond (more than 10 million units) in years, except for Selena's album, "Dreaming of You", which was certified at an amazing 35 million copies (in the U.S.) - the best selling album of all time (and frankly, I'd never heard of her). "The Eagles Greatest Hits" and "Thriller" come in at 29 million copies.
Comments
Stalled…
Or maybe it just isn't happening.
I actually don't understand why Apple has to negotiate with the record companies at all. I was under the impression that Congress has mandated rates for digitally delivered streaming music via the Library of Congress and Sound Exchange manages all this. I personally think Sound Exchange's rates are absurdly high and they almost put Pandora out of business, but it's there. I thought you HAD to go through Sound Exchange.
I do know that Sirius/XM does not use the standard rates, so they must have negotiated something with Sound Exchange, but I don't think they should have been permitted to do that. Everyone should have to play by the same rules. Even with that, Sirius/XM breaks up their monthly bill and separates out a music licensing charge.
Quote:
The record companies are run by the stupidest, greediest people on the planet. If it weren't for Apple and iTunes, at least half of them would be looking for jobs right now.
They may be stupid, but the labels are not exactly swimming in money. Total recorded music sales in the U.S., including digital sales from iTunes and others, are less than half what they were in 1999, when the industry peaked. And that doesn't even include inflation. In equivalent dollars, it's probably only 40% of 1999 sales. So maybe you should look at some actual numbers before you make such statements.
The are many issues, including the competition for leisure time and the fact that there's an awful lot of music up on places like YouTube, for which the labels get next to nothing, but one of the main problems is that consumers have returned to buying singles, not albums. That worked back in the 1950s and pre-Beatle 60s when acts went into the studio and recorded three songs in a session that were released two weeks later, but it doesn't work in an age when acts obsess about their recordings, use multiple studios, multiple producers; record, mix and master in different studios and take a year to release. It's simply not sustainable. Back the late 60s-80s, singles were mainly sold (in the U.S.) to 14-year-old girls.
We're down to only three major record companies: Sony, Universal (owned by Vivendi) and Warner (owned by Access Industries). That's not a very healthy industry. Their problems are largely of their own making (being slow to respond to digital, lousy music, refusal to develop acts over the long term, etc.), but there's also many factors that weren't their fault, such as the fragmentation of the marketplace. We're never again going to have a Sinatra, Elvis, Beatles, Stones, Springsteen, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Garth Brooks, etc. Each act appeals to a relatively small number of people. I don't think any albums have been certified Diamond (more than 10 million units) in years, except for Selena's album, "Dreaming of You", which was certified at an amazing 35 million copies (in the U.S.) - the best selling album of all time (and frankly, I'd never heard of her). "The Eagles Greatest Hits" and "Thriller" come in at 29 million copies.