Apple sends out iTunes Radio licensing details to independent labels

Posted:
in iPod + iTunes + AppleTV edited January 2014
The deals Apple hopes to make with independent record labels for its forthcoming iTunes Radio service have been revealed, and according to one report many of the specifics are more lucrative than similar offers from Pandora.

radio


According to The Wall Street Journal, Apple sent out terms to independent record labels last week, detailing per-play rates, royalties and ad revenue the Cupertino company plans to mete out in return for content access.

For the first year of iTunes Radio, Apple is willing to pay 0.13 cents each time a song is played, adding 15 percent of net advertising on top of that, dealt out proportionately to a label's presence on the service. The publication went on to say that rates will go up to 0.14 cents per play and 19 percent of ad revenue in the service's second year.

The offer is somewhat more enticing than the 0.12 cents Pandora pays out per each song played. Apple is also said to be offering more than twice as much in royalties when compared to the Internet radio giant .

Exemptions from the generous terms are royalties on select tracks already in a user's iTunes library as well as "Heat Seeker" content to be selected by Apple for use in promotions. Also exempt are songs listeners skip within the first 20 seconds, with a limit of two songs per hour, per user.

The Journal said the independent label terms are similar to those granted to major companies Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment. The "Big Three" are expected to receive cash advances.

People familiar with the matter said Apple is using iTunes Radio to sell songs through the iTunes music store, as well as move mobile devices like the iPhone and iPod.

Apple announced iTunes Radio at its Worldwide Developers Conference earlier in June, noting the ad-supported free service will launch this fall on iOS 7 compatible devices, Macs, Apple TV and Windows machines. The service will feature customizable stations much like Pandora, but will have the added benefit of tapping into a user's past purchases from iTunes for purposes of personalization.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 18
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member
    And the stock falls into a ditch yet another day. Wall Street sucks.
  • Reply 2 of 18
    skleinivskleiniv Posts: 37member
    I know this is off topic. But can anyone tell if apple has been buying back any stock? Everywhere I look the total outstanding shares are still at 940 million. Since the buy back is supposed to be open market & they committed to buying back 60 billion I would think they would have started buying back now to offset the selloff. They could buy back 2 billion a month for 30 months and I have to think it would have an impact on this crazy selloff. It would be nice to see an article on this topic. If their not buying back now, why? Also, no one on Ai has commented on the recent large sell off that insiders at apple have been doing this month! Was that scheduled or sudden selling?
  • Reply 3 of 18
    SpamSandwichSpamSandwich Posts: 33,407member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by skleiniv View Post



    I know this is off topic. But can anyone tell if apple has been buying back any stock? Everywhere I look the total outstanding shares are still at 940 million. Since the buy back is supposed to be open market & they committed to buying back 60 billion I would think they would have started buying back now to offset the selloff. They could buy back 2 billion a month for 30 months and I have to think it would have an impact on this crazy selloff. It would be nice to see an article on this topic. If their not buying back now, why? Also, no one on Ai has commented on the recent large sell off that insiders at apple have been doing this month! Was that scheduled or sudden selling?


     


    I presume they have a plan in place to buy back their stock at regular intervals to avoid legal problems. A charge could always be leveled against the company that they were deliberately affecting the stock to improve their buy back positions.

  • Reply 4 of 18
    gtrgtr Posts: 3,231member
    In other news, AppleInsider dumps spellchecker in order to provide faster, 'snappier' news stories...
  • Reply 5 of 18
    konqerrorkonqerror Posts: 685member


    I think the article is off by a factor of 100. Pandora pays ~12 cents per 100 plays, or 0.12 cents per play.


     


    If it was 12 cents per play, we wouldn't be having a Pandora royalty debate.

  • Reply 6 of 18
    robin huberrobin huber Posts: 3,949member
    Hope this is the tip of the iceberg. Next up, AppleTV Network with content served up à la carte. A guy can dream, can't he?
  • Reply 7 of 18
    creepcreep Posts: 80member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by skleiniv View Post



    I know this is off topic. But can anyone tell if apple has been buying back any stock? Everywhere I look the total outstanding shares are still at 940 million. Since the buy back is supposed to be open market & they committed to buying back 60 billion I would think they would have started buying back now to offset the selloff. They could buy back 2 billion a month for 30 months and I have to think it would have an impact on this crazy selloff. It would be nice to see an article on this topic. If their not buying back now, why? Also, no one on Ai has commented on the recent large sell off that insiders at apple have been doing this month! Was that scheduled or sudden selling?


    I thought I read that the buyback will start sometime in 2014?

  • Reply 8 of 18
    chadmaticchadmatic Posts: 285member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by skleiniv View Post



     If their not buying back now, why?


     


    They are probably waiting for the stock market to crash, it seems to be right around the corner...

  • Reply 9 of 18
    tribalogicaltribalogical Posts: 1,182member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by skleiniv View Post



    Also, no one on Ai has commented on the recent large sell off that insiders at apple have been doing this month! Was that scheduled or sudden selling?


     


    There was a brief article on that recent 'sell off'. It was not actually a sell off at all (nor anything remotely resembling an 'insider sell off').


     


    A half dozen or so of Apple's top executives needed to sell some of their recently vested restricted stock units in order to cover the tax liability incurred (when those stock units vest, you owe tax on them whether you cash them out or not, as I understand it, so it's very common to have such a 'sell off' to cover that liability). I imagine some may have sold a few extra shares for a little "bonus" income, but it was hardly a rout or a major sell off...


     


    So, nothing sinister at work there… 

  • Reply 10 of 18
    chris_cachris_ca Posts: 2,543member
    For the first year of iTunes Radio, Apple is willing to pay 13 cents each time a song is played, adding 15 percent of net advertising on top of that, dealt out proportionately to a label's presence on the service. The publication went on to say that rates will go up to 14 cents per play and 19 percent of ad revenue in the service's second year.
    That is .13 (point 13) cents and .14 (point 14) cents per play as noted in the original WSJ article.
    Or 13 cents & 14 cents per hundred plays (as pointed out by konqerror
  • Reply 11 of 18
    The buyback has started and apple is no doubt already buying back some of its shares. But we don't know how many until they report earnings. The number of shares outstanding only gets announced once a quarter.
  • Reply 12 of 18
    asdasdasdasd Posts: 5,686member
    Per play would bankrupt pandora so they can't be doing it. As for Apple if the terms were 100 times every body else there would be no problems with the worldwide rights.
  • Reply 13 of 18
    jpvnjpvn Posts: 40member
    all i can say is the i cant wait to get my free I radio since i have music match...
  • Reply 14 of 18
    drblankdrblank Posts: 3,385member
    I hope they realize that with SOME of these independent labels (you know, the REALLY small local artists that people don't know about and probably shouldn't have their content on-line due to the legality of their content) might have some computer system set up to play their own music so they can collect royalties from listening since no one else wants to listen to it. I already know some people that would do that in order to push up the number of plays, collect some money just to give the ILLUSION that people are actually interested in them in the first place.

    I hope Apple is careful with regards to these small time independents.

    They should only allow RIAA certified record labels to minimize the riff raff.

  • Reply 15 of 18
    creepcreep Posts: 80member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by chadmatic View Post


     


    They are probably waiting for the stock market to crash, it seems to be right around the corner...



    Uhh, no.  While the economy in general has been absolute crap, the stock market has actually performed well...maybe it's a backlash against big banks.  Maybe people feel that it's the only safe place to keep their money.  Whatever the cause, the stock market performance is up just about 10% this year in spite of the state of the rest of the economy.


     


    We should also never see a collapse like Black Monday again.  There are controls in place at the stock exchanges that look for anomalies in trading of each stock and will halt trading on those stocks whose price drops too far too fast.  Of course, those systems are all automated so...buyer beware.

  • Reply 16 of 18
    drblankdrblank Posts: 3,385member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by konqerror View Post


    I think the article is off by a factor of 100. Pandora pays ~12 cents per 100 plays, or 0.12 cents per play.


     


    If it was 12 cents per play, we wouldn't be having a Pandora royalty debate.



    Yeah, I would think that one play over iTunes, Pandora, etc. is worth less than having a song played over a traditional radio station.  The difference being is that one play is only listened to (for all practical purposes) one person, when a traditional radio station plays a song, it's heard by hundreds up to hundreds of thousands of people per play. obviously it depends on the radio station and market.

  • Reply 17 of 18
    chris_cachris_ca Posts: 2,543member
    drblank wrote: »
    Yeah, I would think that one play over iTunes, Pandora, etc. is worth less than having a song played over a traditional radio station
    Commercial radio rates. per play... -> http://www.soundexchange.com/service-provider/how-do-i-pay/

    2011: $0.0017
    2012: $0.0020
    2013: $0.0022
    2014: $0.0023
    2015: $0.0025
  • Reply 18 of 18
    drblankdrblank Posts: 3,385member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Chris_CA View Post





    Commercial radio rates. per play... -> http://www.soundexchange.com/service-provider/how-do-i-pay/



    2011: $0.0017

    2012: $0.0020

    2013: $0.0022

    2014: $0.0023

    2015: $0.0025


    I would think they would get paid more than that.

Sign In or Register to comment.