Grammy winning singer Adele's talent agency pitches Apple on $30M tour sponsorship
The agency representing British singer Adele, William Morris Endeavor, is repotedly pitching Apple on a $30 million tour sponsorship deal, although it may be contingent on Apple Stores stocking physical copies of Adele's latest album.
Apple has already rejected the idea of stocking CDs, the U.K.'s Daily Mail said. It's not clear though if Apple has completely dismissed the idea of a tour sponsorship, which was first hinted at by the New York Post.
If Apple did agree to the $30 million sum, it would be up to 10 times more than a typical sponsorship, the Post noted.
Apple is unlikely to carry CDs in its stores, above all since it would draw attention away from the iTunes Store and Apple Music. Some form of sponsorship might be useful however as a way of promoting those services, and more deeply entrenching Apple as a name brand in the music industry.
The iTunes Store is already the most popular source for legal music downloads, but its streaming service -- Apple Music -- launched just this summer, and is still dwarfed by rivals like Spotify and Pandora.
To push exposure, Apple has not only bombarded media with advertising but renamed the iTunes Festival to the Apple Music Festival, and secured exclusive songs, albums, and music videos. It has even collaborated on a VR music video with U2, a band long associated with Apple marketing.
Apple has already rejected the idea of stocking CDs, the U.K.'s Daily Mail said. It's not clear though if Apple has completely dismissed the idea of a tour sponsorship, which was first hinted at by the New York Post.
If Apple did agree to the $30 million sum, it would be up to 10 times more than a typical sponsorship, the Post noted.
Apple is unlikely to carry CDs in its stores, above all since it would draw attention away from the iTunes Store and Apple Music. Some form of sponsorship might be useful however as a way of promoting those services, and more deeply entrenching Apple as a name brand in the music industry.
The iTunes Store is already the most popular source for legal music downloads, but its streaming service -- Apple Music -- launched just this summer, and is still dwarfed by rivals like Spotify and Pandora.
To push exposure, Apple has not only bombarded media with advertising but renamed the iTunes Festival to the Apple Music Festival, and secured exclusive songs, albums, and music videos. It has even collaborated on a VR music video with U2, a band long associated with Apple marketing.
Comments
Sounds like a horrible idea.
Cool. $30M and I haven't even sang a single note. I like touring.
Sounds like a terrific idea, if executed correctly. Adele is hot right now, and Apple Music could use a mindshare boost from some high profile artists.
Apple is unlikely to carry CDs in its stores, above all since it would draw attention away from the iTunes Store and Apple Music.
Physical CD display? None of Apple’s currently shipping products even have an optical drive anymore. What’s the point?
Wrong. There's the three year old, nigh obsolete 13" MacBook Pro Apple keeps selling at a sky high price.
Cd and blu-ray. I think these should have been in the apple online store all along with purchases automatically giving you the streaming version. The online version should come with a promise of automatic resolution upgrades as the come available. They lost plenty of blu-ray and cd revenue but saved on distribution infrastructure ... i guess.
Adele is hot right now.
The only people who listen to her are fat old ladies. Music artists make very little off of streaming and CDs are obsolete. Their best source of income these days is touring. If she can't make money on her own by touring why should Apple finance her act?
Who said anything about the albums being CDs??
The Adele albums will be engraved on a black vinyl material that will only spin on a new format device Apple is planning on releasing. Cook announced "that it's the most exciting physically media he's ever seen." According to insiders, the new ?Platter media resembles laser discs.
Analysts downplayed Apple's latest media readers due to safety issues. Purportedly there is an exposed sharp steel needle that reads the media and no parent would allow such a danger to be used by their children without proper supervision.
There is absolutely zero possibility of Apple stores stocking physical CDs, even in the Beatles got back together.
Sponsoring a few hot performers, (or once hot*), could happen though.
( * They almost single handedly sponsor U2, after all.)
Physical CD display? None of Apple’s currently shipping products even have an optical drive anymore. What’s the point?
Wrong. There's the three year old, nigh obsolete 13" MacBook Pro Apple keeps selling at a sky high price.
The Superdrive is also available as an external drive. CDs should be almost gone from the market in the next five years. But they will still persist in niche stores (new vinyl is still available!).
$30 million is way too much, even for a huge star like Adele.
Not for $30M.
Adele is a perfect artist for sponsorship, but only under better terms. I went to the Bose store and they had an adel concert playing to show off the clarity of sound.
The problem with paying 30m for a sponsorship is that it is hard get that value back into the customers hand in the long term. I think some minor tweaks to what they did with u2 would help.
Sounds like a terrific idea, if executed correctly. Adele is hot right now, and Apple Music could use a mindshare boost from some high profile artists.
Too right. They should go with anybody but U2.
They should be pitching this to Microsoft. Most people who use Window$ end up weeping anyway...
I like what someone posted about automatic resolution upgrades...I think this is only fair but also Apple could market this concept...those that still do not stream there could be value in this. Spend a little to go broadband...Apple TV...this could be a lot cheaper than what is shelled out for physical media...I used to have BluRay and had about 100 discs...I haven't bought one in 4 years. That is a lot of money tied up that could be replaced with streaming...and be as affordable or more affordable than going with physical media...maybe...
Take THAT Taylor Swift!