iTMS/iTunes podcasting basis for Music and Film subscription service?
I have had a good look around the new iTMS and iTunes podcasting service. It is neat, and there are a lot of commercial possibilities in the whole concept, including subscription radio which has to be paid for.
And that got me to think!
With a very few changes, the podcasting section in iTMS could easily be duplicated to operate as a subscription service for music and/or film.
So, is Apple here trying out a business model, which is to be extended in the future? With this model, I could subscribe to a specific music genre (indie-rock etc...), and the songs would be ready for downloading and transfer to iPod as soon as I set my iPod to my Powerbook....
Any comments?!
And that got me to think!
With a very few changes, the podcasting section in iTMS could easily be duplicated to operate as a subscription service for music and/or film.
So, is Apple here trying out a business model, which is to be extended in the future? With this model, I could subscribe to a specific music genre (indie-rock etc...), and the songs would be ready for downloading and transfer to iPod as soon as I set my iPod to my Powerbook....
Any comments?!
Comments
Maybe different types of options like in the podcasting options:
keep last 1
keep all
and a play once option.
With a play once option at around £3-5 per season ($5-9), keep last 1 at £6-8 ($10-12) per season and keep all at £15+ (£$25+). These are rough prices obviously, but must satisfy one major point; DVD box set prices. I'd rather have the DVD set any day, but if these would be decent quality and say half the price of DVDs I'd be tempted.
I don't actually think this'll happen. Firstly Apple'll want to keep it simple and only have one price. This is most likely to be the keep all price as you buy songs now, and it'll be like that (if they introduce a subscription service then different podcast levels may happen).
My first reaction to this was TV shows I have to admit, it's just too close to what that service would be. 4.8 introduced videos, 4.9 podcasting, 5.0 TV show subscription. I already has major players in the podcast field, ABC for one, I'm sure they'd love to gain some cash for having Alias on iTunes. (Over here in the UK I think the maximum Sky price point is £30-£40, which is many 100s of channels. If a US channel got £15 per show, they would be happy surely?).
If 5.0 has TV subscriptions it will be out before the next season.