Amazon MP3 secures Sony BMG music, all four major labels
Landing what may be one of the most significant blows yet against Apple's iTunes, Amazon on Thursday said it would carry Sony BMG's music -- providing the download service with unprotected music from all four major music labels while Apple claims only one.
The deal confirms a magazine leak and sees Sony BMG joining EMI, Universal, and Warner in the roster of music providers who sell albums in MP3 format through the Amazon store.
As with the rest of Amazon's catalog, songs from Beyonce and other Sony artists will be copyable an unlimited number of times and can be played with virtually any computer software or handheld audio device, including Apple's iTunes jukebox and the iPod lineup.
The move creates a conspicuous imbalance between Apple and Amazon in terms of their ability to offer music without copy protection, a feature many have considered essential to encouraging more sales of direct-download music while CD sales drop. iTunes was the first to obtain major-label music without digital rights management (DRM) from EMI in spring 2007 but quickly saw its advantage fade as Universal and Warner joined EMI in signing on to Amazon's digital store in the remaining months of last year.
For a third time, the announcement also comes without word of similar deals for competing stores, including current market leader Apple. Universal has back out of long-term deals to provide music to iTunes after complaining about inflexible pricing at the Apple-run store but is commonly believed to have signed with the even lower-cost Amazon MP3 as a way to gauge whether it can reduce Apple's influence on digital music sales.
Amazon's coup further corroborates alleged insider tips from the music chart keepers at Billboard, who reported late last year that Sony BMG would sign with Amazon and participate in a Superbowl promo which would give away as many as one billion free Amazon MP3 song codes hidden underneath Pepsi bottle caps.
The deal confirms a magazine leak and sees Sony BMG joining EMI, Universal, and Warner in the roster of music providers who sell albums in MP3 format through the Amazon store.
As with the rest of Amazon's catalog, songs from Beyonce and other Sony artists will be copyable an unlimited number of times and can be played with virtually any computer software or handheld audio device, including Apple's iTunes jukebox and the iPod lineup.
The move creates a conspicuous imbalance between Apple and Amazon in terms of their ability to offer music without copy protection, a feature many have considered essential to encouraging more sales of direct-download music while CD sales drop. iTunes was the first to obtain major-label music without digital rights management (DRM) from EMI in spring 2007 but quickly saw its advantage fade as Universal and Warner joined EMI in signing on to Amazon's digital store in the remaining months of last year.
For a third time, the announcement also comes without word of similar deals for competing stores, including current market leader Apple. Universal has back out of long-term deals to provide music to iTunes after complaining about inflexible pricing at the Apple-run store but is commonly believed to have signed with the even lower-cost Amazon MP3 as a way to gauge whether it can reduce Apple's influence on digital music sales.
Amazon's coup further corroborates alleged insider tips from the music chart keepers at Billboard, who reported late last year that Sony BMG would sign with Amazon and participate in a Superbowl promo which would give away as many as one billion free Amazon MP3 song codes hidden underneath Pepsi bottle caps.
Comments
Unfortunately without content, Apple is being played by those with. It seems like an "anybody but Apple" strategy to bring Apple down. How soon they forget where they were before iTunes and legal downloading.
Amazon's service integrates very well with iTunes, allowing consumers to very easily purchase content from Amazon, but still buy their hardware from Apple.
In the end, I think it was the labels who were out played by Apple. They did what SJ wanted while thinking they were in control and really sticking it to Apple. Now the content market will start to free up, and people will have no good reason not to buy an iPod or iPhone to play their DRM free music.
Edit: Don't forget that it was Apple who also pushed to break albums up into individual songs. Apple "won" in that situation by having the first digital store to provide single tracks. However, the music was still laced with DRM. Because that was the first step the labels took into digital media sales, the tracks had to have DRM, and only the company who owned that DRM could really benefit. Now, as the labels take their next digital media step, DRM is being eliminated. This time, it doesn't matter who sells the content, as the DRM is gone, and it can be played on anything. Apple wins again.
I thought they made their money selling iPods, not music (only a few cents per song?).
I thought the iTunes Music Store was there because no one else supported Mac OS X way back when.
So Apple now can focus investing in better hardware instead of making a better music store.
Sounds like everyone but Apple will have to heavily invest in cut-throat razor-thin margins on unprotected music.
Sounds an awful lot like the discount PC business - something Apple stays clear of.
I think Apple has gracefully exited this market and has acquiesced to others to sell content in that manner.
Content matters, but not to a company like Apple. The iTMS only exists to provide content for the iPod/iPhone. If Apple didn't sell the iPod, they wouldn't have the store, not the other way around.
Amazon's service integrates very well with iTunes, allowing consumers to very easily purchase content from Amazon, but still buy their hardware from Apple.
In the end, I think it was the labels who were out played by Apple. They did what SJ wanted while thinking they were in control and really sticking it to Apple. Now the content market will start to free up, and people will have no good reason not to buy an iPod or iPhone to play their DRM free music.
Edit: Don't forget that it was Apple who also pushed to break albums up into individual songs. Apple "won" in that situation by having the first digital store to provide single tracks. However, the music was still laced with DRM. Because that was the first step the labels took into digital media sales, the tracks had to have DRM, and only the company who owned that DRM could really benefit. Now, as the labels take their next digital media step, DRM is being eliminated. This time, it doesn't matter who sells the content, as the DRM is gone, and it can be played on anything. Apple wins again.
You make some good points.
When will my current purchases be unlocked?
If you're talking about iTunes, then I believe you have to re-purchase the music you own that is now being offered as iTunes Plus on the store.
If you're talking about Amazon, I can't help ya.
If you're talking about iTunes, then I believe you have to re-purchase the music you own that is now being offered as iTunes Plus on the store.
If you're talking about Amazon, I can't help ya.
You only had to pay the .$30 difference to upgrade, and I believe they have dropped the price back to $.99 for iTunes Plus, so it should be free.
You only had to pay the .$30 difference to upgrade, and I believe they have dropped the price back to $.99 for iTunes Plus, so it should be free.
It should be, but it's not. It is still $0.30 a track to upgrade -- it's not just unlocking, it is also twice the bitrate.
Let's see how successful they are with their music download business (assuming that it matters much -- except for the signals that it sends -- to Apple).
That said, I have to say that the iTunes store website is also slowly (but steadily) beginning to look like cluttered crap.
I think what Apple should do here is integrate iTunes with the Amazon store in a non-intrusive way. This would allow you to still add the songs dynamically through iTunes while still shopping on Amazon...Perhaps allow one to surf to other music sites from within iTunes...
Excellent suggestion!
This is also great news for Apple as it is another sign that we're getting rid completely of the CD in a few years from now which translates into more iPods that can play music bought on any drm free store.
The big looser here is only one: Microsoft.
That said, I have to say that the iTunes store website is also slowly (but steadily) beginning to look like cluttered crap.
Especially with Microsoft Office 2008 splattered on the front page-right?
Personally I'm not trying to do anything illegal with my music, so I'll go DRM and quality over DRM-less and old technology.
Probably the only reason Amazon has to use MP3, is because most of the other music player manufactors are treating the consumer like cattle.
But in the short term, it's a small blow AGAINST iTunes Music Store, as some portion of Amazon's new customers will be people who would have bought the same music from iTunes instead. And a BIG blow AGAINST Apple's biggest potential future threat: Microsoft and their quest for Microsoft-controlled DRM (user-unfriendly, consumer-unfriendly, and incompatible even with Microsoft's own products--and certainly incompatible with Macs and iPods).
As a satisfied Apple customer, using Macs, an iPod, and the iTunes Music Store, I am very pleased to see Amazon's success, and will happily shop there. My first choice will be iTunes Plus (superior MP4/AAC quality and iTunes ease/speed of searching). But my second choice will be Amazon, with DRM iTunes being a last option.
and 2. the record labels looking for a scape goat, as in "see EU, Apple IS EVIL"
and I can't imagine Apple legal backing down from either.