Apple reportedly pressing labels for exclusive content as digital music sales dip

Posted:
in iPod + iTunes + AppleTV edited March 2014
Sources within the music industry say Apple is pushing major record labels to offer exclusive content on iTunes, which would be sold using windowing strategies to boost slumping track and album sales.

Beyonce
Apple's iTunes music store as seen on the release of Beyonce's latest album.


According to Billboard, people familiar with Apple's recent moves said iTunes director Robert Kondrk has been aggressively going after labels to release exclusive content. The model would be similar to that of Beyonce's highly successful "visual album" released late last year.

In December, Beyonce dropped her self-titled album on iTunes and kept it an Apple exclusive for one week. Sold as a full album with 14 songs and 17 accompanying videos, "BEYONCE" moved over 800,000 copies worldwide in just three days, a record for Apple.

Key to the so-called "visual album's" success was the windowed sales strategy employed by Beyonce's Parkwood Entertainment and Columbia Records, which kept single tracks off streaming services until the second week of availability. The singer even kept YouTube videos to a minimum and only offered 30-second teasers at launch.

Windowing is used in a number of consumable content industries as a means to spur sales. A good example of the strategy is the sale of hardcover books, which bring in more money for publishers than the cheaper softcover versions released a few weeks later.

Sources claim Kondrk engaged in discussions during Grammy Week in January to push major labels to release new albums under similar sales models. The executive even suggested that new albums did not have to be iTunes exclusives as long as streaming services were shut out, the people said.

"The iTunes theory was that because of the easy availability to access albums on YouTube it has punctured sales globally for track and albums," said an unnamed executive from a major record label.

Kondrk also asked that individual tracks be windowed for a certain period before being sold separately from the full album and before being made available to streaming services. This is counter to the original iTunes model that sought to disrupt the space by breaking up albums and selling tracks individually.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 97
    gtrgtr Posts: 3,231member

    I know why I don't buy as much music as I used to from iTunes and it's got nothing to do with Apple:

     

  • Reply 2 of 97
    cash907cash907 Posts: 893member
    Maybe if music these days didn't suck so hard, people would buy more. Can't even blame file sharing anymore, so now that that skapegoat is out of the picture, the major labels have no one to blame but themselves.

    As for Apple, they were just late to the streaming game, and when they finally joined the party, they didn't show up with anything that distinguished them from the established competition. They honestly think "exclusive content" is going to bring consumers back? Hardly. The labels can pull a Beyoncé only so often before they piss off the other distributors to the point of losing their business entirely. Target is still fuming over that little debacle that cost them millions in album sales. If Tim keeps trying to play this game of "our way or the highway," he's going to be looking down the barrel of another anti-trust lawsuit. What one calls "windowing," another would describe as "anti-competitive." Your hardcover analogy is way off, btw, as hardcovers are available at multiple outlets at once, and they add value to collectors. What value does a "digital extra" add, when it's neither tangible nor exclusive, as they all find their way to YouTube etc eventually?
  • Reply 3 of 97
    dequardodequardo Posts: 29member
    Here's a wild idea. Lower the prices.
  • Reply 4 of 97
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    I suggest this exclusive content is released on a new label like this .... :D


    [IMG ALT=""]http://forums.appleinsider.com/content/type/61/id/39003/width/500/height/1000[/IMG]
  • Reply 5 of 97
    danielswdanielsw Posts: 906member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by dequardo View Post



    Here's a wild idea. Lower the prices.

    Here's a wild idea. Get a job.

  • Reply 6 of 97
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    Originally Posted by GTR View Post

    I know why I don't buy as much music as I used to from iTunes and it's got nothing to do with Apple:

     

    I was going to comment more on the fact that the song seems to be a “XXX tweaker mix”, but then I remembered it’s “twerking” and that a tweaker has a valid use in society. 

  • Reply 7 of 97

    Drops in sales have little do with Apple and iTunes and more to do with shifts in 1) consumer consumption and 2) overall demand. Many are quite happy, especially in younger generations to stream on demand through Spotify or even iTunes Radio. I don't buy the YouTube argument. The second part is how many times can people build/buy their music libraries to begin with?

  • Reply 8 of 97
    patpatpatpatpatpat Posts: 628member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by thataveragejoe View Post

     

    Drops in sales have little do with Apple and iTunes and more to do with shifts in 1) consumer consumption and 2) overall demand. Many are quite happy, especially in younger generations to stream on demand through Spotify or even iTunes Radio. I don't buy the YouTube argument. The second part is how many times can people build/buy their music libraries to begin with?


    Since my kids have started using Google music streaming, they haven't bought a single song, nor have we had to gift them cards for purchasing music. That's been over 6 months now. We used to spend easily $200/year on both kids.

  • Reply 9 of 97
    dequardodequardo Posts: 29member
    danielsw wrote: »
    Here's a wild idea. Get a job.

    I have a nice one. Hate much?
  • Reply 10 of 97
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    I suggest this exclusive content is released on a new label like this .... :D


    1000

    Those lawsuits against Apple Corps were a long and winding road.
  • Reply 11 of 97
    peteopeteo Posts: 402member
    I use a music subscription service so I don't buy music through iTunes any more. I'm hopping apple does a media subscription service with music, movies, & tv (book magiznes would be a bonus). Looks like amazon is moving in that direction. I'd pay $20 a month for that.

    First I would apple to fix the iOS :\safari crash bug. It has crashed 5 times trying to post this!
  • Reply 12 of 97
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member
    solipsismx wrote: »
    Those lawsuits against Apple Corps were a long and winding road.

    But to the benefit of both they found a way to come together
  • Reply 13 of 97
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    gatorguy wrote: »
    But to the benefit of both they found a way to come together

    And now they both have a ticket to ride. (this will all end with someone else saying let it be.)
  • Reply 14 of 97
    jungmarkjungmark Posts: 6,926member
    solipsismx wrote: »
    And now they both have a ticket to ride. (this will all end with someone else saying let it be.)

    This topic is so yesterday.
  • Reply 15 of 97
    For a second there I thought I was reading a description of Grand Admiral Thrawn. An appropriate heir to the empire.
  • Reply 16 of 97
    dasanman69dasanman69 Posts: 13,002member
    jungmark wrote: »
    This topic is so yesterday.

    Can you guys just let it be already?
  • Reply 17 of 97
    I would like AI to explain its use of "aggressively going after," "pushing" and "pressing" in this context. As far as the actual content of the article, it states that Kondrk "asked" for things. So why not say Apple asked labels for exclusive content?
  • Reply 18 of 97
    clemynxclemynx Posts: 1,552member

    Apple needs a good Spotify competitor, not just Radio.

    An on-demand streaming service for music and video is meant to happen somewhen. A 15-20$ a month for unlimited everything would be amazing!

  • Reply 19 of 97
    sudonymsudonym Posts: 233member

    This would be great for Apple because then everyone would have to buy an Apple product to listen to their music. 

  • Reply 20 of 97
    For a second there I thought I was reading a description of Grand Admiral Thrawn. An appropriate heir to the empire.

    Not for long.
    http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/01/op-ed-disney-takes-a-chainsaw-to-the-star-wars-expanded-universe/

    Pretty soon, the Star Wars Ewok Holiday Special will be more canon than Thrawn and Friends.
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