Mar 19 2008

Report: Apple in Talks with Record Labels for Unlimited iTunes

  • Written by soulxtc
  • 2 Comments



Offers $20 USD tax on iPods and iPhones to be divided by record labels based on their market share.

According to a recent report in the Financial Times, Apple has been talking with the Big 4 record labels about offering an unlimited download model to customers of its popular iTunes digital music store.

Citing people familiar with the talks, the paper said the negotiations hinged on a dispute over the price Apple would be willing to pay for access to the labels’ libraries. So far it has offered a tax of about $20 USD on both iPods and iPhones in exchange for unlimited access to the labels’ libraries, a deal which they have thus far apparently refused.

The report also says that Apple is considering a subscription model as well. One industry exec said research showed consumers would pay a premium of up to $100 for unlimited access to music for the lifetime of a device, or a monthly fee of $7-$8 for a subscription model.

Whichever plan proves to be more palatable to record labels one thing’s for sure – the music industry is changing. As much as labels would like to deny it, I believe the future of music will be some sort of subscription-based unlimited consumption model like cable TV for example.

Comments

  1. w31n3r

    subscription based models are the future of the industry. copyright pukes should realise this and encourage this trend.

  2. davemyyz

    A good start but I assume we would still be stuck with Apple’s DRM? The whole point is to get away from DRM if I let my subscription end I still want to be able to listen to those songs years from now on any player or PC I choose.

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