Report: RIAA pressured Apple into creating iTunes LP

Filed under: iTS, Retail, iTunes, Apple

This feature over at GigaOM has quite a few interesting insights about the iTunes LP program — while Apple sells it wholeheartedly as “the visual experience of the record album,” it appears the story behind the story is not quite so clean. According to an anonymous source in the industry (note, not Apple themselves), the service didn’t come from Cupertino. Instead, it was designed by record companies, and agreed to by Apple as a “concession” to “make a gesture in favor of album sales.” The piece also states that Apple subsidized the creation of the first few “LPs,” some of which cost up to $60,000 to assemble and license.

As you might expect with any other less-than-popular product at Apple, iTunes LP isn’t exactly being thrown into the spotlight, either. While a much more visual music experience would be perfect for the iPad, GigaOM notes that it didn’t even merit a mention by Jobs at the iPad announcement. It’s certainly possible that iTunes LP could find a new home in the future, if bands really get behind the service and make their own (a few have, as noted, but the cost seems pretty prohibitive, especially if sales aren’t that impressive), but from what this anonymous source says, the LP service is a record company concession that hasn’t paid off for Apple even in the way its originators hoped.

[via iPodNN]

Report: RIAA pressured Apple into creating iTunes LP originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Report: RIAA pressured Apple into creating iTunes LP originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source:[tuaw]

Apple pressuring music publishers over Amazon Daily Deal

Filed under: Apple Corporate, iTS, Apple Financial, iTunes

Amazon has used low-priced, exclusive “Daily Deals” to promote its MP3 store successfully, and Apple’s not happy about it. In fact, the iTunes team is trying to talk publishers out of participating.

According to Billboard, participating labels entered into the program with Amazon in 2008 without paying a thing. It was simply meant to increase the store’s publicity. Two years later, that’s changed. An unnamed major-label head of sales told Billboard that “[the] promotion morphed into something where the labels make arrangements to provide an exclusive selling window with Amazon for a big release expected to do a lot of business on street date [the day the new release is available for general retail sales].”

Two years in, the labels are motivated to offer Amazon first dibs on major releases at a significant discount, and that’s gotten Apple’s attention. Billboard’s sources suggest that iTunes executives are trying to persuade labels to stop offering Amazon these exclusives, and have even gone so far as to pull their own promotions for those releases.

In response, Billboard reports, certain label executives recently opted out of Daily Deal promotions for such big names as Corinne Bailey Rae, Lady Antebellum and Ke$ha (Sony Music Entertainment denies considering a Daily Deal promotion for Ke$ha’s “Animal”). Additionally, Amazon is said to be altering the deal to not require exclusivity, but Apple’s still unsatisfied.

Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to sell digital music.

[Via AppleInsider]

Apple pressuring music publishers over Amazon Daily Deal originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 04 Mar 2010 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Apple pressuring music publishers over Amazon Daily Deal originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 04 Mar 2010 12:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source:[tuaw]

Boston creates app to report road problems

Filed under: Software, Freeware, iTunes, iPhone

Since moving to LA, I haven’t quite had to deal with the potholes that Spring in Chicago usually brings (not that roads are any better out here, but at least they don’t have to deal with all of the freezing and thawing). But despite the yearly flat tires and ruined alignments, Chicago hasn’t gone quite as far as Boston, where the city government has developed not one but two apps to enable its citizens to report on potholes and other city issues.

Citizens Connect is an app developed late last year by the city that enables locals to report graffiti, potholes, broken streetlights, and other urban issues in the Boston area, and now they’re working on a new app, nicknamed BUMP (for Boston Urban Mechanic Profiler), that will automatically transmit road conditions to a central database using the iPhone’s accelerometer and data connection. That seems tough to do with all of the extra noise that must come from an accelerometer, but they are working with a researcher from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, so maybe they will be able to pull it off. Interesting to see metropolitan areas like this using newer technology to keep an eye on what’s up in their city. Of course, actually fixing the potholes will take a little more work, but knowing what’s wrong is helpful.

Boston creates app to report road problems originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Boston creates app to report road problems originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source:[tuaw]

Apple announces winner of the 10 billion songs promotion

Filed under: Apple Corporate, iTS, Apple Financial, iTunes

Just yesterday Apple’s iTunes store reached a huge milestone — 10 billion songs sold. That’s an incredible number. In fact, it’s almost as incredible as the prize that Mr. Louie Sulcer of Woodstock, Georgia received for buying the magic song. As his reward, he received a $10,000 iTunes gift card, which he may use towards any of the music, TV shows, movies, apps, books, etc. in the store.

What was the 10 billionth song downloaded? “Guess Things Happen That Way” by Johnny Cash.

Apple’s vice president of Internet Services Eddy Cue remarked on the milestone in a recent press release. “We’re proud that iTunes has become the number one music retailer in the world, and selling 10 billion songs is truly staggering.”

Congratulations to Mr. Sulcer! Enjoy that hefty gift card. Might we suggest a little Battlestar Galactica [iTunes link]?

[Via MacDailyNews]

Apple announces winner of the 10 billion songs promotion originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 25 Feb 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Apple announces winner of the 10 billion songs promotion originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 25 Feb 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source:[tuaw]

TV networks continue to resist iTunes price cuts

Filed under: Multimedia, Video, iTunes

Apple has been courting US TV networks recently in a bid to get them to drop episode pricing from its current level of $1.99 down to $0.99. The New York Times reports that, predictably, many TV networks are resisting Apple’s push for lower episode prices, even though iTunes’s initial $0.99 per song price point is arguably what made purchasing digital music palatable to consumers.

Music sales through the iTunes store have fallen off recently, at least partially because of record labels’ demands for a price hike to $1.29 per song for popular tracks. Meanwhile, though TV shows have been available for download in the iTunes Store since 2005, only 375 million shows have been downloaded in that time — compared to nearly 9.5 billion songs downloaded over the same period. With a reported 125 million iTunes Store accounts, that equates to an average of 76 song downloads per customer compared to a paltry 3 TV episodes downloaded.

Click the “Read More” link to find out more about the current state of TV on iTunes.

Continue reading TV networks continue to resist iTunes price cuts

TV networks continue to resist iTunes price cuts originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 22 Feb 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

TV networks continue to resist iTunes price cuts originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 22 Feb 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source:[tuaw]

Gameloft says they’ve got iPhone locked down

Filed under: iTS, Software, iTunes, Developer, iPhone, App Store

Gameloft is one of the bigger iPhone-specific (or at least mobile-specific) game developers out there, and in fact they’re so big, they tell Mobile Entertainment that they’re not scared of their development partner Ubisoft and other big game developers headed to the iPhone. Ubisoft developed the most recent Assassin’s Creed game for the iPhone, but Gameloft developed the first, and Gameloft’s Gonzague de Vallois says that their game had better ratings and sales.

To a certain extent, yes, the App Store creates a level playing field for game developers, and allows companies even smaller than Gameloft to get their games out to a mass audience and gain a following based simply on gameplay, not necessarily marketing or other factors. But despite Gameloft’s bragging, some of the most popular titles on the App Store, from Rock Band to Call of Duty: World at War Zombies, are able to tie a successful brand into an app that features solid gameplay. Yes, Gameloft has been able to shine on the App Store. But I wouldn’t count big developers out yet — they’re still learning how to use the iPhone’s marketplace, and I think we’ll continue to see big successes from bigger developer in the future.

[Via Slide-to-play]

Gameloft says they’ve got iPhone locked down originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 20 Feb 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Gameloft says they’ve got iPhone locked down originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Sat, 20 Feb 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source:[tuaw]

App Store categories get browser pages

Filed under: iTS, Software, Internet Tools, iTunes, Apple, App Store

Apple has apparently taken another step towards bringing iTunes to the browser, as you can now browse actual categories of the iTunes store right in regular HTML rather than having to click over into iTunes. There’s still no support for television or movies, but you can dive in from categories to artists and then even explore and preview songs, right in your browser of choice. Assuming, of course, that your browser of choice is Firefox or Safari — while Chrome or IE will probably work, we haven’t tested them extensively yet.

All we need now is for iTunes to cut it out with the automatic jump into iTunes — even though your browser will load up a real page in the background, the browser store still tries to throw an external link request out to iTunes. Our own Brett Terpstra found that when you copy or type a browser link directly into your browser, the store won’t try to open, but if you click in from an external link (like those here on TUAW), iTunes will try to open. Apple may not want us just browsing iTunes outside of the official app, but it would be nice for those of us who are pointing out iTunes content to folks who may not actually have iTunes installed to have a link to share.

For more fun tricks you can do with do with browser-based app store links, look here.

App Store categories get browser pages originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 19 Feb 2010 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

App Store categories get browser pages originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Fri, 19 Feb 2010 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source:[tuaw]

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