Apple looking to strike a deal with record execs
Matt Zaloga
Issue date: 4/16/08 Section: Opinion
The internet has been considered a problem by the record industry since what seems like the dawn of time. Low sales have been haunting record companies, and since they obviously are not to blame, the easiest scapegoat would be whatever service offers free music.
In fact, Gnarls Barkley's latest release was rushed to shelves because of internet leakage. This has happened countless times in the past, and it will surely happen again. And since the cost of diesel fuel is raising the price of everything because of transportation, it will surely start to affect the cost of music recordings, which is already overpriced.
However, with the popularity of Apple's music products (iTunes and iPods), the executives for these companies are now looking for support from the technology giant. In fact, a recent AOL news article said that Apple was in negotiations with execs hoping to open up their entire library to customers for free.
Of course there is a catch, since we all know that there is no such thing as "free." For a small fee of either seven or eight dollars per month, or a one time fee of 100 dollars with the purchase of an Apple device, customers would gain access to all of the music in the iTunes library. This means that as long as you have enough space on your hard drive, you can essentially download an unlimited amount of music from iTunes.
The executives at these labels would be foolish not to follow through with this deal. Apple is an advertising giant. They truly are an unstoppable force in American society, particularly the younger generations. And who are record labels looking to sell their product to? The younger generation as well.
The fact of the matter is, musicians do not make all that much money from record sales. Most of their income comes from concert ticket sales and merchandise. If Apple opens up their library to subscribers, record labels will be able to focus more on promoting the band outside of record sales. Let the fans hear the music for free, and they will want to see the band perform live.
In fact, Gnarls Barkley's latest release was rushed to shelves because of internet leakage. This has happened countless times in the past, and it will surely happen again. And since the cost of diesel fuel is raising the price of everything because of transportation, it will surely start to affect the cost of music recordings, which is already overpriced.
However, with the popularity of Apple's music products (iTunes and iPods), the executives for these companies are now looking for support from the technology giant. In fact, a recent AOL news article said that Apple was in negotiations with execs hoping to open up their entire library to customers for free.
Of course there is a catch, since we all know that there is no such thing as "free." For a small fee of either seven or eight dollars per month, or a one time fee of 100 dollars with the purchase of an Apple device, customers would gain access to all of the music in the iTunes library. This means that as long as you have enough space on your hard drive, you can essentially download an unlimited amount of music from iTunes.
The executives at these labels would be foolish not to follow through with this deal. Apple is an advertising giant. They truly are an unstoppable force in American society, particularly the younger generations. And who are record labels looking to sell their product to? The younger generation as well.
The fact of the matter is, musicians do not make all that much money from record sales. Most of their income comes from concert ticket sales and merchandise. If Apple opens up their library to subscribers, record labels will be able to focus more on promoting the band outside of record sales. Let the fans hear the music for free, and they will want to see the band perform live.
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