James Delahunty
27 Apr 2007 19:00
Apple Inc. CEO Steve Jobs has cast doubt on the rumors that Apple will be forced to implement a music subscription model alongside its pay-once download service. Apple's iTunes is responsible for about 2.5 billion legal music downloads since the store first launched. As the company is getting ready to negotiate terms with record companies again, many believe Apple may have to submit and offer a subscription model too.
Record companies like subscription services because it provides recurring income, and as soon as a customer doesn't pay a fee, they lose access to their catalog of music. "Never say never, but customers don't seem to be interested in it," Jobs told Reuters. "The subscription model has failed so far." He added that, "people want to own their music."
Apple is expected to push more record companies to explore DRM-free music downloads in the negotiations. "There are a lot of people in the other music companies who are very intrigued by it," Jobs said of the move to sell songs without copy-protection software. "They're thinking very hard about it right now." The company had predicted that by the end of the year, half of the songs on iTunes could be DRM-free. "I think we're going to achieve that," he said.
Source:
Reuters