Universal seeks month-by-month iTunes licensing deal

Universal needs to cut the umbilical cord that ties their music downloads to Apple's iPod and THEREFORE to iTunes.

Offer DRM free mp3's and all of a sudden EVERYONE at EVERYSTORE can buy and play YOUR music... this to me seems to be what will allow the execs to 'regain' some of the control they allowed Jobs to steal from them when they and he came up with the tie it to iPod/DRM wasteland to begin with!

Only one problem with your logic duckNrun: The record companies are afraid of "theft" and need DRM. Apple, MS, Sandisk, etc. do not make enough profit off of their players alone, much like Sony with the PS3. That means they need to make up for the expensive players by selling music. I don't like DRM, but it's the only way for a company like Apple to protect it's business model, and for the record companies to protect their "intellectual property".

For Universal to sever ties with Apple, would be like Coca-Cola yanking their products from McDonald's restaurants: financially, it wouldn't make sense. Apple is the 3rd largest retailer for music because they own over 70% of the portable music player market. The only way for Universal to win, is to pull their music from EVERY online store and sell exclusively through their own website. For them to do that, they would need to sell DRM free MP3's and considering that only EMI has jumped aboard the DRM-free train, I don't see it happening.

"There's some feeling among some music labels and some executives that Apple, because it's so dominant with iTunes, has gained a disproportionate power in the equation," said Susan Kevorkian, an analyst with market researcher IDC. "This looks like tactics to enable Universal to regain some control over the situation, at least as they perceive it."


Well I am GLAD they finally admit how CONTROLLING they really are! I hope all of the big four go down in flames and something else comes along that is better to take their place. They are a dinosaur in a digital age...their time is now way past...they need to die!

Originally posted by SProdigy:

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Only one problem with your logic duckNrun: The record companies are afraid of "theft" and need DRM. Apple, MS, Sandisk, etc. do not make enough profit off of their players alone, much like Sony with the PS3. That means they need to make up for the expensive players by selling music. I don't like DRM, but it's the only way for a company like Apple to protect it's business model, and for the record companies to protect their "intellectual property".

For Universal to sever ties with Apple, would be like Coca-Cola yanking their products from McDonald's restaurants: financially, it wouldn't make sense. Apple is the 3rd largest retailer for music because they own over 70% of the portable music player market. The only way for Universal to win, is to pull their music from EVERY online store and sell exclusively through their own website. For them to do that, they would need to sell DRM free MP3's and considering that only EMI has jumped aboard the DRM-free train, I don't see it happening.

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SProdigy..

We're already seeing this happen with EMI, and it's boosting their sales and opening up new markets for their music. They haven't 'dumped' Apple but you can sure bet that next time they sit down at the negotiating table their not gonna feel like Jobs has got their nuts in his hand and be afraid he's gonna start squeezing them.

Would this have to do with DRM free mp3's now being the new wave of music. Also the fact is that Universal does not want to put all their eggs in one basket.