wax&wires tv – Episode 006: iTunes LP Review
Sticking with the new shorter format, I give a quick rundown of what iTunes LP brings to the table, what works and what doesn’t. Can it resurrect album sales in a digital market?
wax&wires tv – Episode 005: Music is more than songs
What are you doing to bring an experience along with your songs? Apple Cocktail, Muse’s new album, and more!
Apple And The Big 4 Look For Ways To Resurrect The Full Album
Singles sales have been crushing album sales ever since the development of the digital marketplace. How do Apple and the big four major record labels team up to combat that?
Garage Band ’09 Announced
Apple announced the new iLife ’09 yesterday at MacWorld. One of the biggest features, from a musician’s standpoint, is the new GarageBand ’09. In addition to some extra stomp boxes and amp models, GarageBand ’09 includes the new GarageBand Lesson Store. This new feature allows users to purchase music lessons from popular artists, allowing users to learn how to play some of the artists’ most renowned songs via very slick and well-produced HD video.
Apparently, Apple didn’t get the memo about iVideoSongs.com, or perhaps decided to partner with them, as their products are eerily similar. Though stealing it’s name from what has become an Apple trademark, iVideoSongs did beat Apple to the punch with artist video music lessons…
Apple iTunes Goes DRM-Free
Expect an announcement at MacWorld today about Apple’s new plans for iTunes. After a year with EMI being the only label to offer DRM-Free songs on iTunes, Apple is expected to announce today that all tracks are to be DRM-Free by the end of 2009. Reportedly, Apple has inked deals with Warner Music Group, Sony, and Universal Music Group, all agreeing to allow DRM-Free songs to be sold on iTunes. Apple was way behind the times on this one, and I would bet that this move comes only after recognizing their slip in marketshare to outlets like the Amazon MP3 store who had strong selection, higher MP3 quality, lower prices, and a growing fan base for the better part of the past year.
Beyond the lack of Digital Rights Management, it looks as though there will be plans for labels to impose pricing brackets on songs within iTunes. While that may make iTunes more competitive with other online MP3 stores, rumor has it that many of the songs will actually go up in price rather than down. Back catalog tracks will be priced as low as 79 cents each, but newer hit songs are expected to jump in price. I have to assume these terms were part of the compromise in getting the major labels to come on board…
