Not much info on these HOT SCOOPS, but Matt Drudge is reporting that Universal Music Group will not be renewing its iTunes contract with Apple. This means that the iTunes Music Store is going to lose a lot of tracks and customers will soon follow. With the iPhone just released, I’m sure Apple is going to beef up iTMS promotions but this could pose a major setback for everyone, both Apple and customers.
Great move Universal! After all, people buy the iPod as a fashion accessory not as a means of buying from the iTunes store. Sure, iTunes will lose some money for it. But Universal will lose the most as iTune users simply look at pirating the same music.
The expression cutting off your nose to spite your face jumps to mind.
More proof that Universal is just as crazy as the RIAA. Maybe their CEOs were born as conjoined twins that shared a brain. The doctors tried to say that separating them was a mistake. . . .
The information is incorrect. According to Wall Street Jornal : “Universal Music may not renew a long-term pact to sell music through iTunes, instead favoring a shorter term”.
matt drudge reporting inaccurately!? what has the world come to? have our standards of journalistic integrity really fallen so far that we can no longer trust the Drudge Report?
So you really think this is that one-sided? Apple loses? Apple’s customers lose? iTunes Store loses? What about Universal?
Read persi’s comments. This is a leverage thing. Universal is not removing songs from the iTunes Music Store.
you cited Matt Drudge?! slow night eh?
Universal would be fools to close down any channel of delivery. Quite frankly if it’s not on itunes it doesn’t make it to my ipod. That includes the Beatles. Honestly my ipod/itunes has made me lazy I admit it, but it’s just too damn convenient.
Does not mean tracks will be gone from iTMS.
from WSJ, presumably a better source than Drudge:
“Such a move wouldn’t mean Universal would remove its vast catalog — including Eminem, 50 Cent and Sting — from iTunes in the foreseeable future. Instead, Universal, the world’s largest music company by market share, hopes to go to a short-term sales agreement rather than a contract that lasted more than a year.”
Bad move on Universal’s part… who’s to say they’ll benefit from a shorter term contract? An especially risky move considering all of the options consumers now have, such as encrypted file sharing, an example being: http://www.gigatribe.com
I miss actual CDs and vinyl. The whole digital experience has really taken the joy out of buying music for me. Rarely do I buy Mp3’s through SnoCap. mrnorth, I had to because thy haven’t released their rarities and demos on a CD yet.
I’m unimpressed with iPods or iPhones. I’m unimpressed with MP3s when you have FLAC. DRM stinks. That’s why I’ll never get a Zune or an iPod. I’ll probably get an A3 or Q5 which are not hampered by limited playback support and are Linux supported out of the box. I’ve been waiting for better alternatives to iPods and Zen (Creative, how thou hast fallen), I still have a sort-of working portable CD player (hit it a few times and it plays)
U2 should dump Universal, go rogue. Hell Larry Mullen Jr said they could each buy a small island with the amount of cash they made during the Elevation years.