Steve Jobs just might be alright.

Maybe.

According to Financial Times, Apple is considering offering unlimited access to iTunes music to customers who pay a certain premium on iPods and iPhones. The premium could be as low as $20.

Um… seriously?

I have no idea how this would work, but I will fully admit that I’d be quick to sign on. A one time fee in exchange for all the free (legally! free!) music I want? Yes, please!

My only concern is that there’s no way artists could be fairly compensated for sales. And with that being the case, how could labels ever possibly agree to the deal? Unless Apple has suddenly turned a philanthropic corner and feels the need to hand over its wealth to all the struggling musicians in the world and at no profit to themselves. Which is unlikely.

There’s got to be some catch. Like, they say it’s ‘unlimited’ for the life of your iPod, so perhaps iPods will now be programmed to die after one year? Or maybe the songs are unlimited in downloads, but limited in listens?

Something’s gotta give.

Of course if it doesn’t, I’ll be first in line. All the music I want for the price of one CD is too good an offer to ignore.

4 replies on “Low Budget Apple? Seriously?”

  1. I doubt Apple will go for this, especially if it involves them opening up their closed ecosystemin any way. That’s also why they still use DRM, when all of the other digital retailers have abandoned it. Also, they’ll face antitrust issues, because of their dominance of both the player and digital store markets. It’s like Microsoft’s software/hardware bundles that got ’em in trouble. Blanket licenses are where the major labels are heading, but they’ve never been known for their transparent accounting. And what would thismean for the indies? If they don’t agree to the percentages, would they be frozen out of the dominant marketplace?At this point, Apple is only in preliminary talks with Universal, whose head, Dick Morris, is no fan of Steve Jobs. They hate him for his unwillingness to budge on the 99-cent price point. I’d say the ball’s in Apple’s court here, and I expect them not to be seduced by a flailing major starved for revenue.

  2. Sounds like a good deal, especially if rumors of Apple reducing iPod pricing are true.

  3. I fail to see how these unlimited subscription plans can afford to pay the mechanical royalties due to each artist for every song downloaded. Average mechanical is approximately .05 per published song. With broadband you would be able to download thousands and thousands of songs in no time flat. Meaning someone would be getting screwed out of royalty money and I would place a healthy wager that it wouldn’t be either the labels or apple. Emusic has tried this unlimited subscription model before and it failed. They ended up going from unlimited song downloads to about 40 song downloads per month.Indie’s should step it up and use Merge Records as an example. I would just as soon buy digital downloads directly from the label itself and cut apple (the middle man) out entirely.————————————————————Life was much simpler when we only had to choose between cassette or vinyl.

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