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Microsoft Also Wants Universal Music?
rampant mac writes "An article over at the New York Post is reporting Microsoft has expressed interest in buying Vivendi's Universal Music Group, setting up a possible bidding war between the software maker and rival Apple Computer, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Microsoft's interest is said to be at the level of "poking around, kicking the tires," but it has indeed had conversations with Vivendi executives about buying the music division, sources said."
Here is a story from a few days ago about Apple and Universal.
Usually it takes M$ a few years to copy what Apple has done. So much for my pipe dream of Apple owning a record company and making it respectable...
It seems like everyone wants to buy Universal.
This could really give MS quite a bit of leverage if it ever needed it - "Upgrade now, get 50 free songs for Windows Media Player" or some such thing. I could possibly even be tied in to some future service like X-Box live.
It's obvious and clever at the same time.
My Blog: http://nic.dreamhost.com/
It's called driving up the price for your competitor.
It would be my guess that both Apple and Microsoft would want to do the same thing - use music to promote and sell their products. However, if Microsoft bought Vivendi Music, would that not somehow be in violation of the anti-trust rulings? Couldn't Microsoft use their monopoly on desktop OS's to create a monopoly in legal music downloading?
I might be completely wrong, but somehow the prospect of Microsoft owning such a big label seems much scarier than Apple doing the same thing.
It doesn't surprise me at all that they want to head Apple off at the pass.
Look, Microsoft seems to think that ANY device with any computational capabilities at all for the mass market is *theirs*.
Is it any surpise that they'd want to get into this too? Imagine if that happened? You thought the RIAA was bad....hoo boy, you ain't seen nothing yet.
is there anything microsoft isn't in? they are beginning to reach pokemon status in saturation, all they need to do now is have pasta noodles shaped like the m$ symbol.
"For some in the beleaguered music industry - which has seen compact disc sales plummet in recent years due to rampant piracy"
Couldn't also be the fact that CDs are still damn
expensive and the recent mainstream music scene has
sucked, could it? Nah, let's blame the pirates!
Still in all, how interested would MS have been if
L'il Stevie hadn't made public his intent to hook up
with a Universal?
Mod me down and I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine...
If they actually buy the company, I'm interested in seeing what stance they will take in the fight against p2p networks and media company's current fight against free sharing of media, knowing M$ can be very rough in the courts.
rampant mac writes "An article over at the New York Post
Silly mac user, use a more reputable news source like the National Enquirer.
Wonder if this is just what Apple wanted to happen? Im not usually one for conspiracy theory but Apple may have something up their sleeve here.
Obviously, MS isn't really interrested in buying Universal, but its good buisness to make sure that your competitors have a hard time pulling their deals.
MS makes a bid, forces apple to hike up their bid. In the end, MS doesn't buy anything and apple had to spend way more to get what they wanted, wich hurts them and therefore indirectly helps MS.
Is tricky, its devious, its evil...its Microsoft at its best.
You can't take the sky from me...
Look at UM's webpage, there's a (huge) list : Universal Music Group Artists.
I was worried about this when I saw the /. story a couple days ago but didn't want to say anything because I didn't want to give M$ any ideas myself. But I guess they read the /. story too and got the idea anyways. If only Pudge hadn't posted the story M$ would never have found out and Apple would have gotten away with it.
/. in capitals)
DAMM YOU ?> !!!!
(?> ==
I stole this Sig
Smart money shouldn't be going after dying music companies.
-----
One is born into aristocracy, but mediocrity can only be achieved through hard work.
according to their website they're the biggest selling record label with Ashanti, Erykah Badu, Mary J. Blige, Andrea Bocelli, Bon Jovi, Sheryl Crow, Eminem, Johnny Hallyday , Enrique Iglesias, Jay-Z, Elton John, Ronan Keating, Diana Krall, Limp Bizkit, Nelly, No Doubt, Florent Pagny, Luciano Pavarotti, Sandy & Junior, Shaggy, Sting, Texas, Shania Twain, U2 and Russell Watson. they also own pressplay
A kick-ass soundtrack for Doom 3
this means that we'll keep on getting music for free ! I can not see MS create a safe, closed system being hacked in less than a month.
When will I end this grieving ? When will my future begin ?
If you thought the RIAA was bad, wait until we're up against someone who has half a clue about technology!
In fact, I hope they buy movie companies, publishers, etc. Sony has done the same thing and I see Microsoft and Sony as being the two competitors that need to be balanced.
Sony doesn't get a lot of flack in these parts because they haven't made the political mistakes Microsoft has, but they're just as much a threat with their stranglehold on manufacturing and content.
I would love to see Microsoft start spending their money in these areas.
-- You see, there would be these conclusions that you could jump to
... there will be an announcement about gnu.org, the FSF, a few of the Debian developers, and Linus himself all going in together to buy this music company.
Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos
The only reason MS is doing this is too raise the price of the music company.
Apple does not have the cash that MS has, and MS has tons of cash. MS can raise the price 30% and not blink, Apple would be hit hard.
Linux O Muerte!
I'm no economist, so maybe I'm wrong.
I'm sure we can expect the following exciting new releases if Microsoft makes this purchase. Not being much of a shining wit, I will leave the hard part up to you:
<pun involving "windows"> - some artist
<clever parody of blue-screen-of-death> - a band
<clumsy attempt at humurous title> - <artist with "gates" as surname>
<mildly amusing dig at open source> - obscure indie band
Oh the fun you could have. If you had time.
In other news, Slashdot is reporting that the 'yuvtob' corporation also wishes to buy Universal Music. Spokesperson for yuvtob said: "at this point the company is only looking at the tires, and from a very long distance".
of MS buying the game division of Vivendi?
Personally (and off topic)I hope MGM picks up Universal Studios, then maybe we may see the return of Farscape on Sci-FI.
http://www.macwhispers.com - is never wrong, check them out.
This whole thing feels like M$ only did the same thing looking to check out what they could do
In Canada, we don't fancy things like socks
...start rumors of their interest in buying out insanely large and bloated corporations, then sit back and laugh while the mindless paranoids at Microsoft fall over themselves to beat Apple to the punch, depleting their coffers.
Vivendi Universal should just put itself up on EBay and let all interested parties duke it out in 10 dollar increments :)
"I'm a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar."
-Hoban Washburn
These "synerigies" rarely pay off. Both AOL and Vivendi had (at one time) deep pcokets (AOL from dial-up fees, Vivendi from utilities), and they were unable to make the confluence of technology and media, largely because there is no huge profit windfall and no pressing need. Music libraries can be licensed. With the value of the record industry dropping in aggregate, these license fees will only go down.
Falling Out The Windows, Landing In The .NET - The Allchin Brothers (country, classic rock)
My Baby's Givin' Me The Blues - Bluescreen Traveler (blues, contemporary)
Heaven's Openin' Up For Me - Bill 'Pearly' Gates (gospel, contemporary)
Free is Just Another Word For Nothing Left To Lose (Linux sucks) - Janis Joplin (remixes, classic rock)
Kids these days. Don't even bother doing their own work.
Vivendi is like a shitbox Ford Pinto. Jokes aside about the dangers of kicking ANYTHING on a Ford Pinto...it seems like cars and companies do have one thing in common- they both attract idiots who think they can fix 'em back up, make 'em stop leaking, polish the fenders, and show 'em off to the world, for a few weekends in the summer, a little elbow grease, and a little bit of money.
It NEVER turns out that way.
Apple's stock took a serious dip when this rumor(and I stress, rumor) hit. Why can't Apple focus on producing hardware that's more up-to-date performance-wise, more durable, more competitive cost-wise, and policies that are more customer-friendly? Apple has the WORST warranty/service policies, the WORST service system(ONE service center in Texas that has a horrible reputation)...and their hardware is pretty and has some neat stuff in it, but isn't up-to-date in processing power, isn't very price-competitive(except maybe the powerbooks), and is far from durable. Example: the very cool TiBook is PAINTED. What #$@!ing moron thought that up? Tough as nails Titanium shell, but then they PAINTED it. Smooth move, guys. Apple continuously demonstrates that they haven't learned from their hardware design mistakes; how long did it take them to make screen clutches that didn't break?(not rocket science- you just make them from something other than cheap pot metal!)
My opinion is that you shouldn't be looking for more stuff to put on your plate when you can't take care of what's ALREADY on your plate; if you can't manage one business successfully, what makes you think you'll manage TWO successfully? Besides, what makes anyone at Apple think they're even remotely qualified to run a media company? Oh, wait, I forgot about Jobs' ego, I guess that makes him qualified- thinks the world revolves around him.
Please help metamoderate.
If Apple does make the buy, as rumoured, I wonder how that will play out with regards to their infamous lawsuit brought by Apple Corps (the music holding company that handles The Beatles properties). My understanding is that the settlement was only good as long as Apple Computer stayed out of the music business.
Apple and Microsoft fighting over which one gets to own Universal is truly a fight of Good vs. Evil.
Apple has their "Rip, Mix, Burn" attitude towards fair use: fair use is, well, fair. Apple wants you to buy CDs and then put that legal music onto your iPod. Apple is Good.
Microsoft is pushing DRM. To Microsoft, "fair use" is treated as piracy. If Microsoft buys Universal, you'll be able to play music CDs in your computer, but only in Windows and only with Windows Media Player 9. And you wouldn't be able to rip the CDs, either. Microsoft is Evil.
Unfortunately, Microsoft has much deeper pockets than Apple, so I can't see how Apple could ever seriously hope to purchase Universal is Microsoft is truly interested in it. But, I hope to God that Apple does purchase it, because if they don't, the whole music industry will really go to shit (if you think it's shit now, you ain't seen nothing yet).
This strikes me being one of those consolidations like what was going on during the Dot-Com bubble. To give but one example, Time Warner snarfing up AOL basically weakened both companies. I suppose if there was a company I would like to see get weakened, it would be Microsoft. However, even if the Uni deal went totally sour Microsoft would survive. Apple could go right down the tubes if this happened.
When I first heard about this, I thought that Apple was angling to buy Universal PICTURES on Pixar's behalf. That would make total sense, considering that Disney has not been an especially fair partner in their deal with Pixar, and Pixar has been one of the few bright spots on Disney's otherwise lackluster balance sheet. Even a threat of Jobs leveraging Apple to give Pixar its own friendly distribution path would be enough to scare Michael Eisner into giving Jobs whatever he wanted.
In any event, this deal makes zero business sense, and seems to be turning into a pissing match between Ballmer and Jobs. Jobs should know better...Ballmer is the one who drinks the most beer. He'll win. ~_^ (grinning, ducking and running)
Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power multiplied.
Just to make a list of the ones that jumped at me:
- Eminem
- Nirvana
- Garbage
- No Doubt
- Rammstein
- T.A.T.U.
- U2
- The Who
Then, also two opera biggies:
- Luciano Pavarotti
- Placido Domingo
And a couple of others *everyone* has heard of:
- B.B. King
- Beck
- Bee Gees
- Bloodhound Gang
- Bon Jovi
- Bryan Adams
- Chumbawamba
- Counting Crows
- Cranberries
- George Strait
- Elvis Costello
- Guns N' Roses
- Jimi Hendrix
- Leonard Bernstein
- Limp Bizkit
- Lynyrd Skynyrd
- Nine Inch Nails
- Peter Gabriel
- Sonic Youth
- Sum 41
- Suzanne Vega
- Texas
- Willie Nelson
...that alone is quite a bunch, that, copyright extensions being what they are, will be a cash cow for decades.
yes, we have no bananas
Dude, they've got Lionel Richie. No wonder Apple and Microsoft are in a bidding war!
Microsoft is definitely interested in dominating the content business. However, unlike cable they already have this entire industry in the palms of their hands.
By holding out hope of DRM and locking down content, media companies are very favorably disposed towards Microsoft. Buying a competitor and competing directly is too large a risk for Microsoft to seriously consider.
Then again, they want to get into recurring revenue streams of different types so eventually they need to successfully leverage their desktop dominance directly into the content business. To date, those attempts have mostly failed.
And we all know who'd win a bidding war.
...just maybe.
/. still hold a grudge against Apple based upon the Macs of the mid-90's, OS X is a Unice, Apple has embraced and aided OSS and Apple is a great commercial alternative to wintel.
If M$ got their hands on Universal, we could all pretty much kiss free use good-bye.
And I don't even think it would be a true bidding war, I think a lot of it would be "buddy buddy" talks within the RIAA as a peer consesus that M$ is good and Apple bad. Since I'm sure the RIAA and Universals shareholders would ardently support a greater partnership with a corporation that specializes in proprietary formats and who is heading up a coup d'etat on the users rights to own their machine.
In a twisted sense, such an organization that controlled a major media producer as well as the mechanism for media playback and the operating system for that mechanism to be run on is an easy target for an anti-trust. But, we've already seen how effective the US Federal Judges are at punishing M$...
But maybe, just maybe it will all finally hit close enough to home when a Fed. Judge buys a CD and find they can't play it without having a winCE device with windows media player installed that we might finally see some justice in action.
Man, I hope this post isn't FUD, but I am feeling fearful of the possible repercussions I as a consumer would experience if the articles speculation were to come true.
So, hey, everyone go help Apple, buy some stock and pump them up! Apple has done more than just say "Rip-Mix-Burn". They have built some great software to make professional quality media production easy and affordable and they are staunchly against DRM on their platform. Though I know many on
Personally, I think OS X has a better a chance of replacing Moms desktop that Linux does. And as it should. Let's see Linux replace Windows in the server market and OS X replace windows in the desktop market.
GNU/Music? Ya know, free as in song..
I made a PHP/MySQL library that prevents SQL injection & makes coding easier!
Wasn't Microsoft in trouble with the DOJ because they have been using their monopoly in one market (desktop OS) to build monopolies in other markets? If they are serious about this, and not just trying to hurt Apple, it sounds like more of the same, and I hope the government does something this time.
With a power house like Universal, Window's media and it's copy protection is dead.
Go Apple! Free music for everyone!
you see short term thinking always does'nt pay off. Apple will start its music subscription with songs from 4 out of 5 major labels.
If MS got hold of Universal, then MS would start its own service and effectively lock Apple out from some of the best musicians. Do we want that to happen? NO. There are other music subscription services but most of them are a half-assed effort.
Quite a few people believe Apple will do a lot better in this field. Do you want to subscribe to 2 seperate subscriptions just because Apple and MS don't see eye to eye?
The music industry needs some innovation. It does'nt matter where it comes from. It will give many people who use Kazaa a better piracy-free alternative.
"Hey look, someone's trying to make money again."
"Do they use, sell or manufacture computers?"
"Yep."
"Stop them. I don't care what it costs."
Vivendi is not being sold to microsoft. Vivendi was purchased by Iraq days ago.
BTW, Microsoft is burning in their cubicles.
We have won another war.
-yours truely Mohamm3d Al-Sahaf
On the day that Slashdot ran the story about Apple buying Universal Music, there were also stories about Microsoft authorizing a port of Windows Media technology for embedded Linux [slashdot.org] and high-definition DVD [slashdot.org] at standard DVD bitrates using Microsoft-proprietary technology.
It's all part of the same story. The world is moving toward all-digital media formats. Microsoft wants all those formats to be Microsoft-owned. They sign up media producers with promises of copy control, pay-per-view and other DRM features. Already, some CDs have been released crippled for use on non-Windows computers (and some CD players).
I'm guessing someone at Apple sees a possible future in which new music won't play on any computer not running Windows. If all the major music companies sign on to lock down their content with MS technology, consumers may believe they have no choice but to stay "inside the lines." If Universal Music doesn't sign on to locked-down content, consumers probably won't tolerate severe restrictions from other content providers.
Microsoft makes some good stuff. But I'm hoping that we don't wind up in an all-Microsoft world.
When all you have is an axe, everything looks like a grindstone.
Vivendi is looking to pay off $8B debt. Universal Music is for sale, however, the music business is not doing that great, and numerous companies try to bid down the price.
Hence the decision to advertise anything, even remote interest, as strong decision to buy Universal Music. If Vivendi has their way, pretty soon stories about hundreds of buyers from General Motors to Wal-Mart asking to purchase Universal Music Group will be posted all over the Net.
In fact, though, there's just one real buyer, and no, it's no Microsoft, it's some other media conglomerate, possible Viacom or News Corp.
Now they won't have to buy the rights to Lenny Kravitz songs for MSN commercials.
How long have you lived in Seattle (or maybe how old are you)
>>Blatently ripped from somewhere else
On April 1, 1971, real estate agents Bob McDonald and Jim Youngren put the words, "Will the last person leaving SEATTLE - Turn out the lights" on a billboard at S. 167th St. and Pacific Highway S. near Sea-Tac airport. The two realtors, who work for Henry Broderick, Inc., put up the billboard as a humorous response to pessimism generated by the national aerospace industry's nosedive, known locally as the Boeing Bust.
The recession was caused as The Boeing Company, the region's largest employer, went from a peak of 100,800 employees in 1967 to a low of 38,690 in April 1971. McDonald said their out-of-town clients, "were amazed that Seattle wasn't a ghost town with weeds growing in the streets. We wanted to counteract that attitude with a little humor" (Duncan). They chose a billboard site that they inevitably passed after picking up their clients at the airport. The men rented the billboard for $160.
The Boeing recovery began slowly: by October 1971 the firm employed 53,300 workers.
Apple: (Stands of side of bridge, pretends to jump)
Microsoft: AAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!
If Slashdot were chemistry it would look like this:Cadaverine
Possible reasons (depending on how its implemented):
- Guaranteed to find the song at all times, if it's available.
- Guaranteed complete download.
- Guaranteed that it's actually what it says it is.
- Videos.
- Superior organization - catalogs by category, artist, date, etc.
- Superior search capabilities.
- Descriptions, reviews, articles and news about new non-mainstream releases.
- Articles about past works that have been forgotten, or were never popular but seserved to be. When companies can make as much from their archives as new releases, there's an incentive to increase exposure to older artists.
- Discussion forums? Chat rooms?
- On-line interviews with the artists.
- Information on tours, purchase tickets to events on-line - or win them for free in contests.
- Live performance recordings.
- Customized streaming audio/internet radio feed (click "No Boy Bands" option... or maybe "All Boy Bands").
- Order T-shirts, fan magazines, other merchandise (and autographed CDs!?).
Some could be free (most artists have a web site now with some of this stuff), the rest would be value-added.