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McDonald's Denies Deal With iTunes

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the fiction-better-than-truth dept.

fdiv_bug writes "Turns out, according to a press release, that the iTunes Music Store/McDonald's deal mentioned earlier today was only a rumor. A swing and a miss for the New York Post." It sounded pretty plausible, even if the cost was roughly 50% more than McDonald's usual yearly advertising expenditures.

4 of 170 comments (clear)

  1. A Non-Denial Denial by GabrielF · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This was a definite non-denial denial. "There are no agreements to announce" doesn't say anything about agreements under consideration, etc.
    Also, I seriously doubt that McDonalds would pay $1 billion for $1 billion songs, first there's gotta be a volume discount in the billions, second, not every song is going to be redeemed so it doesn't make any sense that they would pay for the songs that don't get bought.

    1. Re:A Non-Denial Denial by dbirchall · · Score: 4, Insightful
      It's such fun to watch people waffle between "this is the unadulterated truth" and "this is completely false" when something is merely unconfirmed.

      (Okay, it's not fun. Wake me when it's over.)

  2. The WiFi / iTunes connection by Infonaut · · Score: 4, Insightful
    It might have actually worked for McDonald's. They're not exactly conquering the world these days, and they definitely need a means of bringing people into the stores.

    WiFi alone? Eh.

    WiFi and free iTunes? Now there's something.

    Of course, who wants to bring their computer into a greasy McDonald's and get Secret Sauce all over it while surfing the 'Net. Ew... forget I went there!

    Starbucks. Those guys would do well with an iTunes promo. They've already rolled out the WiFi part of the equation.

    --
    Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
  3. Not So Far-Fetched by QGambit · · Score: 5, Insightful

    While I agree that the the $1 Billion figure is probably wishful thinking on the Post's part, I will say that this deal does strike me as VERY do-able. McD has given away music CDs for years during various promotions, as have other fast-food chains. I can see music giveaways in digital form taking hold very quickly.

    Here is an example: Lets say the real deal is $100 Million (just like the Pepsi deal so it is not out of the realm of possibility). McD now has a block of songs that it can do whatever it wants with. If McD has a promotion where they would normally be giving away copies of a CD, they could replace it with a free download of the album from the iTMS. Apple could restrict the redemption so that only the designated album can be downloaded (making success/failure analysis quite easy).

    If the promo succeeds, everyone is happy. However, if the promo fails (cuz the music sucks, for example), they would normally have piles of CDs that would just get trashed. Money wasted on production, storage, transportation, and destruction/recycling. With iTMS, they can just keep the unused downloads and repurpose them for a future event, such as a prize in the Monopoly game they run every so often.

    In the end, McD has only paid for what it used. Very economical.