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Universal Refuses To Renew On iTunes

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the don't-be-greedy dept.

UnknowingFool writes "It appears for the moment that Universal will not renew its long term contract with Apple for content on the iTunes store. While the details are not known about the exact nature of the dispute, many speculate that it has to do with Apple's stance on fixed pricing and Apple's refusal to license their DRM. The worse case scenario may include Universal pulling its entire catalog from iTunes. Both sides stand to lose out with 1/3 of of new releases coming from Universal and an estimated 15% of Universal's sales coming from digital downloads. Apple's market share is about 75% of digital downloads, and digital downloads are growing while CD sales are shrinking."

3 of 287 comments (clear)

  1. WooHoo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Now maybe others will follow Universal's lead. Then Apple will finally crumble! WOOHOOO!

  2. Re:Worst case? by EveryNickIsTaken · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Universal already has the option of going DRM-free with iTunes, and they haven't taken the bait. Yes - because they don't like what Apple was offering them, DRM-free or not.

    Anyway, they don't have an exclusive contract with iTunes. Well, I never said they did. What I said is that whichever competing 3rd party (or homegrown) service they move to would hopefully be non-exclusive.

    Your whole post makes no sense. You sir, are an ass.
  3. Microsoft's hand is obviously behind this one. by w3woody · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Clearly Microsoft' hand has to be behind this one.

    A music company is only in the business to sell music. Period. The only reason why a music company would be interested in making sure a distributor could support multiple devices (such as Apple's iTunes opening it's DRM technology so you can play iTunes bought music on a Zune) would be because the volume of music being sold through that distributor didn't justify the administrative overhead of dealing with Apple. As Apple is in third place, this isn't the case.

    The only other issue I can think of is Apple's insistence upon fixed pricing--and if companies like Universal don't like that, they could always delay the rollout on iTunes until after CD sales have hit. So the problem is solvable under the current contract regime--and it would also help music stores, by causing people to go through music stores for the monster breakout hits.

    No; there is no rational reason why Universal would make the noise they're making--unless they're trying to figure out how to crack the nut of breaking Apple's monopoly for their Redmond masters...