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iTunes Sells 500 Millionth Song

Posted by Zonk on Mon Jul 18, 2005 07:14 AM
from the grats! dept.
Businesses Music Media Media (Apple) Toys Apple
TJPile writes "Apple's iTunes Music Store can now say half a billion served. One look at Apple's front page says it all. Sunday, at 2:44PM EST, Amy Greer of Lafayette, Indiana bought Faith Hill's Mississippi Girl to win."
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  • She should be ashamed of herself (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 18 2005, @07:17AM (#13092408)

    If I knew that the 500 millionth iTunes song purchase was coming up soon, I would at least have the decency of buying a good song.

    • She probably likes the song. Different people have different tastes in music.

      What's the point of putting down people who like different music than you?

      Maybe she'll read this and feel bad. Or maybe other Faith Hill fans will read this and stop listening to the music that makes them happy.

  • 500 Million and not one sold in Australia (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 18 2005, @07:21AM (#13092434)
    Sorry, but this is the obligatory gripe about the non-existence of an Australian iTunes Music Store.

  • Hasn't... (Score:5, Funny)

    by dreemernj (859414) on Monday July 18 2005, @07:22AM (#13092440) Homepage Journal
    Hasn't anyone patented 'the display of multiple round numbers in celebration of sales achievement' yet? McDonalds should get on that.
  • For me it still says "Open 24/7 on Macs and Windows PCs, the iTunes Music Store has become a smash hit, with music fans purchasing over 430 million songs worldwide to date."

    • Re:One look? (Score:5, Informative)

      by TJPile (220972) on Monday July 18 2005, @07:33AM (#13092494)
      "One look at Apple's FRONT page says it all." That's http://www.apple.com/ [apple.com] I can't help it if the editors butcher my submissions. I had links to Apple.com, the iTunes Music Store, and the winning song in my submission, but they were cut.

  • Time line (Score:4, Insightful)

    by stoney27 (36372) * on Monday July 18 2005, @07:26AM (#13092459) Homepage
    If you look at the time line on the right side of the article page. It was just a little over a year ago that iTMS sold it's 100 Million song and now they are at half a Billion, 400 Million songs in just one year. I think that's amazing.

    I know Uber users complain about the DRM but I can tell you that most people, just don't care. They have their songs they can burn them to CD put them on their iPods. That's about all most people want to do.

    -S
    • I know Uber users complain about the DRM but I can tell you that most people, just don't care. They have their songs they can burn them to CD put them on their iPods. That's about all most people want to do.

      OMG wtf, I want to be able to reencode my DRM-crapified files into multiplexed OGG Vorbis (and then to FLAC as I please) and put them on my iRiver and Creative Zen players which I bought because the iPod is such a fashion accessory. So no, the iTMS is NOT good enough for me and never WILL be good enou
      • put them on my iRiver and Creative Zen players which I bought because the iPod is such a fashion accessory.

        Not everyone buys iPod for looks.

        I have one but I don't show it to people, nor do I use the white earbuds. I tried using Zens and iRivers on several occasions but they were harder to use than they had to be. The Nomad Zen is larger (IIRC, twice the physical volume) and heavier than same capacity iPod too.

      • Re:Time line (Score:3, Informative)

        by stoney27 (36372) *
        Yes but I think since you dropped all those acronyms it would put you in the Uber column.

        My brother who just got an iPod shuffle is an Electrical engineer and he would have no idea what OGG Vorbis is or why he would want to encode to FLAC. All he wants is something he can put songs on to so he can play music when he works out. So I think there is just a small minority that just likes to complain that they can't do everything with the music. Besides what is stopping you from burning the music to CD and t

  • Freebies? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Sparr0 (451780) <sparr0NO@SPAMgmail.com> on Monday July 18 2005, @07:29AM (#13092478) Homepage Journal
    The first question that comes to mind is... how many of the downloads were free? I have seen so many ads for free songs (giveaways, contests, promotions, etc) on itunes, napster, etc that I have lost count. I wouldn't even hazard a guess at the paid:free ratio, it could be anything, 1:10, 1:1, 10:1...

    • Re:Freebies? (Score:3, Informative)

      by ray9x (870384)
      None of them.
      According to the promotion rules,
      "1) downloading a song from iTunes (any free downloads will be deemed an ineligible entry)" -r.

      • Re:Freebies? (Score:3, Insightful)

        by Sparr0 (451780)
        entry? promotion? what? im just talking about getting to the number 500 million

            • Re:Freebies? (Score:4, Informative)

              by Chuckstar (799005) on Monday July 18 2005, @09:45AM (#13093501)
              I'm almost positive that I remember hearing in one of the quarterly conference calls that any time Apple announces a number of songs downloaded for iTMS, that they always mean _paid_ downloads only. Frankly, if they were including free downloads, they could leave themselves open for claims of securities fraud -- what if 500 million songs only meant $200 million, when everyone clearly assumes its close to $1 per song. (Its not quite $1 because a lot of songs are bought in albums, where there is a bulk discount. But Apple has provided guidance in the past what the average $ per song is.)

    • Re:Freebies? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Have Blue (616) on Monday July 18 2005, @08:12AM (#13092746) Homepage
      One of the secrets of keeping promotions like that profitable is that few of the winning entries ever get redeemed. People lose them or forget about finding them or don't care about them all the time. I'm sure the number of free songs downloaded from the music store is much lower than the number of free music codes distributed by Apple's promotional partners.

      • Re:Freebies? (Score:3, Informative)

        by Johnny Mozzarella (655181)
        I just found this out the hard way last night.

        During the recent promotion with Pepsi, I did the tilt the bottle trick and scored about 6 free songs. My wife is not as into computers as I am and I figured this would be a good way to get her to use iTunes more. So I redeemed all 6 songs and showed her she had 6 credits on the iTunes Music Store to pick out songs she would like. I helped her pick one out and showed her how to buy it. She said she didn't want to use them all at once.

        Flash forward 6 months

  • I have to wonder... (Score:4, Funny)

    by DanielNS84 (847393) <DanielNS84@@@gmail...com> on Monday July 18 2005, @07:32AM (#13092491) Homepage
    How long ago Kazaa passed this mark and if any information was collected from it. I also wonder if information was published about said person and their music taste on a major news site. ;)
  • We all know that downloading music supports the terrorists.

    On a more serious note, when will the TV and movie industry finally get it? I'm still stuck with downloading Stargate Atlantis over P2P as it doesn't air here (in Finland) at all... Give me the option to pay (a reasonable sum) for Pete's sake!

    • "On a more serious note, when will the TV and movie industry finally get it? I'm still stuck with downloading Stargate Atlantis over P2P as it doesn't air here (in Finland) at all... Give me the option to pay (a reasonable sum) for Pete's sake!"

      It took (give or take) 15 years between the viability of the MP3 format and the first hugely successful online music stores.

      The online video retail market right now is like what the online music market was five years ago: it's there, but it's not widely used by

  • Apple's iTunes Music Store can now say half a billion served. ...Except that you didn't link to their lovely half-a-billion front page, you linked to the store page which they forgot to update since 'over 430,000 '.

    For the teeming horders: clicky on the apple in the top left, et voila.

  • What is this world coming too? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Fahrvergnuugen (700293) on Monday July 18 2005, @07:48AM (#13092589) Homepage

    Just look [apple.com]

    at what the prize winning losers were buying!

    Jessica Simpson? Kelly Clarkson? Brian McKnight?!

    Oh the agony...

    • If there's one thing I've learned in my years of being an indie music snob and specifically this past year working in "the biz," it's that everyone has shitty taste in music, except me (:

  • I wonder... (Score:4, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 18 2005, @08:12AM (#13092749)
    ...what the headlines would say if the 500 millionth was "Grab the devil by the horns and f**k him up the ass" by Sum41?

    LOL

  • Leased? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Migraineman (632203) on Monday July 18 2005, @11:03AM (#13094483)
    Wouldn't it be more accurate to say "Amy Greer of Lafayette, Indiana leased Faith Hill's Mississippi Girl to win?"

    Not to be overly pedantic, but the music labels are horribly opposed to us "consumers" actually owning *anything.* The Sonny Bono Retroactive Indefinite Copyright Extension Act was brilliant. They're struggling to control the distribution channel. Pretty soon they'll be using DRM to control the end-user applications - {clippy}"Sorry, you only have the One Play per Day license on song 'GarbageOfTheWeek.' Would you like to upgrade to the Unlimited Per-Day license for only a few sheckels per month more?"{/clippy}

    Yeah, I'm done now ...
    • If you were talking about other stores you might be correct.

      But once you buy a song from ITMS, it cannot be revoked by Apple - so you own that song.

      Now you might then go on to argue about transferrability, and that is an issue - but to me revokability is the line between "owning" something or not.

      • Re:Leased? (Score:3, Insightful)

        by bill_mcgonigle (4333) *
        I might live another hundred years the way medicine is going.

        I'm not confident Apple will be in the music business in a hundred years, or still producing an AAC decoder with FairPlay at that time.

        Maybe there will be a breakthrough in information theory and they'll be able to losslessly transcode my songs for me, or maybe they'll give me access the lossless versions of the songs for free before they change formats. But neither of these is in the Terms of Service.

  • And when users realize 128-bit DRM music sucks... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by popo (107611) on Monday July 18 2005, @04:27PM (#13098081) Homepage
    ... they'll be able to sell the *same* 500,000,000 songs again to the same users.

    Poor stupid humans.

    • Re:Now if only.... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Atticu5 (693001) on Monday July 18 2005, @07:24AM (#13092450) Homepage Journal
      In all likelyhood, Apple would not be able to sell you music that did not have some form of DRM. We should be thankful that at the very least, the Apple DRM is unobtrusive and allows users some flexibility with their music.

      • Re:Now if only.... (Score:2, Interesting)

        by Skye16 (685048)
        The fuck they do. I got blindsided by their DRM last week after a reformat of my computer - apparently you can only do that twice and still access the same music - each time it assumes its a new computer (I KNOW I haven't upgraded 5 times since I bought those 3 CDs). Now I'm fucked.

        Can I blame Apple? Not really. Just because I didn't read the TOS/EULA/Whatever doesn't mean they're at fault. All the same, though, knowing that I only have 5 format/reinstalls before my music becomes untouchable isn't go

        • Re:Now if only.... (Score:5, Informative)

          by nuggetman (242645) on Monday July 18 2005, @07:46AM (#13092575) Homepage
          >All the same, though, knowing that I only have 5 format/reinstalls before my music becomes untouchable isn't good enough.
          From the Apple website:

          To deauthorize all computers associated with your account:

          Click Music Store in the Source list.
          If you're not signed in to the store, click the Account button, then enter your account name and password.
          Click the Account button again (your ID appears on the button), enter your password, and then click View Account.
          In the Account Information window, click Deauthorize All.

            • Re:Now if only.... (Score:5, Informative)

              by TylerL82 (617087) on Monday July 18 2005, @08:05AM (#13092700) Homepage
              What he mentioned deauthorizes ALL computers EVER authorized by iTMS with your account - whether the computers still exist or not.

              You can use it once a year.

              Since it seems like you only use one computer with your iTunes account, that'll take you back to 5 "reformats"...or just remember to deauthorize before you reformat next time to avoid all this in the future.

              • Re:Now if only.... (Score:5, Funny)

                by Skye16 (685048) on Monday July 18 2005, @08:15AM (#13092761)
                Oh my. This is like Christmas now. Granted, it's like someone taking my Christmas presents - that I bought for myself - and giving them back - but it's better than no presents at all. Thanks!

                Now I have to scurry off and burn these CDs to disk and re-rip them. This is entirely too much effort expended on music I legitimately own (license). Yar.

                • Re:Now if only.... (Score:5, Interesting)

                  by nuggetman (242645) on Monday July 18 2005, @08:51AM (#13093023) Homepage
                  Why burn them to disc and rerip them to get rid of the DRM? Run them through jHymn.

                  • Re:Now if only.... (Score:4, Insightful)

                    by Golias (176380) on Monday July 18 2005, @08:59AM (#13093083)
                    Why burn them to disc and rerip them to get rid of the DRM? Run them through jHymn.

                    Because then he couldn't bitch endlessly about the DRM, which he seems to really be enjoying?
                    • Because then he couldn't bitch endlessly about the DRM...

                      Y'all are funny. I see post after post after post of a guy pointing out that DRM is a pain in the ass, then I see you guys comming up with post after post after post of ways to get around it. Then you call him a whiner for not jumping through all the hoops you've lined up for him.

                      Guess what, you have to do a bunch of extra stuff when you buy DRMed music. It was not whining to point that out. It's not bitching to point out that non-DRMed music is

            • Re:Now if only.... (Score:3, Informative)

              by Mwongozi (176765)

              The point is I just lost about 90$ in music

              You're either ignorant or flamebait. Contact iTMS support and they will reset your authorised computer list for you, allowing you to re-authorise and play all your music again.

            • Re:Now if only.... (Score:3, Informative)

              by Kredal (566494)
              no, you haven't lost anything. If you follow the instructions, (sign into itunes, de-authorize, then reauthorize your newly formatted computer), youll regain access to all of your purchased music on that computer. I recently had to do the same thing, and once I learned how to deauthorize all, I had no problems getting it done.

              When you authorize a computer, it send information about that computer to Apple's server, then checks against it when you want to play a protected song. if you deauthorize all comp

    • Re:Now if only.... (Score:3, Insightful)

      by nuggetman (242645)
      Right, because the record labels would ever go for that. You're funny.

    • Sure (Score:3, Funny)

      by Mr. Underbridge (666784)
      Now if only there was a store as popular as Apple's Itunes that didn't sell DRM-encrusted music files.

      I'd like a free pony too, but I'm more likely to get my pony than you are DRM-less RIAA music.

    • Re:Now if only.... (Score:3, Informative)

      by aaqubed (851899)

      There are ways of getting around the DRM. For one, you can just use a converter. I just converted about 50 or so of my protected files into MP3's that can be played on any ordinary MP3 player, using JHymn [hymn-project.org].

    • You can trademark facts now?

      This planet is doomed, doomed I tell you!

    • Re:No, they can't! (Score:3, Interesting)

      by hotspotbloc (767418)
      While your warning of caution is correct it seems they don't have a trademark on "half a billion served" but do own the trademarks on the following:

      1-800-MC1-STCK, Always Quality. Always Fun., America's Favorite Fries, Arch Deluxe, Aroma Café, Automac, Big Mac, Big N' Tasty, Big Xtra!, Birdie, the Early Bird and Design, Black History Makers of tomorrow, Bolshoi Mac, Boston Market, Cajita Feliz, Changing The Face of The World, Chicken McGrill, Chicken McNuggets, Chipolte Mexican Grill, Cuarto De Libra

    • So at 99 cents per song, that's a little under 500 million in revenue over 3 years. That's a drop in the bucket compared to the 33 billion dollar annual global music market.

      But considering that most of it came from last year's sales (400 million?), I'd say that even 1% share of global music market from a single store is quite huge contribution.

      Especially when they are selling their music a lot cheaper than those new Britney Spears albums and whatever happens to sell well these days in the US.

    • Re:Not great... (Score:3, Insightful)

      by CrazyTalk (662055)
      Hmmm. And now much revenue did YOU earn over the past 3 years? I think thats phenomenal for a player of Apples size.

    • Re:Sounds fishy... (Score:3, Informative)

      by generic-man (33649)
      You didn't expect that sales would suddenly accelerate up to the 500M mark, what with that enormous prize Apple was dangling out there for all to see?

    • Re:Fantastic PR (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Wildkat (774137) on Monday July 18 2005, @08:45AM (#13092975) Journal
      iTMS is not a loss leader. Early on it broke even or had a loss due to one time charges related to startup. In the mean time they have built up a dominating position in market share and mind share. The addition of Podcasts was a brilliant move to get even more people to use the store. Apple is positioning itself for the coming fee based Podcasts. Can you think of a Podcast you would pay $5 a year to listen to? What if Apple collected 1 of those 5 dollars and took care of all the subscription management and payment process.

      The songs may be DRMed but its pretty fair DRM - I can make unlimited copies as long as I change the playlist, have legal copies on more than one computer and I can transfer everything to a new computer when I buy one.

      The iTMS certainly helps sell iPods but now Apple is getting the reverse benefit. Having sold over 11 million pods in the last 6 months alone, there are a lot of Pod owners out there and by definition they are into music. If each one buys just one song a month over the next year thats over 120 million songs. Show a profit of just $.10 a song and you have $12 million. I still Limewire far more than I get off iTMS but I also have bought way more than one song a month for the last year and so has my wife.

      Apple has created a way to earn a very very small fee off something everyone said people wouldn't pay for. They have also used that thing as a way to integrate Apple products into peoples daily lives and added "or a Macintosh" to the list of computer options people think of. Based on last quarters sales numbers, more and more are taking that option. And they make a profit on the service to boot. Apples PR machine is one of the best for NOT plastering how much profit they made off selling songs. They tell analysis that during their financial conference calls not on the front of the store.
    • I'm not trying to down on eMusic, but I think they would get a lot more traffic to their site if you didn't have to put in your billing information to even see a hint of their music catalog. I went there thinking "Hmm, they might have (obscure artist I like). If they do I might just sign up!" But they won't tell me the details until AFTER I type in my credit card? No thanks.

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