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Music Businesses Media Media (Apple) Apple

iTMS Sells 100,000,000th Song 432

Posted by Hemos from the still-going-strong dept.
Macslacker writes "At 10:26 PM PDT on Sunday, July 11, Apple apparently sold its 100 millionth song at the iTunes Music Store. While the contest may now be over, congrats to Apple for a job well done."
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iTMS Sells 100,000,000th Song More

iTMS Sells 100,000,000th Song

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  • 10,000 Words And Not A Shred of Meaning (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 12, 2004 @07:33AM (#9673464)
    And, in other news, Kazaa serves its 100-billionth song. And the RIAA serves its 1-billionth lawsuit. And the Slashborg respond with another 100 comments. Here, let me outline the next 99 for you:

    1. "Apple rocks!"
    2. "Apple fanboys suck!"
    3. Late GNAA post.
    4. "This proves the music industry isn't doing badly!"
    5. Something about fruity names, dumb music players, and profit.
    6. iPod raves.
    7. Repeat comments 1-2.
    8. OSX raves.
    9. Inane remarks about a certain ex-Soviet country.
    10. Repeat comments 1-2.
    11. "RealPlayer sucks!"
    12. Imagine a Beowulf cluster of iPods!
    13. Repeat comments 1-2.
    14. Something about how Bush is responsible for all of this.
    15-99. Repeat comments 1-14.

    • Re:10,000 Words And Not A Shred of Meaning (Score:5, Funny)

      by j_sp_r ( 656354 ) on Monday July 12, 2004 @09:14AM (#9674298) Homepage
      Apple rocks!
      • It looks like the 100,000,000th song was an electronic track from Zero 7 [apple.com] featuring (uncredited, unfortunately) my absolute favorite rapper, MF Doom.

        It kind of highlights the good and bad of iTunes. Good: this is a remix off an EP I can't find on Amazon, I've never heard it before and I wanted it, clicked buy and for $3 it was mine right away, no shipping, and here's a nice image of the band along with a detailed description of their music in general. Bad: this album never ONCE came up when I did searched for MF Doom in the past and there's no liner notes, no way for me to tell who that masked man [stonesthrow.com] is if I liked the flow and wanted to hear more of it.

        iTunes still offers a more convenient browsing, sampling and delivery system than any other way to purchase music, if you can get over the (largely irrelevant) fact that it's a DRM wrapped 128 kbit AAC. I say largely irrelevant, because none of these (compressed audio, DRM or the fact that it's got DRM) affect your ability to hear or purchase the music, which is what I want to do. I know I'm not buying perfect CD quality audio -- but then again, buying a CD these days could mean copy-protected audio with no personal backup or mixology rights. The way I listen to music, that's far less acceptable than DRM or compression.

        Incidentally, I bought $45 worth of music last night at 1:00, hoping to "snipe" the 100,000,000th song. Didn't work, but I did end up with some awesome Dylan albums I didn't already own, each of which would be $16-$18 at Borders.

    • You forgot one:

      • k+1: When will iTMS be made available in Canada?

      (I know that's the one I really want to know the answer to...)

      Yaz.

  • But what was the track?

    • Re:That's all good and well... (Score:5, Informative)

      by dykofone ( 787059 ) on Monday July 12, 2004 @07:36AM (#9673483) Homepage
      But what was the track?

      Somersault (Dangermouse remix) by Zero7

    • Re:That's all good and well... (Score:5, Informative)

      by MoonFog ( 586818 ) on Monday July 12, 2004 @07:37AM (#9673490)
      RTFA; Kevin Britten of Hays, Kansas downloaded Somersault (Dangermouse remix) by Zero7; the 100 millionth song purchased from the iTunes music store. He will receive a 17-inch PowerBook, a 40GB iPod, and a gift certificate for 10,000 iTunes songs to create the ultimate music library for his new iPod. In addition we awarded 50 special 20GB iPods -- one to the purchaser of each 100,000th song downloaded between 95 million and 100 million songs.

      He got some really nice prizes out of it too.
      • Kevin Britten of Hays, Kansas downloaded Somersault (Dangermouse remix) by Zero7; the 100 millionth song purchased from the iTunes music store. He will receive a 17-inch PowerBook, a 40GB iPod, and a gift certificate for 10,000 iTunes songs to create the ultimate music library for his new iPod.

        And as the poor guy might be on dialup, he can now spend the rest of his life putting his music collection together ;-)
    • Apple iTunes Music Store hits 100 million song mark [macnn.com]
      Monday, July 12, 2004 @ 5:55am

      Early Monday morning Apple announced that its iTunes Music Store has reached the 100 million song mark-- after launching a 'Countdown to 100 Million Song' promotion earlier this month. The milestone, a first for the online music industry, sets the standard for other music services, as Apple reached the mark only 15 months after launching the service in April 2003. Kevin Britten (of Hays, Kansas), who downloaded Somersault (Da

  • Oh well (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 12, 2004 @07:34AM (#9673469)
    At least the 200 Prince songs I downloaded in vain trying to get the 100,000,000th download weren't in vain... I think...

  • I never used the service until... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by CrackedButter ( 646746 ) on Monday July 12, 2004 @07:34AM (#9673473) Homepage Journal

    the contest was annouced, Apple is the real winner here, i bought 20 songs I would never of bought. I've had itunes for ages and never used it.
    The counter is still running for those who didn't download the 3rd party counters, even after the comp, they are still selling song by the thousands. its already very nearly gone over another 100,000 songs already, it just doesn't stop!

    • Grammar Man to the Rescue! (Score:3, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      i bought 20 songs I would never of bought

      I'm sorry but I must interject. Grammar Man is here to save you from Gramacide. Note the bolded portion in the above statement. My message to you is:

      The correct usage is:

      would've never bought

      Should you find yourself in another situation like the above, remember what Grammar Man said: would've!

      *This message was furnished by Grammar Man. He approves this message*

  • Congratulations (Score:5, Interesting)

    by MoonFog ( 586818 ) on Monday July 12, 2004 @07:35AM (#9673477)
    .. to Apple! It's good to see that some are able to look new ways when it comes to distributing music, perhaps other contents, like movies, can be distributed in the same manner in the near future.
    • Unfortunately Steve Jobs doesn't see that vision - he has repeatedly denounced portable video players. This may turn out to be some of the first shortsightedness coming from Apple in years.
      • Well, I didn't say Apple would do it, but they do have the advantage now. Some other company may very well pick up the trail and develop iMovies or whatever, I hope Jobs comes to his senses and that Apple at least considers such a solution.

      • Re:Congratulations/downloading movies (Score:5, Insightful)

        by TimTheFoolMan ( 656432 ) on Monday July 12, 2004 @07:57AM (#9673634) Homepage Journal
        Actually, I can see exactly where Jobs is coming from WRT portable video.

        With music, you are more likely to "play" it in a variety of contexts that are already well-established. I used my iPod a great deal this past week, both on a family vacation to Niagara Falls (about 10 hours each way) and on several short trips. The passengers in the back might have been interested in watching video, but those of us in the driver's seat aren't (or shouldn't be). For the backseat crowd, there are already solutions for playing DVDs that way.

        WRT downloading movies, there's a different issue. Of all the movies that I really love, only a handful have been worth re-watching enough for me to buy the DVD. (This excludes my purchases of movies for the kids when they were younger, and would watch "The Lion King" or "Alladin" several times each week.) If push came to shove, and I had to rebuild my video collection from scratch, I'd probably only repurchase 5-10 movies. The rest are just not that important to me.

        Now... why would I bother downloading/storing that number of videos to an iPod-like device? There are other products in the portable DVD space that accomplish the same basic functionality, and the times that I would actually watch a movie away from my home system (vacation or a REALLY long trip where I'm the passenger) are few and far between. Again, that need is quite nicely satisfied by a portable DVD & screen.

        Demographically, I'm pretty much Joe-average (in consumer terms), so I think Jobs has hit the mark when he thinks that iPod video is a non-issue.

        Tim

    • Sure.... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by brunes69 ( 86786 ) <slashdot.keirstead@org> on Monday July 12, 2004 @07:54AM (#9673606)
      Right after I get fibre to my house.

      Really, downloading DVD quality movies is not something I ever see commercially happening until there are major infastructure upgrades in the internet. Pirates do it using lower quality rips, but if I am paying money for a movie then artifacts are just not an option. I am going to want DVD quality, if I don't get it I will just wait a month until the DVD goes on sale used at the local blockbuster.

      Downloading a 2 GB DVD over a 1.5Mbit line, assuming *maximum* bandwidth (yeah right) is still going to take you over 3 hours [google.com]. Why would I pay money to download a DVD, when it is faster for me to just go down to the local store and buy it?

      The only way this will ever work is if

      • It is *significantly* cheaper than buying at a store. iTMS is signnificantly cheaper because you can buy individual songs - this does not work with movies. What good would it do you to buy one chapter of a DVD? DVDs sold to be downloaded would need to be at least 20% cheaper to put up with the hassles.
      • Client-side bandwidth is significantly upgraded. No one wants to wait 2+ hours for content. Aside from this, if many customers started buying these things the ISPs would be screaming from the hills, since their price models rely on the fact that opnly a small percentage of their customers is every ustilizing their connection to its potential at once.
      • And dont forget as well, the vast majority of the internet still uses a 56k modem or less. This is fine for downloading a song, which you can do in under 5 minutes. However, downloading a DVD this way would take you over 3 days [google.com]... not something I would put up with.

      • Re:Sure.... (Score:5, Interesting)

        by TheRaven64 ( 641858 ) on Monday July 12, 2004 @08:20AM (#9673807) Journal
        I probably wouldn't buy movies this way (although since all of the DVDs I buy are via the Internet it would still be quicker). I would, however, buy TV shows. It's getting to the point now that there are so many adverts on TV that I just can't be bothered to watch it anymore. 15 minutes of adverts in an hour is just not funny. I would like to be able to download TV shows with the same kind of terms as iTMS currently uses:
        • MPEG-4 audio and Video (file sizes probably around 200MB.
        • Watch on 5 Macs / PCs, or burn to DVD using iDVD.
        • Watch trailers from iTMS.
        An iPod like device probably wouldn't be useful attached to this service, but an OS X-based PVR would.

        • Now *that* is a good idea (Score:5, Interesting)

          by brunes69 ( 86786 ) <slashdot.keirstead@org> on Monday July 12, 2004 @08:31AM (#9673886)
          I never thought of that, but man I think that is an excellent idea. Think about it...

          1. Tv shows are small enough to download in a reasonable time. As well they don't have surround sound tracks to worry about.
          2. The success of selling shows in DVD format already has proven the market for for-pay TV is viable
          3. No one has time to watch all their favorite shows whenever they want, and many people would rather fork over 10 bucks a month to downoa their favorite shows than fork over a few hundred upfront for a PVR.
          4. This would help the networks combat the PVR industry and how it is rapidly making advertisements obsolete. By selling the content directly to the customer they bypass the need for ads altogether
          5. Networks would no longer need to waste budget on crap like "Neilson" ratings that are subjective at best - they would have an exact metric of what shows are popular so they can devote more time / money to them
          6. It would mean less shows would need to be cancelled - if a show did not have a s wide an audience, but the existing audience was very loyal (say, Farscape), you could just charge more money for the show and still make a profit.

          • It could just be my jaded marketing self rearing it's ugly head, but if downloading TV without advertisements did catch on, product placement would be raised to a new level.

            I don't know about you, but I would really not look forward to downloading the "new" episodes of Futurama, where Slurm has been replaced with Pepsi, Bender espouses his new, carefree lifestyle thanks to herpes medication, and Leela makes pointed, frequent trips to refresh her Tampax.

            Just my opinion.

  • Unfortunately... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by bje2 ( 533276 ) * on Monday July 12, 2004 @07:36AM (#9673481)
    Unfortunately, the 100,000,000th song sold was Hanson's "Mmm Bop", causing embarassment for everyone involved...


    In all seriousness though, I really like ITunes...even though it costs $0.99 per song, I can put if up with it because i'm guaranteed a near album quality version of the song each time i download...there were always quality issues with Kazaa or Naptster or Lime Wire...plus, the transfer is much faster then those ever were...

    I look at it this way...i can download 20 songs for $20, and burn my own CD...sure, now the CD costs me approximately what it would in the store, but it's garaunteed to have 20 songs on it that i like...

    • It may not always be $0.99. There has been some discussion about raising the tracks to as high as $3.00 each!! Outrageous, isn't it, to think that a new album download could cost as much as 2x the in store price.

      That was one of the reasons I cited [blindmindseye.com] when I posted a rebuttal on my site to an argument that was made at IPCentral's blog. I have noticed a curious tendency among the copyright expansionists: they don't want to get into pissing matches with other capitalists over their abuse of capitalism.

      Bottom

  • News about how great Apple is, Stuff that Matters (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Sanity ( 1431 ) * on Monday July 12, 2004 @07:37AM (#9673492) Homepage Journal
    congrats to Apple for a job well done
    Do Apple have to pay for all the free advertising and advocacy they get on Slashdot? I mean, lets take a look at some of the opinions you won't hear on Slashdot (from here [downhillbattle.org]):
    • It's too expensive
      Let's start simple: the iTunes Music Store is not a good value for customers. Apple says many users are buying whole "albums" for $8-$12 each. That's less than the $16 store price, but used CDs at Amazon or ebay cost $5, and those come with liner notes. If you don't care about liner notes, you can burn the CD from a friend for 25 cents and send the musician a buck. In both cases, you end up with a real CD, and you can always use iTunes to rip it onto your computer or mp3 player. And you don't have to deal with restrictions on how you use it.
    • If you build a shiny new house on a landfill it still stinks
      Apple says iTunes is "better than free" because it's "fair to the artists and record labels." That's simply not true. First of all, Apple gets 3 times as much money as musicians from each sale. Apple takes a 35% cut from every song and every album sold, a huge amount considering how little they have to do. Record labels receive the other 65% of each sale. Of this, major label artists will end up with only 8 to 14 cents per song, depending on their contract. Many of them will never Artists Get Ripped Off. even see this paltry share because they have to pay for producers and recording costs, both of which can be enormous. Until the musician "recoups" these costs, when you buy an iTunes song, the label gives them nothing.
    • Nothing changed
      So why does iTunes give artists such a raw deal? Because it's the exact same deal that artists have always gotten from the big five record companies. Despite huge new efficiencies created by internet distribution --no CDs to make, no distributors to store and ship them, no CD stores to build and run-- artists receive the same pathetic cut. That is the disaster of iTunes. Instead of using this new medium to empower musicians and their fans, it helps the record industry cartel perpetuate the exploitation. Apple might say it's not their fault: after all, they didn't write the unfair record contracts. But when Apple supports and profits from an obviously unfair system, while telling customers that it's "fair to the artists", they are just as guilty. For years, Apple Computer has built a reputation for straightforward business. So if Apple honestly believes that the iTunes system is fair for artists, we challenge them to display the artist's cut next to each song and let their customers decide.
    • Keeping progress at bay
      iTunes is just a shiny new facade for the ugly, exploitative system that has managed music for the past 50 years. Thanks to peer to peer filesharing, we finally have a chance to break the major record label system-- but every iTunes user who pays 90 cents on the dollar to middlemen props up the old regime and delays the day when corporations finally lose their stranglehold on music. Now that's something to feel guilty about.

    Now, I don't claim to agree with all of these criticisms, but it does bug me how fawning and sycophantic many /. editors and posters are towards Apple.

    • Just to pick one nit.

      By definition, something that you've sold 100,000,000 of is not "too expensive". It might be too expensive for YOU (as indeed it's too expensive for me), it's obviously found a market and services that market satisfactorily.

      Re: your other points, Apple couldn't very well change all the musicians' contracts with a wave of their hand. Now that they're players in the market, we'll see what happens.
      • Firstly, note that I was pointing out opinions you won't hear on /., not endorsing those opinions.

        Personally I think the most valid criticism is that Apple describe iTunes as being fair to artists whereas in most cases the artist only makes a tiny fraction of each sale. Yes, this might be due to the artist signing a dumb contract with their label, but its Apple's choice to describe this as "fair".

        Downhill Battle have a nice suggestion on that page I linked to, iTunes should clearly indicate the amount

    • I remember... (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward
      ...when DRM was generally considered a bad thing here (remember "fair use"?). Now people get blasted for being "ungrateful" if they criticise Apple's use of DRM (just read some of the comments to this [slashdot.org] story).

      • Re:I remember... (Score:3, Insightful)

        by MoneyT ( 548795 )
        I remember when it was about being reasonable. That we would accept some minor limitations as long as the artists got paid. Now, given that I can take any song from the iTMS and with little more effort than it takes to rip a CD play it on any device I want. That's a damn reasonable restriction I'd say.

    • Re:News about how great Apple is, Stuff that Matte (Score:5, Informative)

      by peragrin ( 659227 ) on Monday July 12, 2004 @07:54AM (#9673610)
      Damn I thought i was filled with miss information.

      Apple get's $.10 from each sale. That's 11% for you math wiz's.

      Record labels get the bulk of the rest, but that's what they do anyway. It's the Record labels that rip off the artists. independant artists, get the same rate as labels , but take home larger percentage due to the fact they don't pay labels.

      Also modern Computers can duplicate recording studios for independant artists. I know of several that use a G4 tower to record and clean up their music, burn the original CD, and then use a cd duplicator to make their own CD's. They then due all the shipping themselves. Distribution via iTunes saves them time, as they don't have to duplicate the music.
    • I voted this topic up because I think it's a good discussion, but I have to disagree with your point on price and artist royalties.

      I've done the Ebay route and had to wait weeks for lazy sellers to send me a CD, which most of the time amounts to a promo version (they have the barcode punched out). The artists certianly didn't get a cut of that sale!

      On price, iTunes is cheaper for instant gratification. Find me a local corporatized record store that will sell you the latest album releases for less than

    • yeah yeah, if you want to bring down a system there's no point targeting the new online equivalent of the CD store. You think HMV has any say in how artists get remunerated? That's right, and neither does Apple (though I'd love to see them set up a direct agreement with a few big artists - no record company at all).

      Anyway, you have your grievances, fair enough. Mine is quality. I want lossless, not some shitty lossy encoded MP3/AAC/OGG, etc.

      It's the first time in music production history where the quality of what's on offer (as in, technical sound quality) has gone backwards. I'd pay up to double if I could get lossless files.

      -- james

    • Re:News about how great Apple is, Stuff that Matte (Score:5, Interesting)

      by digithead ( 132919 ) on Monday July 12, 2004 @07:59AM (#9673643)
      This isn't a flame on Sanity, but just some thoughts on the points that were made.

      I agree that the iTMS doesn't change the situation for artists, but given the resistance from the overall recording industry to the model that iTMS has been so successful with I still think it was a big step.

      In terms of the used CD thing. Hey, nobody is forcing you to buy from iTMS. I still think it's a good deal once you factor in shipping costs (or local sales tax). Plus there's the instance gratification thing. Apparently others agree or they wouldn't have just sold their 100,000,000th song.

      Anyway, Apple isn't the bad guy here. The RIAA and recording industry are! Apple's just trying to make a buck by selling iPods (after operating costs they really aren't making anything off of the songs).

      Finally, I don't feel the least bit guilty about buying from iTMS anymore than I'd feel guilty buying a CD. In fact those buying CD's are doing more to prop up the "old regime" IMHO. Short of a full boycott of buying music, I don't see how any purchases under the current model wouldn't "prop up the old regime."

    • Re:News about how great Apple is, Stuff that Matte (Score:5, Insightful)

      by MadMacSkillz ( 648319 ) on Monday July 12, 2004 @08:03AM (#9673680) Homepage
      It boils down even simpler for me. I'm a CONSUMER. I like, sometimes, to buy stuff that I want. I'm surfing the net and an old Genesis song comes on the Classic Rock station, and I think, "Hey, I love that song! I wish I had it." I CAN have it. Here are my choices: 1. Go to the store and buy the whole album. Too time consuming and pricey. 2. Go to the used CD place and buy the album used. IF they have it. Time consuming, costs maybe 5 or 6 bucks. Quality unknown until I play it the whole way through. 3. Buy it new or used online. Then I pay 5 to 15 bucks, and I have to WAIT for it to be delivered. This is an impulse buy situation, so that won't work. 4. Download it illegally. That's assuming I can FIND it. This is Genesis we're talking about, not Maroon 5. And if I do find it, odds are it's gonna be a 128 kbps mp3 file, and that file format is NOT high enough quality for me. It may be fine for the kiddies who listen to music over their $49 Dell plastic speakers, but I've got an actual real stereo. 5. Download it legally from an online music service for a buck. The easiest to use service being Apple's. I don't give a RAT'S ASS about big business, fair to artists, whatever. I just want the song. And #5 is the most logical solution here. I think people who are stealing music online because they want to "fight the power" should examine everything ELSE they purchase. Like their sneakers. Some poor 6 year old in China or Korea went home last night with bloody fingers so you could have those $90 sneakers. (cue violins.) Seriously, people shouldn't get all high and mighty about one issue and then conveniently ignore analyzing every other product they buy that might exploit someone. The whole argument is just to justify stealing music online. If you're going to steal music, be honest about it at least.

    • Re:News about how great Apple is, Stuff that Matte (Score:5, Insightful)

      by sporty ( 27564 ) on Monday July 12, 2004 @08:04AM (#9673687) Homepage
      Apparently you agree in some part if you just relayed them. I mean, if they were rubish, you wouldn't post 'em, right?


      If you don't care about liner notes, you can burn the CD from a friend for 25 cents and send the musician a buck.


      For a musician to be successful to the RIAA, they need to sell albums as well as touring. Brand new ones. If everybody did this, yes, the artist could dump the label, somehow breaking the contract, and live on to make great music. But we don't live in an ideal world. If enough people don't agree to do this, the label dumps them for being unsuccessful and has pocket change.


      Apple says iTunes is "better than free" because it's "fair to the artists and record labels." That's simply not true. First of all, Apple gets 3 times as much money as musicians from each sale. Apple takes a 35% cut from every song and every album sold, a huge amount considering how little they have to do. Record labels receive the other 65% of each sale. Of this, major label artists will end up with only 8 to 14 cents per song, depending on their contract. Many of them will never Artists Get Ripped Off. even see this paltry share because they have to pay for producers and recording costs, both of which can be enormous. Until the musician "recoups" these costs, when you buy an iTunes song, the label gives them nothing.


      The RIAA gets most of the money. Apple, according to a few people, make almost no money on this. Not even making a profit. They supposedly make less than a dime, which is a lot less than %35 if a song costs a buck.


      So why does iTunes give artists such a raw deal? Because it's the exact same deal that artists


      Wrong, they worked with the labels. Mostly. The indie groups are different. Some proxy through a label like cdbaby. You know how difficult it'd be to contract every single artist they had on there... individually?


      iTunes is just a shiny new facade for the ugly, exploitative system that has managed music for the past 50 years. Thanks to peer to peer filesharing, we finally have a chance to break the major record label system-- but every iTunes user who pays 90 cents on the dollar to middlemen props up the old regime and delays the day when corporations finally lose their stranglehold on music. Now that's something to feel guilty about.


      Have you/him thought about it the other way around? Apple just made music more popular during a decline of cd sales. Yes, the RIAA is getting helped, but the arists are getting helped too. Being an artist is tough work. If artists could sell themselves due to easier money rolling in, I'm sure they wouldn't need the RIAA, but because they get trapped in their deals, they need a good way out. Not a bunch of people making life harder when the artists haven't even asked for a rebelion of this kind.


      When the artists come forth, ala They Might Be Giants, and sell directly, sure. I'd rip a used copy and send them most of the cost. It'll prolly save them more money not dealing with me in the first place.


      And mr poster, yes. Sometimes slashdot doesn't post all of the facts, and sometimes it posts crappy stories. But what you just posted is just plain wrong.

      • Apparently you agree in some part if you just relayed them. I mean, if they were rubish, you wouldn't post 'em, right?

        Um, no - I think a quick lesson in rhetoric is needed here. It is actually possible to quote someone's opinion without necessarily agreeing with it.

        My point is that /.'s coverage of Apple is one-sided (both in the stories the editors select, and in the general trend of moderation). This doesn't imply that I necessarily advocate the other side, just that I would prefer a more balanced

    • p.s. Apple is the first largely successful online retailer of music. Napster came up shortly after iTMS. Many have folded. Some are just crap. Is it wrong to acknowledge what others have yet to achieve? They give a way a great player. Not the best 100% of the time, but a damned great one. Can you easily do the same?
    • Funny, I remember hearing those opinions on Slashdot before. Of course I still think of them as uninformed and removed from the community they supposedly support. If you really want to help artist forget Downhill Battle, look at the Future of Music http://www.futureofmusic.org/. Its a coalition run by independent artists for all recording artist. With goals of supporting artists, not "sticking it to the man".

    • Re:News about how great Apple is, Stuff that Matte (Score:5, Informative)

      by afidel ( 530433 ) on Monday July 12, 2004 @08:12AM (#9673750)
      Apple makes almost NO money on their cut, they may make a little on volume but they aren't rolling in the dough by any stretch. Out of their $.35 they have to pay for bandwidth, servers, admins, advertising, and most importantly credit card transaction fees. In fact that is the reason that the iTMS was able to exist at all, they hammered out a deal with the CC companies to get lower rates on the credit card processing because typically a CC transaction cost ~$.25 plus 3% of the transaction, that rate would have eliminated any chance at break even let alone a profit. Btw indie artists who have a more fair revenue distribution agreement with their label may well earn significantly more through iTMS since the costs are so much lower the label is free to give an artist a fairly large cut of their 65%, remember Apple opened up the iTMS to more than just the big labels.
      • Out of their $.35 they have to pay for bandwidth, servers, admins, advertising, and most importantly credit card transaction fees.

        This is how brilliant Apple is. They've convinced you that they're losing money on iTMS.. thus you feel like you're getting a great deal.

        The fact is, they're making money on iTMS.. not a lot of money, but none-the-less they're in the black.

        Just to compare, look at www.apple.com/trailers

        This site is free, and costs Apple much much more than iTMS costs to run.
        • re-read my entire comment, I admitted that they may now be making a small profit per transaction and that they probably make something on volume. However I don't think they are making that much and most of the profits are probably going back into the product at this point, whether that is into more servers or bandwidth or advertising. The fact is that Apple's entire portion of the sales was only $35 million for 14 months, for a company with tens of billions in the bank that's chump change. What Apple gets m

    • Re:News about how great Apple is, Stuff that Matte (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Geoff-with-a-G ( 762688 ) on Monday July 12, 2004 @08:17AM (#9673779)
      These complaints all fail for obvious, factual reasons.

      "It's too expensive"
      Well, I don't have a PhD in Economics, but I'm pretty sure that when you're selling your product in a non-monopoly situation, and your sales are huge, that's a good indicator that your prices are not too expensive. If it's too expensive for you, then Apple simply has to decide if they can live without you as a customer. I think they've made that decision, and it's worked out pretty well for them.

      "First of all, Apple gets 3 times as much money as musicians from each sale. Apple takes a 35% cut from every song and every album sold, a huge amount considering how little they have to do. Record labels receive the other 65% of each sale."
      In other news, gravity still pulls things down. There isn't another way to do it; this is how the world works right now. If Apple wants to sell the latest Britney Spears song, they can't just call Britney and say "Hey Brit, how does 20 cents per song sound? Does that work for you?" She doesn't have the power to sell them her songs; she gave that right away when she signed her record contract. If you think that's evil, then your beef is with the record companies, not Apple. Apple buys from the labels because they're the ones holding the songs. If they could pay artists 40 cents per song instead of paying the labels 65, they'd do so in a heartbeat. As for the "35 cents is a ripoff", ITMS is not a large profit source for Apple: that 35 cents barely exceeds their costs (servers, bandwidth, processing media, design, management overhead, etc...). They've said that the major thrust of ITMS is to sell iPods, not to generate vast profits from song sales.

      "But when Apple supports and profits from an obviously unfair system, while telling customers that it's 'fair to the artists', they are just as guilty."
      Bullshit. And you're going to tell me that by using your computer to access the Internet and post on slashdot, you're supporting the agenda of the sweatshop owners who built your PC components, all of the communications companies who own circuits between you and the servers you visit, and the admins who run slashdot? Sorry, but I don't accept that philosophy. It's a big, complicated world, and everyone has to live in it. Apple looked at the world as it was, saw a way to make it a little bit better, and seems to have done a good job. You presume to blame them for the sorry state that existed before they got there, saying that they should have fixed everything or done nothing. Let me know how that works out for you.

      And we do hear these complaints on slashdot, all the time. This isn't a haven for Apple fanboys, it's a haven for Linux fanboys. These complaints are neither original, nor well reasoned.

    • Re:News about how great Apple is, Stuff that Matte (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Fulkkari ( 603331 ) on Monday July 12, 2004 @08:45AM (#9674017)

      Too expensive? In America? Uh, right. Here where I live, CD's have the normal price of about 20 euros, which is about 24 US dollars. Discount price is about 16 euros (20 dollars). Considering the average income rate in the US compared to the ones in Europe, I really don't see any reason for you to complain.

      To be honest, I think the prices iTunes Music Store has are the most fair for everyone. You can't expect to get everything for free in your life.

    • Re:News about how great Apple is, Stuff that Matte (Score:4, Insightful)

      by naden ( 206984 ) on Monday July 12, 2004 @08:49AM (#9674072)
      Let's start simple: the iTunes Music Store is not a good value for customers.

      Right. So do tell me what is the best 'value for money' solution that allows you to from your armchair instantly download songs from a range of bands and burn your own custom CD. Or put it seamelessly on a superb digital device [apple.com].

      That's less than the $16 store price, but used CDs at Amazon or ebay cost $5

      You complain about artists not getting any money then advocate buying used CDs. WTF? Buying a used CD means the artist gets no extra money. At least with iTMS they are getting something.

      And you don't have to deal with restrictions on how you use it.

      Sorry what was that .. Velvet Revolver, chart topper with DRM. Hmm. Sounds like restrictions to me. What, more to come [com.com] .. how interesting! You keep buying those CDs .. I'm sure those "experiments" won't make your ripping difficult at all.

      Apple takes a 35% cut from every song and every album sold, a huge amount considering how little they have to do.

      Clearly your not a developer as I am sure most people would appreciate there is some cost in delivering a high quality, high availability, high traffic web infrastructure. Costs that come to mind include salaries, importing of CDs/cover art, creation of 30-second previews, big iron servers, networking. Oh and the odd 400 TB of traffic (100 mil songs x approx 4 MB each)

      Until the musician "recoups" these costs, when you buy an iTunes song, the label gives them nothing.

      And this is Apple's fault why ? It is the fault of the musician if they signed a contract with a music label and didn't like the terms. That was their choice.

      In Australia right now we have a great band, John Butler Trio who has the number one CD released under their own, independant label. They get to keep the full 65%. Remember being with a label doesn't guarentee success and vice versa.

      Because it's the exact same deal that artists have always gotten from the big five record companies.

      Why would you think it would be otherwise ? Oh wait you thought just because its Apple, the labels would offer new contracts with bigger cuts to all of their artists. What world are you living in ?

      But when Apple supports and profits from an obviously unfair system, while telling customers that it's "fair to the artists", they are just as guilty.

      Of course its "fair" .. until now there has been NO alternative. Its not a great deal for artists by and means, but at least they get something. Before people who wanted internet delivered music, had no choice but to turn to Kazza and others of the same ilk.

      Thanks to peer to peer filesharing, we finally have a chance to break the major record label system

      On one hand you talk about the rights of the artists on the other you talk up pirating songs. Which side of the fence ARE you on ? Or at the end of the day do all you really care about is justifying your pirating ways. Now that's something to feel guilty about.

      In the end, there's 100 million reasons why you are full of shit and blaming Apple for what is so clearly an issue between the label and the artist is just being disingenious.

    • Of this, major label artists will end up with only 8 to 14 cents per song, depending on their contract. Many of them will never Artists Get Ripped Off. even see this paltry share because they have to pay for producers and recording costs, both of which can be enormous. Until the musician "recoups" these costs, when you buy an iTunes song, the label gives them nothing.

      Apple has been better than most other online stores to include independent labels. Merge, Sub-pop, Matador, Kill Rock Stars, and Thrill Joc

    • Re:News about how great Apple is, Stuff that Matte (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 12, 2004 @09:42AM (#9674607)
      You know my blood boils each and every fucking time I hear those worthless idiots from DownHill Battle referenced.

      Its too expensive? $1 is the perfect price to demo an album and actually get a little sample of the full album. I generally buy one song from the iTMS and then if I like it I buy the full album. I use to download the songs from a P2P and then do the same thing or discard the tune, but I never really liked it. It felt too much stealing a car to see if I liked it or not (fuck off any asshole that references piracy is not theft). Sure, if I liked the car, I'd take it back in the morning and write out a check...if I didn't, well thats the dealers problem and I'll leave it on the side of the road. Oh yeah, fuck off anyone that points out minor flaws in analogies.

      Past that, I buy the full album, used or not. If I can find it used, thats what I pick up.

      As for artists getting ripped off?

      Bull fucking shit. Do you believe everything crackheads like Courtney Love tell you? She is so fucked up that she never read her contracts, spent all the money and then wrote a bunch of articles claiming the industry was ripping her off.

      I work in the backline for several major artists as well as quite a few up and coming artists. I get paid for my work. A lot of times, the new guys pay me to come in (well, through their lable) and I'll sit around for 8 hours while they try to write their album in the studio. Thats cool when you are fronting the costs, but when you are on someone elses dime, thats STILL going to come out of your pocket somewhere. Those 8 hours I'm doing nothing is still billable hours. If you showed up to work and your boss didn't have anything to do for you, you'd still get paid...

      I'm never amazed by the number of guys that don't have a clue about getting in and getting done. My partner and I have worked development deals in the past where upcoming artists are set here for a few weeks to kinda get a feel of how things are done. The partner is kinda a grey hair in the industry and takes them under his wings and explains how things should be done and all that. Gets them ready to go back to the coast and have shit ready.

      Still, these guys don't get the clue that this is costing them money and fuck around and then expect us to do all their work and we won't. I've got friends at the Matrix that can do that for them if they'd like, but quite honestly, they ain't good enough and don't have enough money to pay those guys (girls).

      The label takes a risk and says for the next 7 years (or until you release the prerequired albums), if you wish to be a major lable musician (always sign your contracts in LA because it will limit the time of your servitude -- and ALWAYS go for a *SINGLE* album deal with opportunity of buyout or renegotiation). For the time of your contract, you know that the money the lable has given you will come out of your pocket. Make the best out of it. Don't be a dumbass. Don't hire limos to take you to and from the studio. Don't waste it on engineers and techs like me while you are wasting our time. We don't do this as a job, but because we like the art...if you aren't producing art, you *ARE* wasting my time. I don't care if its bad art or otherwise, be prepared.

      Have a decent lawyer, and don't sign with the first industry lawyer that presents you with a contract. You have the option of bringing your own in from the street. My intellectual property lawyer that I use for patents in my technical life was FAR more informed about the contracts and otherwise than the one they provided me. He charged less, and was on my side. Never trust someone elses lawyer to help you out.

      Even if you do, if you follow the contract to its letter, you can make a decent amount of change. The guys I'm working with now aren't living like superstars, but they have been pocketting more that I do at my technical job -- and I can guarentee you haven't heard of them yet.

      So, when artists pick up 10% of the gross, th
  • After selling 100 million songs, now welcome 100 million hits within 1 hour...

    The story is just in and now allready i'm getting just 1KB/s from that site. Looks like they can't handle the load at the moment. Suprising, because, AFAIK, Akamai is hosting Apple.com.

  • Survey question (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    What are the record companies going to do with their $75 million cut?

  • Approximate time and rate. (Score:5, Informative)

    by mledford ( 246826 ) <mledfordNO@SPAMugaalum.uga.edu> on Monday July 12, 2004 @07:53AM (#9673604)
    According to some automated logs I've been keeping of the contest the winning person won between Mon, 12 Jul 2004 05:19:29 GMT and 05:24:53 GMT.

    The number of songs sold at the first time was 99992422.
    The number of songs sold at the second time was 100014607.

    Apple sold a total of 22185 songs in that five minute 24 second period. For those wondering that's roughly 68.5 songs per second.

    Congrats to whoever it was.

  • All for 99 cents (Score:5, Funny)

    by whisper_jeff ( 680366 ) on Monday July 12, 2004 @07:58AM (#9673637)
    Kevin Britten of Hays, Kansas downloaded Somersault (Dangermouse remix) by Zero7; the 100 millionth song purchased from the iTunes music store. He will receive a 17-inch PowerBook, a 40GB iPod, and a gift certificate for 10,000 iTunes songs to create the ultimate music library for his new iPod.

    All that for just 99 cents? I wish they would bring iTunes to Canada!! Even with the exchange rate, that's a deal!

  • "congrats to Apple for a job well done" (Score:5, Funny)

    by forsetti ( 158019 ) on Monday July 12, 2004 @07:59AM (#9673645)
    Shouldn't that be:
    "congrats to Jobs for an Apple well done"?

  • No Purchase Necessary (Score:4, Funny)

    by goober ( 120298 ) on Monday July 12, 2004 @08:00AM (#9673649)
    File this under "Too little, too late" but FWIW like most contests of these types there was "no purchase neccessary". With a careful reading of the official rules [apple.com] you would have discovered that sending an email message to itunes100@apple.com counted as an entry. Oh well...I wish I saw that before I bought all those Clay Aiken tracks...

  • Success of the iTunes music store (Score:3, Insightful)

    by spoonani ( 786547 ) on Monday July 12, 2004 @08:00AM (#9673655)
    As usual, most /. ers here are using this announcement to a) complain about how Apple is being unfair to artists and b) complain about how the iTMS is too expensive. When the store originally debuted, Jobs spoke on his justification for spending $1 on a song, which was, in fact, that it was marginally more convenient and valuable for a user to DL a song from the store than to spend time hunting on p2p sites for music and runing into cancelled downloads, poor quality music, mixtapes with DJs shouting over it, or viruses in some newer cases. In his words, to download off a p2p site and deal with the hassles is like working for under minimum wage. While we can all agree that there are some holes in Jobs' argument, especiually for those whose sharing avenues are quite advanced, what seems apparent is that with the sale of 100,000,000 songs, many users do find that convenience of the iTUMS to be valuable. Obviously, the store is far from perfect, but content like the motown collection and iTunes exclusives is exciting for users both young and old, and can persuade users from hardcore music fans to those who are discovering new music to broaden their horizons.

  • Where does that $0.99 go? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by dykofone ( 787059 ) on Monday July 12, 2004 @08:03AM (#9673677) Homepage
    Interestingly enough, the track he downloaded [Somersault (DangerMouse Remix) by Zero7] isn't copyright protected, sine it's a remix. DangerMouse even wanted it to be freely available for download, as mentioned in this article [betterpropaganda.com].

    In fact, you yourself can have a free copy of that 100,000,000th song here [waxploitation.com].

    So if Apple is selling free music, do they get to pocket that money, with no music labels to pay off? Or was the song free to download, in which case why didn't anyone just sit there downloading free tracks all day trying to hit that 100,000,000th download?

    • Re:Where does that $0.99 go? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by proxima ( 165692 ) on Monday July 12, 2004 @09:06AM (#9674216)
      Interestingly enough, the track he downloaded [Somersault (DangerMouse Remix) by Zero7] isn't copyright protected, sine it's a remix.

      Wouldn't a remix be considered a derivative work of a copyrighted piece of art, and thus be copyrighted itself (quite probably with royalty payments or at least permission from the original author, with the exception of true parody).

      Even if the original work was in the public domain, a derivative work based off of it (like a Disney movie from an old storytale) is still copyrighted.

      Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. Just because an artist wants something to be freely available doesn't make it part of the public domain, it just means he or she hasn't "reserved all rights".

  • I (heart) Apple (Score:5, Interesting)

    by yuvtob ( 533399 ) on Monday July 12, 2004 @08:08AM (#9673724)
    1. When the record companies sold their 100-billionth CD, they probably celebrated by jacking up the prices - not by giving stuff away.

    2. If You'll look at the prize - it's no biggie in terms of money (it's not even a car). It's all worth less than 15K, yet it's something that most people lust for - the coolest laptop, 10,000 songs, and the best MP3 player...

    Now that's what I call a cool company.

  • As an independent artist (Score:5, Interesting)

    by flinxmeister ( 601654 ) on Monday July 12, 2004 @08:20AM (#9673809) Homepage
    I love iTunes. I've sold many, many more songs on iTunes than I ever did on CD (over the 'net).

    On the other hand, when I try to describe DRM to people, they kind of blank out and say "uh...ok", and move on.

    DRM hurts small artists because it confuses people. Small artists desperately need the impulse buying that online distribution allows, and confusion or second thoughts destroy this impulse buying.

    So....

    Apple: Thank you!

    But:

    Apple:

    * Make the DRM optional...I don't care about it and it hurts sales.
    * Let me pick a price. I'd love to lower my lesser-sold songs to say, 60 cents to try to get them out there.
    * Improve the 'community' aspect so more people have exposure to different music
    * 128 bits? Yeah that's why I spent my kids college money on production.

    Fix this stuff,t hen we'll really love you....Heck we might even have some loyalty when those sub $100, 40 gig competitor devices come out.

    • Re:As an independent artist (Score:4, Interesting)

      by mbbac ( 568880 ) on Monday July 12, 2004 @10:32AM (#9675065)
      First off, where is a link to your music on the iTunes Music Store?

      I definitely agree with your #1 point. If any artist wishes their music to be made available without restrictions place on it, Apple should honor that.

      I think your #2 point is a bad idea. It increases confussion. I believe part of the reason that Apple's store is succeeding where the others are failing is because of the standardized pricing for each song.

      And your #4 point is nice as well. I think Apple should allow artists to sell their music in a lossless format if the artist wants to. If this will cost Apple more money then the price could be higher to offset it -- but I doubt it would be a factor.

      • Losless Audio (Score:4, Interesting)

        by mosb1000 ( 710161 ) <mosb1000@mac.com> on Monday July 12, 2004 @12:28PM (#9676576)
        I read an article on the New York Times criticizing Apple for not offering lossless songs. The Apple representative said they felt most users would automatically download the lossless songs thinking that they're better, then not understand when the songs took a lot longer to download and you could only fit a couple hundred on the 40 Gb iPod which apple said could hold 10,000.

        That said, that fact that iTunes and the iPod now support lossless does indicate the potential intent on Apples part to offer music in that format. They'd just need to figure out a way around that whole user confusion thing.

        • Re:Losless Audio (Score:3, Interesting)

          by mbbac ( 568880 )
          I agree, the user confusion could be a problem. Maybe it would help if Apple made it so that lossless files are only advertized on the iTunes Music Store when the appropriate checkbox is checked in iTunes' preferences.

          Oh, and Apple added ALE to iTunes for the AirPort Express. So, I wouldn't read much else into it.

  • The contest is NOT over... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anita Coney ( 648748 ) on Monday July 12, 2004 @08:35AM (#9673918) Homepage
    No matter how many songs Apple sells, the music industry still holds the strings. At any time when Apple starts to gain too much power, those strings will be pulled. Apple will always be at the mercy of the industry, and that will never change.

    The music industry is paranoid about services such as Apple's. If iTunes became dominate, Apple could sign artists directly. Those artists would make more money, Apple would make more money, and the music industry would be gone.

    The music industry will ensure that will never happen. They will play the various internet music services against each other. Once Apple gets too big, they'll force price hikes on it.

    The only service that could possibly stand up to the music industry is Wal-Mart. As I've written here before, because the music industry NEEDS Wal-Mart to sell its CDs, Wal-Mart currently holds the cards. I don't think the music industry has the guts to stand up to Wal-Mart.

    • Re:The contest is NOT over... (Score:4, Informative)

      by dykofone ( 787059 ) on Monday July 12, 2004 @08:45AM (#9674015) Homepage
      Remember, Apple could never start signing their own musicians. Unless they want the other Apple [wikipedia.org] to start suing again [cdfreaks.com].

      Kinda strengthens your point, since a member of the music industry (Apple Records) can make sure that Apple Computers is severely limited with what it can do regarding music.

      • Gee, I forgot all about that. However, Apple could get around that by simply spining off iTunes to a new company that does NOT use the Apple name. Remove the Apple name from the iTunes software and web site, incorporate iTunes, and there would be NO trademark violation.

  • How many of these purchases were virtual? (Score:3)

    by sjonke ( 457707 ) * on Monday July 12, 2004 @09:49AM (#9674658) Journal
    It was possible to enter for free by using the "tell a friend" feature to send an email to itunes100@apple.com instead of a friend. This implies that each such email counted as a "purchase". That brings into question the 100 million sold. How many were virtual?

  • Heh (Score:5, Funny)

    by NanoGator ( 522640 ) on Monday July 12, 2004 @11:25AM (#9675790) Homepage Journal
    I bet Hilary Rosen's mailbox is full of links to this article.

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