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Music The Almighty Buck Apple

Apple Will Let Podcasters Sell Subscriptions and Keep a Cut For Itself (vox.com) 37

Posted by BeauHD from the what-to-expect dept.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Vox: The company plans to start selling subscriptions to podcasts and keeping a slice of each transaction for itself. Apple CEO Tim Cook briefly mentioned plans to roll out a subscription feature during the company's keynote event Tuesday, without offering more details. But a person familiar with Apple's plans has spelled it out to Recode:

- Starting next month, Apple will let podcast publishers sell subscriptions to individual shows or groups of shows, and set their own pricing, starting at 49 cents a month in the US.
- Apple won't require podcasters to create Apple-only exclusive shows, but it does want them to distinguish between stuff they're already distributing via Apple and stuff going up on other platforms: That could mean ad-free shows or shows with extra content or brand-new shows that only exist on Apple.
- Apple will keep 30 percent of any subscription revenue creators generate in their first year on the platform. After that, Apple's cut will drop to 15 percent. That's the same pricing scheme Apple already uses for other subscription services, like TV streamers.
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Apple Will Let Podcasters Sell Subscriptions and Keep a Cut For Itself More

Apple Will Let Podcasters Sell Subscriptions and Keep a Cut For Itself

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  • "Oh, we just realized that we've been preventing some people from making money for us! We must announce fixing this!"

  • and will non apple payed shows be removed?

  • Unfortunately doesn't speak to quality control. Same problem Steam's "green-lighting" and "EA" have.

  • I'd rather give my money directly to the podcaster(s), knowing they'll earn closer to the full fee than what Apple will give them (since it's always a race-to-the-bottom pricing with Apple).

    For example, the TWiT network [twit.tv] recently started a 'club' version of their podcasts (can still get all their regular podcasts for free, just get access to extras); even for the few podcasts I listen on there, it's worth the price, especially knowing that I won't end up giving 15%-30% of my money to Apple that already has $

    • Is Apple going to demand that if a podcaster accepts money at all, it has to be through apple? That's what they do for apps..

      • Seems unlikely, for much the same reason you could get your music from Amazon or any other store that sells compatible files and load them on your iDevice. I'm not even sure paid podcasts will manage to take off considering they've largely been offered for free. The revenue model for the podcasters has generally be getting a sponsor and reading a promoted message during the podcast.

        Apple would need to lock down their devices even more if they wanted to go that route.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Sebby ( 238625 )

          Apple would need to lock down their devices even more if they wanted to go that route.

          Not necessarily; they can just have some AI running that picks up on key words (“Patreon”, etc), and when they get enough reports for a podcast, go to the podcaster and say “You know, you should really change that if you want new episodes to be available to your subscribers... hint hint.”

        • Re: (Score:1)

          by NFN_NLN ( 633283 )

          > Seems unlikely, for much the same reason you could get your music from Amazon

          Because the music industry has the weight of labels behind them which makes it harder to bully the industry as a .... 'hole.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Sebby ( 238625 )

        Is Apple going to demand that if a podcaster accepts money at all, it has to be through apple? That's what they do for apps..

        That’s what I’m also wondering - if they’ll exert control over anything that’s within the content about any pricing/references to “monetary support” by the podcasters themselves (i.e. mentions of Patreon, etc), the way Apple does for apps (and the way they did for their failed iAds product).

      • Is Apple going to demand that if a podcaster accepts money at all, it has to be through apple? That's what they do for apps..

        No, they don't. You have to use their payment system if you want your app to collect payments. But you can collect payments somewhere else.

        I find their insistence on using their payment system in-app offensive, so I don't think Apple are the good guys here. But the situation is not as you describe it.

        • Flatly untrue : https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wik... [wikipedia.org].

          App Store Payment Fee
          iOS applications available through the App Store that require payments for features or membership are required to use Apple's iTunes payments system, granting the company a 30% cut of all transactions.[34]

          That means they make your app start using their payment system even if you want to collect subscription by mail instead, if say, it would only be accessible with a license key.

            • What I see the issue as is that Apple, instead of charging for the App Store as an optional payment processor, a content host (bandwidth, storage, etc), they're trying to force a cut of an unrelated business model that isn't theirs.

          • The Wikipedia source you cited is from 2011. It's not correct.

            Amazon Kindle app does not allow purchasing through the app (to avoid the Apple cut).

            Netflix as a membership app does not allow purchasing or signing up through the app.

            Kobo does not allow purchasing through the app.

            • Thank you. I stand corrected. However, it seems they still try to bully whomever they can [theverge.com] as of 2020.

              • Re: (Score:2)

                by Sebby ( 238625 )

                Thank you. I stand corrected. However, it seems they still try to bully whomever they can [theverge.com] as of 2020.

                This. Apple's been more and more aggressive about "getting a cut" of everything that remotely touches anything of theirs.

              • Yeah, that much is true--Netflix and Kindle (and others) may get special treatment because they're too big to fail. It's crazy that Apple tries to take 30% of subscription/etc fees. 10% I could understand...

              • Thank you. I stand corrected.

                Pity you were too lazy to google before claiming I was flat wrong.

                Maybe someday you'll learn to internet.

                Or at least to apologize when you talk shit.

                • No, you don't get an apology because I came with a reasonable citation and you had just a claim. The other person got one because they had something to back it up.

                  • No, you don't get an apology because I came with a reasonable citation and you had just a claim

                    I don't get an apology because you want to feel justified in being willfully ignorant. Have fun with that.

                    • No, I actually made an attempt to educate myself FIRST, got a citation handy, posted it.

                      As opposed to you, who just made an assertion. You're being an asshole and this certainly isn't encouraging me to spend any extra effort on being nice in the future.

                    • No, I actually made an attempt to educate myself FIRST, got a citation handy, posted it.

                      So what search terms did you use? If you wanted to do anything other than find justification for your ignorance you could have done a search like "ios app can I collect payments on my website" and then you'd find links like https://woodridgesoftware.com/... [woodridgesoftware.com] and https://developer.apple.com/fo... [apple.com]

                      As opposed to you, who just made an assertion.

                      A correct assertion.

                      Me: (correct information)

                      You, sitting here defending your inability to find current information with Google: (bullshit)

                      Keep trying, kid. Maybe someday you'll learn to internet. Or, you know, how to

                    • Wow, if you keep this up, we'll have to get married. Do you want to get a room?

                    • I got what I wanted (and expected) already, which was you making a really dumb comment to try to excuse your ignorance, and doubling down on irresponsibility. Thanks for being predictable.

                    • Yes dear, I'll be right to bed in just a moment.

  • Cause it take a lot of more to make a giant storage array it seems.

  • You charge less while they find an audience and then more when they're established, not the other way around. That's just stupid.

    • Nah. Just how it works nowadays. People who bring in more people get a discount since more people mean more eyeballs on ads. They couldn't care less about anything else.

    • Their thinking must be that they donâ(TM)t want non-serious people adding to the noise and turning off people from podcasts. Also, maybe they fear the more established people will feel ripped off.
      I am not saying I agree with it or that itâ(TM)s the right approach.

  • The money is drying up.

  • How long before there will be shell podcast accounts for sale? Using a year+ old shell will save you 50% on Apple fees.

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