labels

A new report suggests that Apple and three of the "Big Four" record labels are in talks to bring DRM-free tracks to iTunes, and once and for all do away with copy protection on the world's largest music store.

I applaud the companies for finally coming together and trying to remove draconian policies while adapting to our changing times, but this news even surprises me a bit.

To me, the bigger news here is not that Apple is trying to bring DRM-free tracks to iTunes--it needs to, thanks to Amazon.com's DRM-free store--but rather that iTunes is an unbridled success, even though DRM abounds on the service.

Any tech lover will tell you that buying songs from Amazon is preferred. After all, why would anyone want to support DRM? And although demographic data isn't readily available, I don't think it's much of a stretch to say Amazon's customers have a heavy population of individuals that are knowledgeable about tech and realize that buying copy-protected tracks only hurts us over the long term.

iTunes customers are entirely different, though. Unlike Amazon customers, I think the majority of iTunes customers are mainstream consumers that don't possess strong tech knowledge, and they're more concerned about convenience and impulse than doing what's best for consumers. After all, if they really cared about what the Recording Industry Association of America is doing to us (and the artists, by the way), they wouldn't buy songs from iTunes, would they?… Read more

A year after iTunes began offering music without copy protection software from EMI, Apple is in discussions with the other three top recording companies about acquiring DRM-free songs, according to two music industry sources.

The talks are still preliminary and no deals have been finalized, but one source said one of the major labels is close to a final agreement. Rumors have been swirling on the Internet for a week that Sony would soon be offering music without the controversial digital rights management software. My sources could not confirm this.

Spokespeople for Apple and the major labels declined to comment. … Read more

When Best Buy unveiled its Blue Label program last month, we were skeptical. The program seemed good enough in concept: Best Buy asked its customers for their most desired laptop features, then worked with Hewlett-Packard and Toshiba to develop laptops that delivered those features. But being jaded product reviewers, we couldn't help wondering whether these laptops would live up to their promise, or whether it was all just marketing hype.

As they say, the proof is in the pudding (or something to that effect). This week we reviewed both Blue Label laptops--the Toshiba Satellite E105 and the HP Pavilion … Read more

Correction: The headline of this story incorrectly identified IODA as a label.

MySpace Music has signed a deal that will bring independent music artists to the site. And boy does Rupert Murdoch's upstart music service want to ballyhoo this announcement.

IODA, a company that aggregates and distributes digital music for indie artists, said Wednesday that it has agreed to supply more than a 1 million tracks to MySpace Music. Terms of the deal were not released.

In the month since MySpace Music launched, the indie community has bashed the service for not offering the same kind of favorable terms … Read more

According to the Financial Times, music label EMI is planning to launch its own music portal to sell songs and videos, and offer some free content as well.

My first reaction was similar to that of the anonymous music executive quoted in the FT article: dead on arrival. Listeners don't know and don't care about labels; they want to buy all their music in one place, and so on.

But surely EMI's digital team, led by former Googler Douglas Merrill, is smart enough to realize that it can't take on Apple's iTunes with a label-specific … Read more

If you visited Best Buy's Web site today, you might have noticed the promo for "Blue Label Laptops" at the bottom of the home page. Click on it and you'll be shown two new laptops, the Toshiba Satellite E105-S1402 and the HP Pavilion dv3510nr.

The two products are the first developed under Best Buy's new Blue Label program, in which the retailer polls customers to develop a feature wishlist and then partners with manufacturers to develop products that deliver those features. Of course, the resulting products are then available exclusively at Best Buy.

It's … Read more

Apple and the labels got their way: artist royalties will stay the same. Why don't the artists start complaining to the labels?

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Besides the fact that Apple's threat to possibly shut down the iTunes store if regulators approve a royalty hike for artists is utterly ridiculous, the news that artists are actually getting excited about making $0.15 per track instead of the $0.09 they're making now is laughable.

Of course, the musicians were quick to point out that Apple's (and the record labels' by the way, which they fail to cite) idea to change the fee structure from a set payment to a percentage isn't fair either. Apple and other retailers want to set the royalty rate to six percent or $0.048 per track, while the record labels are looking to put the rate at eight percent or $0.056 per $0.99 iTunes track.

Granted, Apple's idea is more than a little ludicrous considering the artists are already making almost twice that on each track and it's fine paying up to the record labels, but why haven't the musicians finally seen the light and spoken out against the labels too? They're trying to undercut the price as well and yet, the musicians have nothing to say to them?

What a joke.

Why do the record labels get a pass when Apple and the rest of the music services are being lambasted by musicians when the record labels are treating them just as poorly? I know, I know: it's all about who pays your bills. Fine. I can accept that. But don't you think that maybe (just maybe) some of these musicians would wise up and realize that their beloved employers are treating them like garbage and the vast majority aren't making nearly as much as they should on each sale on iTunes?… Read more

SanDisk on Monday announced a partnership with all four major music labels in a deal that's set to bring future albums to microSD cards. The preloaded cards, dubbed "slotMusic" media, will be sold at brick-and-mortar retail locations as an alternative to the CD.

At this time, there's no information on which albums will be sold for how much and when, but the first outlets set to receive the new digital music medium are U.S. branches of BestBuy and Wal-Mart, among others. More than likely, the slotMusic cards will go on sale in time for the … Read more