itunes Music Store Europe

[ElDiabloConCaca]

Well, I was referring to the pricing scheme -- 99 cents a song, 9.99 an album (for the most part) and those prices were non-negotiable. Obviously, they had to back down a little bit to get some of the artists they have on there, but for the most part, the pricing was a "take it or leave it" kind of thing.

I'm looking forward to the release of the iTMS in Europe simply for the "ha ha!" factor -- we'll be able to stare Wal-Mart and Microsoft in the faces for once and say that we were here first and we're the best, and it doesn't matter how big they are -- we're going to make the bigger profit and be more successful. I think every competing music store will quickly find out that it's quite difficult to turn a profit when you're doing business with the RIAA and the big music companies -- the only difference is that Apple has the iPod to back it all up. None of the competing music stores have a piece of hardware to back up their stores that they can call their own. All they have is more hardware and software to sell, and their music stores aren't really an incentive to purchase more hardware from them.

[Randman]

Write nasty letters to the weasel lawyers who are keeping it bogged down to myriad copyright laws.

[monktus]

I think some people are still missing the point about why it's taking longer to get iTMS in Europe. If you've ever tried to license a song for something (CD-ROM, cover version, TV ad, whatever) you'll know how big a hassle it is. Apple sorting out a new distribution medium in the US was a big feat in itself, now it's trying to do it over at least a dozen other countries. I'm not sure of the details for the US one, but I wouldn't think the RIAA would have had much to do with it, they're just an industry association, like the BPI over here. Apple have to negotiate with the record companies for the right to distribute the various recordings (i.e. the big 5 and the larger indie labels) and the various royalty collection societies (ASCAP in the US, PRS here, plus all the European ones). Remember that an artist might not (and often isn't) signed to the same record company in the UK or France as they are in the US. What Apple is doing is a damn big deal. I can't wait for it to happen either but it's taking time and there isn't really anything that we can do about it.