Re: [microsound] apple invites the indies online

["j.frede" <jfrede@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

this is absolutely wonderful! now as long as Apple sticks with this policy
of  "same deal, same agreements" it could really stabilize a place in the
"mainstream market" for independent music world. but money talks and the
corporate suits have bought their way into everything else in the world so i
wouldnt be surprised if that is what ends up happening here.

really wonderful news though, can you image - independent artist getting
paid to make quality music - how novel.

thanks for posting this Tobias

j.frede
current location: los angeles
| http://current-recordings.com/jfrede
|
| j.frede:live documents CD out now on doctsect
| http://doctsect.com

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "tobias c. van Veen" <tobias@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Microsound" <microsound@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, June 07, 2003 11:32 AM
Subject: [microsound] apple invites the indies online

> Scene 3998 follows:
>
> -----------------------------------------------------------------
>
> The Indies Are Coming (6/6/03)
>
> Hey, great news for independent music fans: not only was yesterday's
> invitation-only meeting of indie label reps at Apple's headquarters _not_
> a trap dreamt up by the majors to lure their up-and-coming competitors to
> a mayonnaisey grave, but it also revealed that Apple is stone cold serious
> about ensuring that the iTunes Music Store can offer its users a richer
> selection of tunage than just bland prefab stuff manufactured for maximum
> consumption.  Oh, don't worry-- if you happen to _like_ bland prefab stuff
> manufactured for maximum consumption, the iTMS will still offer it, so
> more power to you.  But if your tastes are slightly more off-center, you
> ought to be smiling (and
> spending) more at the iTMS in maybe six more months or so.
>
> How serious is Apple about signing up the indies?  Serious enough to send
> a reality-distortin' Steve Jobs smack dab into the middle of the 150-rep
> cluster to prime the pump.  That's right, folks; whereas Stevenotes are
> typically more of a stadium show, those lucky slobs got the Jobsian
> equivalent of a small club gig-- and judging by one review, at least, the
> man brought down the house.
> As faithful viewer NEWWAVEDAVE pointed out to us, the rep from CD Baby
> took notes at the meeting and appears to be sold, sold, sold.
>
> Even if you have absolutely zippo interest in indie music, it behooves you
> to check out those notes, because they include a bunch of nifty iTMS stats
> that, as far as we know, have yet to surface elsewhere.  Reportedly the
> current sales count is at 3.5 million, with approximately half a million
> songs selling per week; not bad, considering there are only "6-7 million
> copies of iTunes in use."  Over three quarters of the songs offered have
> sold at least once, and nine out of ten sales are made via
> One-Click.  (Long live the Impulse Buy!)  And then there's a whole bunch
> of interesting stuff about the iTMS from the _other_ side of the
> transaction.  You already know that it's ridiculously easy to buy music
> from the iTMS, but what it's like to _sell_ it?
>
> Well, apparently, that's pretty darn straightforward, too.  Of particular
> note is the fact that Apple isn't playing any favorites,
> majors-vs.-indies-wise.  Indies are being offered the _exact same deal_ as
> the Big Five: as Steve puts it, "Same deal.
> Same agreements.  Same team of people.  Same treatment, all-around."  It
> costs nothing for a label to add music to the iTMS.  Every artist in the
> store gets artist and album pages, and is listed in New Releases.  Apple
> handles all the merchandising, advertising, credit card transactions,
> backend infrastructure, etc.; all the labels have to do is encode the
> music (using a special Mac OS X Music Store Encoder to be released in a
> few months), enter the song/artist/album info, upload it all, and cash the
> monthly checks.  Oh, and pass some of the cash onto the artists
> themselves, of course.
>
> Now, we're not record execs, but that all sounds pretty attractive to
> us.  With any luck, then, plenty of these indies will be falling all over
> themselves to sign on the dotted line.
> Artists get their work in front of the eyes (er, _ears_) of a much wider
> audience than they probably have now, labels get paid, regular shmoes like
> us get to broaden our horizons at 99 cents a pop, and everybody lived
> happily ever after.
>
> That is, until the flesh-eating space locusts came.
>
> -----------------------------------------------------------------
>
> To see this scene as it was meant to be seen, complete with links to
> articles and formatted as originally broadcast, visit:
>
>   <http://www.appleturns.com/scene/?id=3998>
>
> To see the complete, unadulterated episode in which this scene was
> originally broadcast, visit:
>
>   <http://www.appleturns.com/episode/?date=6/6/2003>
>
> -----------------------------------------------------------------
> As the Apple Turns: <http://www.appleturns.com/>
> This Scene: <http://www.appleturns.com/scene/?id=3998>
> This Episode: <http://www.appleturns.com/episode/?date=6/6/2003>
> -----------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> tobias c. van Veen -----------
> http://www.quadrantcrossing.org
> http://www.thisistheonlyart.com
> ------------- tobias@xxxxxxxxxxx
> ---McGill Communications------
> ICQ: 18766209 | AOL: thesaibot
>
>
>
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