Apple's Price War, Chapter II
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We have talked about Apple's woes concerning pricing on its iTunes website in the past (Mixner). Now comes the next chapter in the saga.
Universal Music recently refused to re-up its contract with Apple (Grover, 30). It left its music on the site, but only on a month-to-month basis. The music is still 0n the Apple site, but Universal has upped the ante by announcing the launch of an industry-owned subscription service. Sony BMG Music Entertainment has signed up, and Warner Music Group may as well. Universal is also talking to WalMart and Best Buy about agreements independent of Apple.
Apple has seventy percent of the download market (Grover, 30). The artists are bothered by lack of control and pricing on the iTunes site.
However, and this is a big however, Apple still has the sales.
It guess we'll have to wait for Chapter III to know how things work out.
Last time I said Apple would win out in the end.
I'll bet there isn't a winner. Looks to me like they will all get together with a new agreement. We'll see.
References
Grover, Ronald and Peter Burrows. Universal Music Takes on iTunes. BusinessWeek. 22 October 2007. 030.
Mixner, Jack. Ill Bet Apple Wins Price War. http://mixnerstrategy.com/blog/2007/08/ill_bet_apple_wins_price_war.html