Now all of a sudden, this little battle appears to have escalated to such a point that Sony are threatening to pull down their music content from Apple's iTunes media store.
Playing dirty now are we?
Sony obviously has their own content distribution service now with the Qriocity store, so if that catches on and gains wide acceptance, then Sony really don't need to have their content on iTunes, which is a huge (HUGE) loss to Apple considering that Sony is one of the 'big four' recording studios. Michael Ephraim, CEO of SCE (Sony Computer Entertainment) in Australia quoted,
“If we do [get mass acceptance] then does SONY MUSIC need to provide content to iTUNES? ... Currently we do. We have to provide it to iTUNES as that's the format right now ... Publishers are being held to ransom by APPLE and they are looking for other delivery systems, and we are waiting to see what the next three to five years will hold."
Dare I say, a substantial chunk of Apple's iTunes service may now be ultimately at odds with the success of Music Unlimited, and perhaps depending on the success of Video On Demand powered by Qriocity Sony might even pull out their video content too.
On another point, Sony has made it clear that the Playstation Suite probably won't be available on the iOS platform, which according to my recent poll, most readers believed was a good idea, as I do too. Michael Ephraim, CEO of SCE (Sony Computer Entertainment) in Australia said 'We are not as closed as Apple' which is a slap in the face for Apple, now knowing that Android devices will soon be able to play Playstation titles while themselves being left at the jetty.
It appears that Sony is now following the strategy of shutting down Apple by providing services for everyone else except Apple, a strategy that I had long believed to be the most effective. Evidently, Sony didn't utilise this method in the past and still doesn't in many respects by still supplying iPod docks and iPhone compatible headsets.
However Ephraim's statements and Sony's path with the Playstation Suite look like a healthy and hearty step in the right direction.
they won't be pulling their content down for a long while i think, since itunes accounts for like more than half of all digital music sales Sony Music would be affected by a lack of sales digitally
ReplyDeleteAgreed bro, but this is saying if Music Unlimited is successful or becomes on par with iTunes in terms of mass acceptance. It will be a while though, definitely
ReplyDeleteIt's not possible to have a credible mainstream music offering without all four majors: SME, UMG, EMI, WMG... and the recording bits of WMG and EMI are heading for merger, so then there will be 3.
ReplyDeleteI dont suppose that EMI, WMG or UMG will pull their catalog off of Qriocity Music Unlimited, since they get a healthy recurring fee for those services. A robust Qriocity music and video offering will be an important hedge against Apple not just in music, but Sony also has TV, Movies and Games.
The subscription model for music is much more profitable for the labels, and they are anxious to unhook from Apple hegemonic business approach.
Sorry Apple - after all you're just a hardware company - and paid download growth has flattened. Android is going to whack iPhone.
iTunes is for old farts.
I think the thing that makes iTunes so popular is its ease of use, like if you want a song just press buy instead of subscribing to something.
ReplyDeleteEven if iTunes does lose music content from one or more of the four major labels it is still going to be a source for other content like podcasts and of course apps for their iPhone devices.
Yes I do agree the subscription model is more profitable for labels and Michael Ephraim said himself that publishers are held ransom by Apple and are looking for other delivery systems. If Sony does bail then it is possible (though not likely) that others may follow.
Though I do believe that this whole Sony ditching iTunes is still a long way away because Qriocity is yet to be a known brand and it will take time to develop a large user base.
I have to disagree with you saying that Apple are just a hardware company though, because as far as I'm concerned Mac OS X is still the best computer operating system and Aperture and Final Cut are really really great media editing tools. Though that's just my opinion.