] Music industry proposes a piracy surcharge on ISPs

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

________________________________________
From: David Akin [jdakin () gmail com]
Sent: Thursday, March 20, 2008 2:36 PM
To: David Farber
Subject: Re: [IP] Music industry proposes a piracy surcharge on ISPs

Hey Dave --

To take this discussion in an interesting new direction, The Financial
Times reports that Apple has it's own 'flat-fee, all-you-can-eat"
proposal 
...http://www.ft.com/cms/s/b55a0d64-f523-11dc-a21b-000077b07658,Authorised=false.html?_i_location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2Fcms%2Fs%2F0%2Fb55a0d64-f523-11dc-a21b-000077b07658.html&_i_referer=

Apple mulls unlimited music bundle

By Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson in London

Published: March 18 2008 22:01 | Last updated: March 18 2008 22:01

Apple is in discussions with the big music companies about a radical
new business model that would give customers free access to its entire
iTunes music library in exchange for paying a premium for its iPod and
iPhone devices.

The "all you can eat" model, a replica of Nokia's "comes with music"
deal with Universal Music last December, could provide the struggling
recorded music industry with a much-needed fillip, and drive demand
for a new generation of Apple's hardware.

Apple would not comment on the plan, but executives familiar with the
negotiations said they hinged on a dispute over the price the computer
maker would be willing to pay for access to the labels' libraries.

Nokia is understood to be offering almost $80 per handset to music
industry partners, to be divided according to their share of the
market. However, Apple has so far offered only about $20 per device,
two executives said. "It's who blinks first, and whether or not anyone
does blink," one executive said.

Detailed market research has shown strong appetite among consumers for
deals bundling music in with the cost of the device, or in exchange
for a monthly subscription, executives said.

One executive said the research had shown that consumers would pay a
premium of up to $100 for unlimited access to music for the lifetime
of the device, or a monthly fee of $7-$8 for a subscription model.

Apple, which is thought to make relatively little money from the
iTunes store compared with its hardware sales, is also understood to
be examining a subscription model...
[The rest at: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b55a0d64-f523-11dc-a21b-000077b07658.html
]

Cheers!

--
David Akin
-------------------
http://www.davidakin.com

-------------------------------------------
Archives: http://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now
RSS Feed: http://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/
Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com