Tag: iTunes (21-29 of 29)

May 26 2010 11:24 AM ET

Apple's online music practices reportedly spark antitrust investigation

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itunesToday’s New York Times reports that the U.S. Justice Department has begun inquiring into the way that Apple sells music online. At issue, it seems, is the ongoing contest between the iTunes Music Store and Amazon.com: The Times‘ anonymous sources say that “investigators had asked in particular about recent allegations that Apple used its dominant market position to persuade music labels to refuse to give the online retailer Amazon.com exclusive access to music about to be released.”

Apple certainly does wield a mighty market share. The Times cites figures showing that 69 percent of all online music sales in the U.S. go through iTunes. Amazon takes second place — with a measly eight percent of the MP3 market. Have Apple’s efforts to stay at No. 1 crossed a legal line? These are early days for the Justice Department’s reported investigation, so it may be some time before we have a definitive answer. A rep for Apple did not respond to the Music Mix’s request for comment.

What do you think of this story? Weigh in via the comments below.

(Follow the Music Mix on Twitter: @EWMusicMix.)

More from EW.com’s Music Mix:
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Rihanna channels Slash in ‘Rockstar 101′ video: Watch here
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Apr 30 2010 08:37 PM ET

Lala music service to be shut down by Apple May 31

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Customers of cloud-streaming music site Lala got an email today informing them that the service, which was purchased by Apple back in December, will be discontinued as of May 31. The email went on to inform subscribers that they would receive a credit to the iTunes store for the amount of their ten-cent Lala streaming-song purchases and/or remaining balance, or refunds upon request. (All downloaded songs will continue to play in their owners’ music libraries.)

It was widely anticipated at the time of Apple’s purchase that they intended to absorb the Lala technology — which houses users’ music libraries in a “cloud” (remote server), rather than on any one device — and there is wide speculation that Apple now intends to launch a cloud-based version of iTunes.

What do you think of this turn of events, Mixers? We’ll bring you more news as it happens, but in the meantime, any happy/irate Lala/Apple users out there? Support groups forming now.

(Follow the Music Mix on Twitter: @EWMusicMix.)

More from EW.com’s Music Mix:
Max Weinberg NOT dropped from Conan’s TBS show… because no one’s been added yet.
U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan do Lady Gaga’s ‘Telephone’: Army strong!
Christina Aguilera’s ‘Not Myself Tonight’ video: Gone totally (Lady) Gaga, Madonna, or just desperate for relevance?
The Killers’ Brandon Flowers announces solo album: ‘Flamingo’
Eminem is ‘Not Afraid’: first ‘Recovery’ single hits the web

Feb 25 2010 02:44 PM ET

EW talks to the Georgia grandfather who bought the 10 billionth song on itunes: 'I've never won anything!'

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When iTunes officially sold its 10 billionth download yesterday, it wasn’t to a 14-year-old girl pinging Ke$ha tracks from her MacBook Pro to her third-gen iPhone 3G in geometry class.

The lucky recipient of a $10,000 iTunes Gift Card (and a whole lot of press) is 71-year-old Louie Sulcer of Woodstock, Georgia—a retired real estate agent, onetime Navy radar operator, and grandfather of nine who just wanted Johnny Cash’s 1958 single “Guess Things Happen That Way” for his new Nano, a birthday gift from his children. And he bought it on a PC: “I do not own a Mac, no,” he chuckles. “I knew somebody was going to ask me that question.”

Sulcer has spent the last day fielding calls from, among others, Apple head Steve Jobs (“I thought it was my son, he’s always a joker. I kept saying, ‘Come on, Kevin, I know it’s you!”)  and Cash’s daughter Rosanne (“she had her husband, who is her guitarist, play the song to me over the phone. That was real nice.”).

He has been a devoted Johnny Cash fan for most of his life, he says: “I went to Georgia Tech on a football scholarship, broke just about every bone in my body. All those boys on the team, we just loved country music… My whole life, I had never understood why people go see movies twice, but I’ve seen [Cash biopic] Walk the Line four times. My kids finally bought me the DVD. And I was pretty sure I had all of his music, but I was just checking iTunes, listening to those little 20 or 30 second clips, and I found this one. It has some good pickin’ in it!”

For a guy with fewer than 1,000 songs in his iTunes library, $10,000 is a lot to of iBucks spend. Will he be sharing the prize? “I’m gonna give my daughter’s husband some of it. I feel very fortunate and lucky. I never won anything. But to be 71 is lucky enough! I got my kids and my grandkids, it’s almost spring and the fish are coming in. I’m in great shape and just enjoying life.”

Hear the song that started it all below, and click here for a full list of iTunes’ all-time top songs:

More from EW.com’s Music Mix:
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‘Hot Tub Time Machine’ soundtrack details
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Kanye West weathers the “Coldest Winter”: Watch his chilly new video
Devo plays the Winter Olympics! Mark Mothersbaugh talks about tonight’s Vancouver show—and the band’s first new album in 20 years

Dec 7 2009 09:35 AM ET

Apple eats Lala: Now what?

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The big music-tech news of the weekend was that Apple has purchased Lala.com. Apple, of course, makes your laptop, your portable music device, your phone, and your iTunes Music Store — well, maybe not yours personally, but lots of folks’. Lala is an online music streaming site that lets users listen to any song once for free, then charges 10 cents a pop for the right to stream it endlessly, or a bit more if you want to download an MP3. Even if you’re not a Lala customer, you may be familiar with their streams since they started showing up prominently on Google searches this fall.

So what does this deal mean for you, the consumer? Right now it’s difficult to say. Bloomberg News quotes one expert saying the move “may signal that Apple is more interested in creating a subscription service,” since Lala users’ streaming songs stay on Lala servers instead of their own hard drives. A New York Times story, however, said this deal happened because Lala’s business model wasn’t working out (“a bit too complex for many Web users”), and that Apple was really only buying its talented creative team. We’ll have to wait and see which of those reports, if either, is correct.

In the meantime, speculate away! What do you think Apple wants to do with Lala? Do you use either Lala or iTunes to buy music, or both? Do you think Lala’s model is clever enough to be worth integrating into the iTunes system somehow, or was it so confusing that it makes sense to fold the company into iTunes?

UPDATE: An Apple spokesperson released the following statement when asked about the deal: “Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time and we generally do not comment on our purpose or plans.”

(Follow the Music Mix on Twitter: @EWMusicMix.)

More from EW.com’s Music Mix:
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Oct 21 2009 01:13 PM ET

Yeah Yeah Yeahs' iTunes Original sessions available now

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Art-rock all-stars Yeah Yeah Yeahs released their iTunes Original sessions yesterday, which includes acoustic versions of their popular songs—clearly, “Maps” has been begging for the official acoustic treatment since 2004—as well as interviews and previously-available studio tracks.

Between tracks, Karen O and her bandmates share stories about gestating the songs spotlighted here. Discussing the fabulously kitschy video for “Heads Will Roll,” O says the band knew they wanted some sort of “glam rock murder” theme and, “Because we were in London, I thought why not throw a werewolf in there?” Warren Zevon is smiling somewhere. If you haven’t seen it before, check out “Heads Will Roll” here:

Overall, this iTunes session is the kind of thing you would be delighted to hear on NPR, but probably not something you want to fork over $10 for unless you’re a die-hard YYYs fan. Then again, you could just grab the exclusive acoustic tracks for a reasonable $5.25 (thanks to Pitchfork for figuring out that math).

Anyone planning on picking this one up? Have you bought any iTunes Originals before—past entries have come from R.E.M., Fiona Apple and The Flaming Lips—and if so, do the songs make regular appearances on your playlists?

More from EW’s Music Mix:
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Regina Spektor at Radio City Music Hall: Concert review

Jul 27 2009 09:42 AM ET

iTunes: Can bonus-laden liner notes bring back 'the heyday of the album'?

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Apple is working with the Big Four major labels on a music-related project bearing the code name “Cocktail,” according to a news story a friend just sent me. The top-secret goal: “[R]e-creating the heyday of the album when you would sit around with your friends looking at the artwork, while you listened to the music,” in the words of one anonymous exec. No, Steve Jobs hasn’t finally signed off on an iPod with time-travel capabilities (as far as we know). Instead Cocktail aims to capture those bygone days through the use of interactive liner notes and other bonus content sold through the iTunes store.

That Financial Times story is light on details, but Apple and the labels would like to start selling albums with extensive liner notes — lyrics, photos, video clips — as soon as this September. All of which sounds pretty cool, as far as it goes. Still, I’m not quite sure whether this is going to be a particularly massive money-maker. Lyrics, photos, videos, and a wealth of other information about every artist under the sun are already available for free, whether they’re on official artist sites, fan communities, YouTube, or any number of blogs. You just have to be willing to do a little online leg work to find them.

So: How much would you pay for the convenience of having all those things in one place? Do you think this Cocktail of bonus content could have a shot at rescuing the labels’ bottom lines? The recreated heyday of the album awaits your answers.

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Jill and Kevin video: Viral wedding clip sparks Chris Brown sales

May 19 2009 10:45 PM ET

'Glee' premiere tonight: The music is available already! Woot!

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Gleebelieving_l Tonight, after American Idol, Fox premieres its much-anticipated new show choir-themed, high school-set dramedy Glee. (Read: A cappella power ballads abound!) I’ve seen it, folks, and let me just tell you: It’s the most fun (although totally populist) thing on TV, musically, since way back when American Idol resembled something closer to an actual talent contest. And don’t let TV’s last attempt at a musical series — that’d be CBS’s hot mess Viva Laughlin, starring Hugh Jackman, from two seasons back — taint your idea of what Glee might be.

The storylines and acting are fine, but truly, Glee succeeds mostly on the super-fun musical performances. Which makes it completely genius that Fox already has the best two numbers — covers of Amy Winehouse’s "Rehab" and Journey’s "Don’t Stop Believin’" — available on iTunes already.

"Rehab" is performed by a rival glee club, which the show’s main, struggling glee club goes to scope out at a competition. I know Amy Winehouse would be proud. Who knew you could make a song about rehab sound so upbeat and fancy-free? Our main glee club kids (led by Cory Monteith and Lea Michele’s characters, in the photo above) belt out "Don’t Stop Believin’" at the episode’s end, as a button to previously rocky times. How perfect is that? I suggest you download them now! Two new on my "Top 25 Most Played" list? Check!

Take a listen — even if you don’t download, just check out the 30 second preview — and tell me: How much do you love these two songs? Why or why not? 

More from EW’s Music Mix:
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Joe Perry talks Aerosmith tour, ‘Guitar Hero,’ and… mac ‘n’ cheese!

Apr 14 2009 09:30 PM ET

iTunes' Tuesday freebies: Ida Maria, Cage the Elephant

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The tiered pricing that went into effect last week on iTunes may have freaked out a lot of regular users, but one thing about the site still comes in the glorious key of free: its weekly seven-day song giveaways, starting each Tuesday and lasting until the next one.

As with so many things offered at no cost — pharmaceutical samples, grocery-store parking-lot boxes of kittens — the quality can vary; still, this week’s mixed bag features a track from one of my favorite new Nordics, the raucous, husky-voiced troubadess (is that a word? maybe!) Ida Maria: the highly chant-alongable single, "I Like You So Much Better When You’re Naked" that everybody seems so crazy about, from her new album Fortress ‘Round My Heart. Though I’m actually partial to album opener "Oh My God," I’m happy to listen to this one fully clothed.

Also on offer? Missouri cowgirl Jessica Harp, once a member of the Wreckers with Michelle Branch, and her solo debut single "Boy Like Me," from the upcoming summer album A Woman Needs. Honestly, it’s not my cup of juice, but it’s been on the country charts for a few weeks, so what do I know.

I’m more intrigued by Cage the Elephant, a bunch of crazy young Kentucky hooligans who thoroughly entertained me at 2007′s Lollapalooza with their outsized stage antics (crowd-terrorizing, amp-jumping, accidental vomiting) and shambolic, Southern-fried riffs — like if the Kings of Leon loved Iggy Pop and didn’t care about their hair.

The stuff I’m hearing on record is still good, if a little more slick, standard-issue rawk-boogie in a sort of cleaned-up, White Stripes-y vein. But go to iTunes to download "Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked," or watch the video below, and tell me if you agree:

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Apr 7 2009 06:54 PM ET

iTunes' new variable pricing: What do you think?

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Floridamiley_lToday, Apple finally unveiled two long-awaited features: the removal of digital rights management (DRM) from music sold at their iTunes Store, and the instituting of tiered pricing for individual songs and albums.

So what does that mean for you?  Basically, both more and possibly less bang for your buck — or rather, your 99 cents. Some songs will sell for 69 cents, others for $1.29, and some will stay at 99 cents, though it’s not at their discretion; the cost will be based on the wholesale prices set by the music labels.

According to the New York Times, a good third of the current Top 100 are selling at the high end; that means new singles from Flo Rida, the Zac Brown Band and Soulja Boy will cost you more, while Miley Cyrus and Katy Perry remain a relative bargain at $0.99 (insert "I dissed a girl" joke here).

A quick glance at iTunes reveals a few of the 69-cent bargains, too: Everything from the Clash’s "London Calling" to Elvis’s "Blue Suede Shoes." But it also means you’re paying 30 cents more for Ciara’s now-$1.29 "Love Sex Magic" than you were yesterday. So what do you think, readers? Is this a good thing, or does the new caste system feel too arbitary? Will you be carting your business off to Amazon or other digital music services?

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