Apple to Possibly Buy Universal Music

[Bernie]

In what has been the talk of the Mac and business community today is the story that Apple Computer may buy Vivendi / Universal Music.

Here's a snippet from today's New York Times...

Apple May Buy Universal Music for $6B

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 4:32 p.m. ET

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Apple Computer Inc. is in discussions about buying Universal Music Group, the world's largest record company, for as much as $6 billion, according to a published report Friday.

Talks between Apple and Vivendi Universal , Universal Music Group's parent company, have been held secretly for months, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Apple may offer $5 billion to $6 billion for the music company before Vivendi's April 29 board meeting, the newspaper said, citing sources it did not identify...

Full story at...

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/tech...Universal.html

What does this have to do with Disco? Apple plans to make the entire Universal catalogue available online for downloading on their new music service. Universal holds the rights to many Disco labels such as Casablanca, De-lite, Polydor, Polygram, Mercury, Spring, MCA, Island ...

Read the full article at the New York Times and then discuss here what you think about this. Is this a good thing? Would you welcome such a service? Let's hear it!

[paul]

Hopefully that's good news Bernie, especially as it pertains to downloading music. As long as it's more flexible and user friendly than that shitty Liquid Audio I used when I bought downloaded music from Tower Records. I bought some Tom Jones music with that system and I couldn't transfer between machines. I even had trouble burning the music to cds from the computer with the downloads.
I vowed to STEAL music from the net after paying for such crappy service.
OK, sorry. I wanted an excuse to bitch about this and Bernie gave me the openning :evil:

[BrunoRepublic]

If Apple's acquisition of eMagic is any indication, the entire Universal catalog will be immediately deleted, and issued soley on a proprietary, Mac-only format. You will need a new G4 tower running OSX (no iMac/eMac/OS9) to be able to purchase and listen to any of the tunes. The new G4 towers would not play standard audio CDs or MP3s, so you will still need to hang on to your Windows box (or dual-boot into OS9) for that.

Sorry Bernie, but you know I'm still bitter about that whole thing!!

[NickNack]

If, and I guess that might be a big IF, according to Graham, Apple were to do this smartly they could have a goldmine on their hands. The catalog alone makes me drool: INTERSCOPE/GEFFEN/A&M RECORDS, ISLAND/DEF JAM MUSIC GROUP, MCA RECORDS, MERCURY RECORDS, MOTOWN RECORDS. A fool like me could go ape-**** over the Motown stuff alone. Of course, a lot of this would depend on how they intend to offer it and for how much. I would not go out and change my computer/operating system just to become a member of their download family.

On the other hand, if it worked it could wake up other industry big shots like SONY to put that music out there that they believe nobody wants. Instead of the industry suing universities and the like they could be making serious money. Hell, they're CD sales are in the toilet so they better think of something.

I'd like for it to happen, and this from me, the person who has yet to download a COMPLETE piece of music off the web. I would only hope that corporate politics and greed don't get in the way and screw it up for the bulk of consumers who might be interested.

[Bernie]

Graham,

Not to worry since Apple would eventually plan to offer a Windoze version of iTunes. Come on Graham, just break down and get a dual G4 :-)

Nicky,

How could I have forgotten Motown?!

Just think of it: record labels could put their ENTIRE catalogue-Disco and all-online for all of us to browse and purchase. They wouldn't have the excuse that a particular CD is not worth pressing due to limited demand bla, bla, bla since it costs next to nothing being online. They never have to press up a CD.

Sound samples so we could decide would be available for each song! We would be able to mix and match to our hearts desire and since it is coming from the labels directly we would be assured of quality sound (fingers crossed).

Pricing is yet to be determined, but some estimates of 0.99 cents per song is too high since that's almost the same price as buying the CD anyway. Pricing would have to be around 0.25 cents a song with perhaps a sliding scale based on bitrate and discounts for quantity purchases. They would easily make a profit on volume and just getting people hooked on the service. Heck, they'd make a killing just from Nicky alone :-)

Here's another story in the news...

Apple buy could spit in the face of the RIAA
Downloads for all?

By Jack Russell: Saturday 12 April 2003, 10:30

RUMOUR HAS IT, as we reported yesterday, that Apple is considering buyinging the Universal Music Group for approximately $6 billion in a bid to strengthen the company's role as a digital media company. The most intriguing part of a potential deal, however, is...

Article continued at http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=8897

[sutnop]

As the article states
I hope the belle (Apple)
Spits the beast in the eye (RIAA)

:evil: :evil: :evil: 8) :evil: :evil: :evil:

[QUINNY]

I can't see them 'selling' tunes for less than their commercial worth, so 0.99c per tune will probably be it. After all, the physical cost of pressing the CD is relatively small in relation to the normal retail price. The record companies will just use this as an excuse to make more profits by cutting out the middle men and physical media costs. Of course a site doesn't run itself does it?

[Bernie]

Looks as though EMI is also getting into the online music biz. They will start by offering 140,000 songs via select sites...

EMI Unveils Major Online Music Push

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.j...toryID=2614704