Comment by drivebyacct2
15 years ago
I can't believe the fit the Music industry is throwing about Google Music and Amazon CloudDrive but they still made this deal with Apple.
Props to Apple. Shows they've got the muscle to get what they want.
15 years ago
I can't believe the fit the Music industry is throwing about Google Music and Amazon CloudDrive but they still made this deal with Apple.
Props to Apple. Shows they've got the muscle to get what they want.
The difference is Google Music and Amazon CloudDrive give nothing to the RIAA. But Apple gave over $100 million up front and will give a cut of each iCloud subscription to the RIAA going forward. The RIAA's outrage is just a shake down.
If my past experience with the labels and intuition is correct, the labels were protesting because they wanted Apple's paid service to roll out first, perhaps had even given Apple assurances that they'd be first (related to the ~$150M upfront?). This would also explain why reports were that they were dragging their feet in negotiations with others, and why Amazon and Google may have chosen to go without. People selling digital music are very sensitive to the early mover advantage iTunes brought Apple.