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No Holiday Cheer for Band Aid and iTunes
by , 11:45 AM EST, November 25th, 2004
Apple's iTunes Music Store is causing a bit of a stir by refusing to sell the charity Band Aid song "Do They Know It's Christmas?". At issue is the song's £1.49 price, which is almost double the 79p Apple charges for all singles on its U.K. store.
Despite the song's good intentions, Apple is adamant about never charging more than 79p for a single song, The Times reports. Other online music stores are carrying the song, however, which is expected to raise about £10 million for relief efforts in Africa.
Universal Music, the record company behind the single, is reportedly interested in coming to terms with Apple but says it can't sell the tune for less £1.49 because it needs to maximize the amount of money raised from each sale.
Other stores selling this year's rendition of "Do They Know It's Christmas?" include MyCoke Music, Tiscali, NTL, Wanadoo, Virgin Mega-store, MSN, Virgin.net, MTV, HMV, and Napster, as well as the song's official site.
Band Aid 20's line-up includes Chris Martin from Coldplay, U2's Bono, Dido, Dizzee Rascal, and Robbie Williams, among a number of other artists. The BBC has more details on the track, which made its world premier nine days ago on the radio. BBC Three is also showing a documentary on the history of Band Aid this evening.
The Mac Observer Spin:
This seems like a classic case of "On one hand... on the other hand..." with valid points arriving from both sides. My solution? Apple should make a donation, perhaps £1-£2 million, to Band Aid to secure the rights to distribute the song for free to iTunes users. Think about it: Band Aid gets a nice fat check (probably for far more than it would if Apple sold the track through iTunes), Apple gets good publicity and a nice tax deduction, and Band Aid, whose recognition is North America is only a fraction of what it is in the U.K., gets tremendous publicity.Observer Comments
Thu Nov 25, 2004 1:54 pm Subject: Universal's being more unreasonable here, I think.
A donation would be a great idea, but on the other hand, then iTMS customers don't have an active hand in helping the cause. No warm and fuzzy feeling of doing something good when you download a free song. Apple doing a "subsidy" so as to keep the song price at 79p/$0.99US and pay the difference would be possible, but kinda weird. IMHO, Apple's doing a great job of holding the line when it comes to single prices (for the most part), whether it be a regular single or a charity single. Besides, isn't iTMS, well, the world's biggest music download store by a wide margin? With stores in 12 countries or so, Universal Music may find itself surprised by how the customer base, aided by a lower song price, may contribute to that 10 million pound total. After all, if Apple will give 100% of the proceeds to charity (it's already doing so for ASAP, I hear), what exactly does Universal have to lose? Aside from all the worldwide iTMS sales by not agreeing to Apple's uniform pricing terms, that is. Let Apple show the music industry that the "but we won't make enough money at that price!" argument fails to see the benefits of much higher sales at a lower price.
Thu Nov 25, 2004 3:25 pm Subject: Universal Music's Definition of Philanthropy
"Universal Music, the record company behind the single, is reportedly interested in coming to terms with Apple but says it can't sell the tune for less £1.49 because it needs to maximize the amount of money raised from each sale."
Too funny! And UM's contribution from the £1.49 is...?
Thu Nov 25, 2004 3:29 pm Subject: The Official Site
"Other stores selling this year's rendition...include...the song's official site."
When I go there to try to buy the song, here's the message that greets me:
"Sorry. Your does not appear to be compatible. This download will only work on computers with Windows 98, ME, 2000 or XP.
"ActiveX controls are not supported - you must enable ActiveX for this download to work correctly"
And Band Aid wants Apple to cooperate? Uh, okay...
The article in The Times was a very poor piece of journalism, deliberately distorted to put Apple in a bad light.
The reporter has written at least two other anti-Apple pieces in recent months.
But whatever the failings of that journalist, the fact remains that charity records are here to stay and people are expecting to download the music.
Apple should create a new category of 'Charity Record' where 100% of the proceeds go directly from Apple to the charity and no money is allowed to pass through the hands of the artists or record companies. The minimum price should be set by the charity concerned and customers would be permitted to pay a higher price if they wished.
If they don't do something like that, they'll be in the firing line every time a new charity recording is released.
If they do it right, they'll be the obvious place for people to go with a charity record and new customers will be exposed to the iTMS.
Universal Music os trying to steal the thunder from Appleās iTMS. They created the situation on purpose (maybe āwith a little help fromā Redmond--to use a musical note). This is a clear case of Harmony-like āfreedomā. Funny how when Microsoft can dictate whatever they want, everybody bends down, but now that the iTMS is established as leader, everybody is trying to ābreak the lockā. Weird world ā¦
But, of course, MS has a lock mostly on consumers ⦠Apple is taking the opposite stand, by putting constraints on the Music Industry and protecting its consumers ā¦
Iām curious to see which will raise the most $, ASAP or Band Aid ā¦
Mon Nov 29, 2004 11:26 am Subject: Are they still selling the same tired song year after year?
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