Universal May Pull Catalogue From ITunes

Courtesy of NME

Universal Music Group of Vivendi - the world's biggest music corporation and home to the likes of U2 and Amy Winehouse- has told Apple it would not renew its annual contract to sell music through the company, according to leaked reports.

Instead Universal said that it would market music to Apple at will, a move that could allow Universal to remove its songs from iTunes on short notice, reports New York Times.

It has been suggested that this is due to the fact that the two sides do not agree on pricing and other terms for the future.

If Universal pull their catalogue, iTunes would lose access to record labels that collectively account for one out of every three new releases sold in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan data.

Equally, sales of digital music through iTunes accounts for more than 15 per-cent of Universal's worldwide revenue in the first quarter of 2007.

Insiders see the move as the culmination of growing tensions between Apple founder Steve Jobs and the record industry.

In the four years since iTunes popularised the sale of music online, many in the music business have become discouraged by what they consider the be the near monopoly that Jobs has held in the digital sector, the one area of the music business that is showing significant growth.

In particular Jobs stance on song pricing and the iPod's lack of compatibility and music services other than iTunes have become points of contention. Gander On!

Reznor vs. Universal

Courtesy of Rolling Stone

The ongoing death of the CD has been discussed at length. There’s no shortage of directions to point the finger: iTunes, illegal file-sharing services, the lack of brick-and-mortar record stores, etc. But if you ask the Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor, maybe the record industry should start blaming the record industry.
Reznor, long at odds with parent company Universal Music Group (UMG), has done his part to try to ensure that his newest album, Year Zero, would shift units. First, he shook up the conventional ways a CD is promoted by creating an internet-based alternative reality game that helped enhance the listener’s Year Zero experience. Then he changed the way the CD looks by employing a color-changing disc and implanting hidden messages in both the music and the liner notes. Now he’s criticizing the way his own label’s Australian division milks his hardcore audience. In an angry message posted on the official NIN website, Reznor says that despite all his efforts to reimagine the album release in a post-Napster era, his label is conspiring against his fans. Reznor recently found out that Year Zero sells for $34.99 in Australian dollars, or $29.10 U.S. By comparison, Avril Lavigne’s new album sells for $21.99 AU ($18.21 US). The reason, as a label rep told Reznor: “We know you have a real core audience that will pay whatever it costs when you put something out - you know, true fans. It’s the pop stuff we have to discount to get people to buy.” And the record industry wonders why album sales are slumping?

This brand of intentionally screwing the fans is just one root of a big tree of problems plaguing major labels. In another attempt to prevent his fans’ wallets from being exploited, Reznor has banished a planned European maxi-single for the song “Capital G,” opting instead to release a Year Zero remix album in the future. This way, the fervent U.S. fans won’t have to spend $30+ to import a two-song single that includes one new remix. Who would have guessed that Trent Reznor would emerge as the Ralph Nader of the music industry?
-- Daniel Kreps Gander On!