Roger Fingas
Despite allegations to the contrary, Apple is not threatening to remove artists from the iTunes Store if they refuse to sign up for Apple Music, a company spokesperson said.
"It will not be taken off," the representative told Rolling Stone, responding to questions about Anton Newcombe, the frontman of psych-rock band The Brian Jonestown Massacre. Newcombe recently made a series of Twitter posts about his negotiations with Apple, and claimed that a representative told him "we'll take your music off iTunes" if he did not put his band's material on Apple Music.
The singer's main objection to the service is its three-month free trial period. Artists and labels will not receive any royalties from the songs a person plays during a trial, making the service a controversial prospect among both artists and record labels. On Wednesday, Beggars Group issued a statement saying that it had not signed its labels to Apple Music specifically out of concern for the missing money during trials.
Some of the artists featured prominently in Apple Music advertising include FKA Twigs and Alabama Shakes, both of which are with Beggars Group labels and may not actually be available for listening when Apple Music launches on June 30. It's not clear if talks are still ongoing.
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William Gallagher
Malcolm Owen
Andrew Orr
Wesley Hilliard
Christine McKee
110 Comments
????! Musicians...
First, not a very good idea to make your negotiation public especially with a company like Apple. This Band must be idiots to make any comment like this public it will not help their postions at the table any better. Next, being worry about a 3 month free peroid is short sited, however, when most music suchs so bad these days which most people do not listen to it more than a month or two it sound like this Band realize no one will pay otherwise since they would have moved on the next new things. I know nothing about this band or its music, so I have no idea if they are any good or not. My statement is generall and apply to the trend of why people rather stream verse buy, why buy something you will be board of in a month.
Too late, the ‘tech media’ are off and running with this already. No amount of denial from Apple will change the storyline. It’s about Apple and it’s negative so it has legs.
[quote name="lkrupp" url="/t/186836/apple-denies-threatening-to-pull-artists-off-itunes-for-not-signing-up-with-apple-music#post_2737676"]Too late, the ‘tech media’ are off and running with this already. No amount of denial from Apple will change the storyline. It’s about Apple and it’s negative so it has legs. [/quote] Well put Ikrupp. This shit is just too funny. Am I missing something or is AI following these bullshit reports way to much.
Speaking as someone unfamiliar with the artist's material, it's hard to take a group with the business acumen to select that glib a name seriously.