Nearly a year and a half after the inception of Apple's iTunes online music store, negotiations for a Japanese version of the service reportedly remain at "square one."
According to industry sources, Apple began meeting with Japan's major music labels over a year ago, but have seen negotiations progress at a minimal pace, at best. "They are betting on their dominance to overthrow the resistance, but the record labels are not yet ready to surrender to a 50% cutback on their music sales," one insider said.
But price discrepancies are not the only factor threatening to prolong the negotiations, Japan's Asahi Shimbun newspaper is reporting this week. The music labels claim that Apple's copy protection measures are inadequate and are demanding that the company impose additional limitations to prevent illegal copying of digital music.
Unlike Apple's iTunes service, whose FairPlay DRM software allows music downloads to be burned onto CD-Rs, most downloads from present Japanese services are copy-protected and cannot be copied onto CD-Rs. The services also offer different file formats, each requiring specific devices to play them.
In an August 2004 interview, Apple Japan vice president, Yoshiaki Sakito, said to expect a Japanese version of its iTunes music service within a year. However, Sakito this week told the Asahi Shimbun that he is betting on the popularity of the company's iPod digital audio player to eventually help pry the market open— suggesting that the company's game plan may amount to nothing more than a waiting game.
"The record companies won't be able to swim against the tide forever,'' Sakito said.
24 Comments
Sometimes I wonder what the record companies are thinking. If they set out to compete with free, offering albums with ultra tight DRM at 30$ a piece seems rather ridiculous.
who cares. japanese and asian music in general sucks
let them pay 30 bucks for jay chow.
Sometimes I wonder what the record companies are thinking. If they set out to compete with free, offering albums with ultra tight DRM at 30$ a piece seems rather ridiculous.
It seems like the Japanese market is slightly different in several ways. I know that at least on the independent house music scene, the Japanese market is sometimes afforded exclusives on material before it's released to the rest of the world.
If this is the case with the smaller labels, there are likely other special privileges afforded major labels in the Japanese market.
The question is, will Apple bend to price the singles and albums according to the market there or will it truly hold out until it can enter the market with pricing comparable to its other stores?
I don't know, but it certainly makes an interesting story.
who cares. japanese and asian music in general sucks
let them pay 30 bucks for jay chow.
a great deal, and most likely the majority, of the music that would've been bought would be American pop.
who cares. japanese and asian music in general sucks
let them pay 30 bucks for jay chow.