Mikey Campbell
According to a report on Monday, rock legends and longtime streaming music holdouts AC/DC are primed to offer their tracks through subscription services, including Apple Music, as early as Tuesday.
An anonymous source informed The New York Times that the band has embraced subscription-based streaming services and will make an undisclosed number of tracks available on Apple Music, Spotify and Rdio.
AC/DC first agreed to sell its classic library on iTunes in 2012, including a special edition collection featuring demo tracks, live albums and other digital exclusives. At the time, the Australian rockers were one of the last bands to join the digital music revolution.
The news comes after it was announced that Apple Music nabbed first streaming rights to Dr. Dre's seminal release The Chronic. Along with Dr. Dre, Apple has managed to line up a decent list of exclusive offerings for its Apple Music launch on Tuesday, including Taylor Swift's much ballyhooed 1989 (after a public kerfuffle over streaming royalty rates) and Pharrell Williams' single "Freedom."
Apple Music is scheduled for release tomorrow at 8 a.m. Pacific as part of Apple's iOS 8.4 update.
Marko Zivkovic
Wesley Hilliard
Christine McKee
Malcolm Owen
William Gallagher
Andrew O'Hara
17 Comments
Apple could make $100B from Beats hardware and music and there'll still be people trying to argue it was a waste of $3B.
Apple could make $100B from Beats hardware and music and there'll still be people trying to argue it was a waste of $3B.
Actually, I've warmed up to the idea of Apple having more freedom to experiment and make fun and wild products under the Beats brand.
Who is Spotify talking to now? Apple just helped that "afraid of competition/sneak behind closed doors to spew FUD to government agencies around the world about Apple being a monopoly" streaming music company land a major music group and probably more once Apple Music starts tomorrow at 9:00 AM PST/12:00 PM EST!
If you build it, he will come.
[quote name="Ireland" url="/t/186966/ac-dc-to-join-subscription-streaming-bandwagon-in-time-for-apple-music-debut#post_2742037"]Apple could make $100B from Beats hardware and music and there'll still be people trying to argue it was a waste of $3B.[/quote] I'm say you're right and I'd guess the common argument will be that Apple could have saved the $3B by building up their own service, or perhaps paying a lot less for Rdio, Spotfiy, Pandora, or possibly even Tidal as I'm sure the "they stream lossless ALAC at 1411kibps to Apple devices" crowd will think that means that it's somehow a good fit for Apple based on that criteria alone. [quote name="leavingthebigG" url="/t/186966/ac-dc-to-join-subscription-streaming-bandwagon-in-time-for-apple-music-debut#post_2742050"]Who is Spotify talking to now? Apple just helped that "afraid of competition/sneak behind closed doors to spew FUD to government agencies around the world about Apple being a monopoly" streaming music company land a major music group and probably more once Apple Music starts tomorrow at 9:00 AM PST/12:00 PM EST! [/quote] Sure, but that's what competition, as well as being scared shitless your company is going to lose all their clients and their customers. My guess is that Spotify is paying them at a rate that they feel is fair, especially after T-Swizzle made it clear how little Spotify pays artists. That isn't to say Spotify is paying AC/DC the same amount per play as other artists (I'd assume a lot more) and I'd guess the contract is for balloon payments and rates at first to help compete against Apple Music; we'll see in a year where everyone stands.