And the Beatles join the iTunes Store just in time for Saturday’s iPad launch.<\/p>\n
The deal…\u00c2\u00a0 Just like with Apple’s purchase of Lala, no hard numbers have been released.\u00c2\u00a0 But both Citi and Terra Firma are happy.\u00c2\u00a0 Citi gets its money back, and Guy Hands gets to save face, Terra Firma’s covenant breaches become irrelevant, there’s no need to raise and inject new capital and by selling to Jobs, et al, Hands gets to spin the concept that this was his plan all along.<\/p>\n
Yes, the catalog license was just a ruse.\u00c2\u00a0 Because, after all, everyone knows that Mr. Hands is smarter than Doug Morris and Mel Lewinter.\u00c2\u00a0 Lucian Grainge?\u00c2\u00a0 He’s a glorified A&R guy with a bean counter mentality.\u00c2\u00a0 Hands played the Universal boys like a fiddle.\u00c2\u00a0 Do you really think he’d place the Fab Four’s music in the hands of such charlatans? When he can put it in its rightful place, in the bosom of Steve Jobs, and see it live forever?<\/p>\n
What we do know is Apple’s got more of a future than major labels.\u00c2\u00a0 Which is why the Cupertino company is smart enough to immediately close down new music development at EMI.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s about the catalog baby, unless you can stunt.\u00c2\u00a0 Which is why Damian Kulash and OK Go are coming back.\u00c2\u00a0 Yes, that was part of the deal, Jobs insisted. Upon launch of the 3G iPad, there will be a new OK Go video, to bump sales thirty days after the Wi-Fi launch.\u00c2\u00a0 And, one year from now, when the 3-D iPad launches, the OK Go Rube Goldberg video will be free in 3-D for all purchasers.\u00c2\u00a0 Along with a gratis copy of "Up" in 3-D.<\/p>\n
A 3-D iPad?<\/p>\n
3-D TV makes no sense.\u00c2\u00a0 Sitting on the couch with those doofus glasses.\u00c2\u00a0 But every 3-D iPad will come with WHITE glasses!\u00c2\u00a0 Can you imagine the rage?\u00c2\u00a0 Haven’t heard from Kanye recently?\u00c2\u00a0 That’s because he’s part of the 3-D iPad launch!\u00c2\u00a0 He’s going to promote the white glasses!\u00c2\u00a0 Dr. Dre and Beats headphones?\u00c2\u00a0 Come on.\u00c2\u00a0 Monster compared to Apple?\u00c2\u00a0 Iovine’s no match for Jobs.\u00c2\u00a0 Whatever happened to that Jimmy sponsored high quality sound for computers…go the way of SACD and DVD-A?<\/p>\n
Anyway, despite turning EMI into a catalog company, there will be a road open into the new Apple-owned EMI (for the record, the EMI name will be dropped…no, it won’t be called Apple Records, because of the Beatle conflict, the record company will just be another division of Apple Inc.)\u00c2\u00a0 Apple has brokered a deal with SonicBids, wherein wannabes can submit music to be used in iPad promotions.\u00c2\u00a0 One wonders how this works, because of the low quantity of music ultimately required and the vast number of submissions, but that hasn’t stopped SonicBids in the past, so…<\/p>\n
In other words, Apple will be in the new music business, but only for songs they can use to cross-promote Apple products.\u00c2\u00a0 Furthermore, if you make a deal with Apple, you cannot tie in with any other company.\u00c2\u00a0 Steve loves his walled garden.\u00c2\u00a0 So, if you’re contemplating a deal with Procter & Gamble, don’t waste your time with SonicBids.<\/p>\n
So what does this mean for music?<\/p>\n
The story since the purchase of Lala has been cloud-based listening.\u00c2\u00a0 But now that Apple owns not only the Beatles, but the Beach Boys and the Band (what Steve refers to as the "Three B’s"), the company plans to drive down the price of music at the iTunes Store.\u00c2\u00a0 Yes, within thirty days, every EMI track will be a dime.\u00c2\u00a0 The major labels wanted higher prices??\u00c2\u00a0 Let them wrestle with LOWER prices!\u00c2\u00a0 Yes, music will be a loss leader, all to sell iPads, iPods and iPhones.\u00c2\u00a0 Everybody knows the money’s in hardware.\u00c2\u00a0 Furthermore, with streaming imminent, why not blow out MP3s?\u00c2\u00a0 It took Universal ten years after Napster to drop the price of the CD to ten bucks?\u00c2\u00a0 Apple can see that ownership is near extinction, they want to blow out product while they can.<\/p>\n
As for the Beatles…\u00c2\u00a0 They will only be available in Apple Lossless format.\u00c2\u00a0 Yoko Ono insisted.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s a way of separating John from the legacy of Phil Spector, who famously wore that button "Back To Mono".\u00c2\u00a0 By only making high quality files available, fidelity will be luscious, you won’t get the compressed Wall of Sound and Phil can rot in jail, where Ono believes he belongs.<\/p>\n
But, you say those lossless files take forever to download, they’re bandwidth hogs!<\/p>\n
Not Apple’s problem.\u00c2\u00a0 You pay for your Wi-Fi.\u00c2\u00a0 And good luck downloading via AT&T on 3G, which is why Jobs will reveal the Verizon iPhone and iPads before the 3G model actually launches.<\/p>\n
Controlling the music game, owning EMI and retail, forcing the other three major companies to play on his terms or die, Mr. Jobs is now moving into the touring sphere, where the majority of today’s music money resides.<\/p>\n
A deal has been brokered with Live Nation.\u00c2\u00a0 With every concert ticket, you get a free download of the show within twenty four hours, IN VIDEO!\u00c2\u00a0 Well, not every concert, just those acts controlled by Front Line.\u00c2\u00a0 Yup, starts with the Eagles.\u00c2\u00a0 Then Van Halen, who will be back on the road, although Valerie Bertinelli will not be singing backup, Perez Hilton’s information is incorrect.\u00c2\u00a0 Irving’s plowing ahead with those acts who’ve collapsed all their rights and can make these deals.\u00c2\u00a0 Yes, that was Terry McBride’s concept, and his old charges the Barenaked Ladies, having a deal with EMI, will immediately make their concerts available on iPads too.<\/p>\n
With so much power residing in Azoff and Rapino’s empire, acts under contract to labels will clamor for their companies to grant iPad concert rights too.\u00c2\u00a0 Soon, well, in two or three years, you know how slow the majors work, every concert ticket will come with a video.\u00c2\u00a0 Expect audio first.\u00c2\u00a0 You know how the majors like to dip their toes.\u00c2\u00a0 Then again, Jobs has hired Hilary Rosen to whip the labels into shape, telling them this is the second coming, to get on board NOW, not to screw up like they did ten years ago.<\/p>\n
Then, there’s the true breakthrough.\u00c2\u00a0 iPads at the show.<\/p>\n
Yes, your iPad is your ticket.\u00c2\u00a0 The screen will display a giant bar code.\u00c2\u00a0 And this will thwart scalpers…like they’re going to buy a boatload of iPads?\u00c2\u00a0 Then again, just like acts scalp their own tickets, there’s rumor of a back door deal between Azoff and Apple to do just this, sell discounted iPads to brokers, Azoff getting his money directly from Apple…<\/p>\n
And once you’ve got your iPad at the gig, let the games begin!<\/p>\n
Sure, you can tweet, and update your Facebook page.\u00c2\u00a0 But, for an extra fee, you can get backstage video, every fan’s true desire.\u00c2\u00a0 For even more money, you get a personal greeting from the band member of your choice, to keep forever (or as long as your iPad works…)\u00c2\u00a0 There’s been talk of a further opportunity, one involving intimate involvement with performers after the show, but so far this has only been legally cleared in Nevada.\u00c2\u00a0 Then again, Las Vegas is a burgeoning concert location.<\/p>\n
Will iPads dominate at festivals?<\/p>\n
Interesting question.\u00c2\u00a0 Do you want Coachella Crud on your iPad?\u00c2\u00a0 Or Stagecoach Schmutz?\u00c2\u00a0 There’s talk of a new device, much smaller, called the iWrist, but with such a small screen, it may be unworkable.<\/p>\n
As for now, Steve Jobs illustrates his mercurial nature once again, doing the unexpected, swooping in and seizing an opportunity available to all, but making it work as a result of synergy.\u00c2\u00a0 Yes, Microsoft kicked the tires.\u00c2\u00a0 And Elevation Partners too.\u00c2\u00a0 But Microsoft has got no hardware, no way to maximize the value.\u00c2\u00a0 It made no sense for Ballmer to overpay.\u00c2\u00a0 Sure, he could put Beatle pictures and music on Bing, but that’s hard to truly monetize.<\/p>\n
Palm’s got the device, but no money and no traction.\u00c2\u00a0 Bono and Paul McGuinness met with Guy Hands, but refused to put any of their own money into the deal.\u00c2\u00a0 Guy told them U2 might be the biggest band in the world, but he couldn’t sell the company on faith.\u00c2\u00a0 As for trusting Roger McNamee…that just elicited a laugh.<\/p>\n
As for Google…\u00c2\u00a0 That was the reason for the Jobs\/Schmidt summit last weekend <\/p>\n
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