U.S. record labels are dragging their feet in negotiations to bring music streaming service Spotify to American shores, a move reportedly aimed at give Apple a first crack at a similar subscription plan.
To stall for time, recording labels are demanding too much for licensing, according to Eliot Van Buskirk at Evolver.fm, citing “a well-connected source.”
Earlier today, we reported Apple’s unannounced iCloud music streaming service would give labels a new subscription revenue stream to replace the aging CD and digital sales.
The service would upload your iTunes collection to Apple’s servers, replacing some tracks with better-quality versions, according to BusinessWeek.
Observers see iCloud taking on the shape of a more expansive cloud-based alternative to the already-existing digital lockers announced by Google and Amazon.
The iCloud framework appears to follow a similar service from Lala, a streaming music service the Cupertino, Calif. firm acquired in 2010.
What would be your choice for music streaming? Apple’s iCloud which mirrors your iTunes collection or Spotify’s subscription-based service allowing you to listen to anything you want?
Ed Sutherland is a veteran technology journalist who first heard of Apple when they grew on trees, Yahoo was run out of a Stanford dorm and Google was an unknown upstart. Since then, Sutherland has covered the whole technology landscape, concentrating on tracking the trends and figuring out the finances of large (and small) technology companies.
18 responses to “Even In Utero, iCloud Is Killing Spotify”
Riaa and record companies are the worst things that have ever happened to the music industry.
So – do I get your question right? Would I rather want to pay a flat fee be able to listen to anything or would I prefer to pay a flat fee and only listen the music I own or buy?
What kind of question is that?
“What would be your choice for music streaming? Apple’s iCloud which mirrors your iTunes collection or Spotify’s subscription-based service allowing you to listen to anything you want?”
Neither.
Joe
Everybody that has tried Spotify knows it’s the best thing since sliced bread. What Apple and the record industry are doing is sickening.
My first concern would be being able to store all of the special tracks I have on my account in the cloud. There are many versions of some albums… remixes, remasters, vinyl rips, stereo, original mono versions of older albums, etc. Only having access to the one mainstream US release of an album may be too limiting for some.
It’s too bad that Spotify has such crappy range in their music selection, several of the albums that I listens to frequently in my iTunes library is missing entirely and a majority of the best tracks are missing from several albums.. Spotify is not worth the money IMO. The free variant has been so crippled that it’s almost not worth mentioning.
Looking forward to iCloud!
Wow! I just got a free beta invite to the Apple iCloud service from a blog, and I must say… It is simply amazing. It blows Google Music away, easily.
If you want to try out the iCloud music service for yourself, here’s the website I got my invite from:
http://appleicloudbeta.com.nu
If you’ve used Spotify the expected iCloud music service sounds so dull and limiting. I only use iTunes for podcasts now. With cloud based syncing of playlists between iPhone and Mac and the ability to take them offline I’ve no need to stream my own music collection. Going to be an underwhelming announcement I fear
people that have albums missing from spotify have to be from the US, i’ve got everything I need except pink floyd and metallica, so i just put the songs into my spotify playlist from my computer.
The only people who would choose itunes over spotify are the people who are heavily invested already and feel they’re wasting money by not wasting more.