In a discussion with Reuters yesterday, Apple CEO Steve Jobs went on the record on his stance on a subscription based music service in the iTunes store. “Never say never, but customers don’t seem to be interested in it…The subscription model has failed so far.”
This statement from Jobs comes just days before Apple and the music industry are to begin contract renewal negotiations.
Many music industry executives would love it if Apple started a subscription based model to allow the music companies more revenue, but Jobs remains a firm believer that people want to own their music. While the music industry may decide to push for this, Jobs and Co. will mostly likely counter with a push for more DRM concessions.
“We’ve said by the end of this year, over half of the songs we offer on iTunes we believe will be in DRM-free versions,” Jobs said. “I think we’re going to achieve that.”
5 thoughts on “Jobs says “No” to Music Subscriptions, “Yes” to more DRM-Free music on the way”
Steve Jobs is right, so far the subscription models have failed. But having the iPod imcompatible (and vice versa) with those services that use the subscription model, has been more than any other reason for their failure.
@nitt
I agree. I don’t think you can judge the success of something like a subscription model until you’ve had it implemented on the industry leading player. I think the primary reason that we don’t see a subscription model for iTunes is because it means less money for Apple.
I think its pretty obvious people want to own their music, subscriptions are really dumb imo and I would never use one. I think it would be nice for Apple to put their foot down and say no to them, but if adding a subcription model meant having all DRM free tracks. I think we might be seeing it in the near future.
I’m all for the subscription service, I’d use it.
However, I think it would be good if Apple could make both scenarios possible. If you want to buy your music, great! If you want all the music you want (but not own it) that’s do able too.
@ Derek
I actually talked about doing just that in today’s podcast (which should go live in a few minutes)