When Apple announced iTunes Radio for iOS 7, it was as a US only service, at least at first. Unfortunately, that might not change until 2014 at the earliest, even for countries like Canada, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Scandinavia, which typically enjoy early Apple rollouts. From speaking with people in the music industry over the years, I've continually heard what an utter pain it is getting content licensing deals, especially outside the US, even for Apple. Andy Fixmer and Adam Satariano of Bloomberg point out that even though it may feel slow, it's still faster than many rival services have been able to grow their offerings:
Apple is moving faster than Pandora because it forged agreements for international rights with Vivendi SA (VIV)’s Universal Music Group and other record companies, said one of the people. Pandora, which hasn’t struck similar deals, relies on rights granted by government entities, limiting service to the U.S., Australia and New Zealand.
So year, I want it now too, and I want a world where it doesn't have to be this time consuming or painful every period single period time period technology moves forward. But we don't live in that world. We live in the world of uphill content battles. Luckily, Apple's well armed.
If you're in the US, feel free to tell me what I'm missing out on with iTunes Radio. If you're outside the US, tell me - how interested are you in Apple's streaming music service?
Source: Bloomberg
     |
Eliza Dushku
Adriana Lima
No comments:
Post a Comment