This article has been imported from chorus.fm for discussion. All of the forum rules still apply. Jimmy Iovine talked with Billboard about why the music industry may be too optimistic about streaming: Getting into the weeds, Iovine went on to point out labels’ inevitable hardships over royalties derived from back catalogs amidst this new landscape. As rights for older catalog albums hit their contract reversion dates, it will be hard for labels to negotiate the type of splits they formerly took for granted. Likewise, on newer releases, artists are entering contract discussions with the leverage of millions of fans behind them already and getting better deals than ever before, he said, pounding his fist on the table to accent his point. “That’s a great thing but what I’m saying is that everybody has got an issue … the problem is not solved yet, the solution is not there. And I could poke holes in any of it, because I live it. And some of these things have got to be dealt with.” Expand - View Original
He runs Apple Music ... he's literally talking about the future in this interview, not trying to send anyone back to the past.
Maybe a stupid question but... Why doesn't iTunes or some other company just put a DRM lock on MP3's when a new release comes out? That way it can't be shared or uploaded anywhere. It can only play from your device that you downloaded it to. If your new music was released only through this outlet, wouldn't it be a way to make people pay for music again because of exclusivity? I'm assuming that you'd have to get a rather large artist to be on board with this idea in order for something like this to work so others would follow suite. I don't know, just a thought I had.