Jobs: Subscriptions won't fly

Steve Jobs unveiling the iPhone in January.

With Apple in the midst of its latest round of negotiations with the major labels over the terms under which it will sell music on iTunes, much has been made about the label's desire for subscriptions, which supply them with a steady revenue stream for music that is rented, not owned. In an interview with Reuters last week, Apple CEO Steve Jobs said customers don't seem interested in the "all you can eat," unlimited rentals for a monthly fee model.

"Never say never, but customers don't seem to be interested in it," Jobs told Reuters. "The subscription model has failed so far. People want to own their music." Industry executives and analysts told Reuters last week that they expect Apple to push for further concessions from record companies on selling music without copy-protection software known as digital rights management. In February, Jobs urged all four major labels to drop DRM, and the company has convinced EMI to do just that.

Warner Music, Snocap ink MyStore deal

T.I.

Warner Music Group and Snocap said today they have signed an agreement to include WMG's catalog in Snocap's database, allowing WMG artists like T.I., Nickelback, and Danity Kane to sell their music straight from their MySpace pages. But unlike the previous deals Snocap has inked for MyStores, the music will not be sold in a DRM-free MP3 format, but in a Windows Media format that will contain DRM (digital rights management) technology that restricts what a user can do with downloaded music. The Snocap MyStore is a digital storefront, backed by Snocap's online content registry of more than 3.3 million tracks.

Students sentenced for iPod assault

Frank Burd

Two Philadelphia high school students who assaulted a teacher in February after he took one of their iPods away--leaving the teacher with a broken neck--were sentenced this week. As the 60-year-old Germantown High School teacher, Frank Burd, looked on, Donte Boykin, 18, and James Footman, 15, were placed under a judge's discretion until they turn 21.

Boykin, a senior in Burd's algebra class, pushed Burd for confiscating his iPod. When Burd fell into Footman, the troubled freshman punched Burd in the face three times, causing Burd to fall face-first onto the hallway floor and break his neck. Burd said his doctors had told him he was extremely lucky. "I'm not paralyzed, and I'm not dead," he said. "I'm really going to be OK." Boykin was ordered to attend a private residential juvenile facility in Western Pennsylvania to complete his high school education, while Footman, who had previously assaulted a school administrator, must stay of indeterminate length at one of the state's secure youth detention centers.

Crimea to give away new album

Crimea's Davey Macmanus

British indie rock band Crimea is about to give one of the most prevalent theories on the digital music business a test, perhaps with its future success riding on the outcome. Convinced that it can make up for album sales revenue with money from touring, merchandising, and licensing deals, the band is set to give its new album away as a free download. The band's self-financed second album, Secrets of the Witching Hour, is available as a free download from its Web site.

The move is the centerpiece of the band's do-it-yourself approach. Despite selling a respectable 35,000 copies of their debut album, Tragedy Rocks, and making the UK top 40 with the single "Lottery Winners on Acid," the band was last year dropped by their record label, Warner Music.

IODA inks Chicago Symphony deal

Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Digital distribution giant IODA said this week that is has landed a deal to bring the catalog of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra to digital stores like iTunes Store, Rhapsody, and Napster. The deal, between IODA and the orchestra's new in-house recording label CSO Resound, focuses on the orchestra's live performances at its home, Symphony Center. IODA has been steadily building its classical catalog, which also includes the San Francisco Symphony's Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 7 and the London Symphony Orchestra's VERDI Falstaff.