so does that mean the competitors are going to drop off and Apple will be among the last standing, since the deliberately low profit margin and exclusivity make them almost impossible to compete with?

With cuts like that, you know the labels will want to preserve business.

So perhaps more likley, they'll negotiate higher cuts for the servers in the future, lest the whole market implode.

But there will probably only be a few players that survive the melee.

Investors, get out your checkbooks!

Intern_8033 wrote:I thought there might be some interest in this...

http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/musi ... ory=564004

Apparently labels are making even more off of downloaded music than CDs.

The tiny margin will force most of these companies to go out of business. Apple never intended the music store to be profitable, rather to use it as a way to get people to buy iPods.

Yeah, we get .65 cents per song sold. It's weird to see sales like that.

Actually, most online mp3 sellers are around there.
Here is a list:
Apple iTunes .65 cents per song. $6.50 per full-album.
AudioLunchbox .65 cents per song. $6.50 per full-album.
BuyMusic A la carte downloads for 79 cents for anyone with Windows IE browser. .59 cents per song. $5.90 per full-album.
CatchMusic .55 cents per song.
EMEPE3 65 cents per song. $6.50 per full-album.
eMusic Total subscriber income divided among total download activity. Ends up being about 67 cents per song.
Etherstream 65 cents per song. $6.50 per full-album.
Mperia 75 cents per song. $7.50 per full-album.
MSN Music 65 cents per song. $6.50 per full-album.
MusicMatch 60 cents per song. $5.50 per full-album.
MusicNet 60 cents per song. $7.00 per full-album. $.002 per stream.
Napste 65 cents per song. $6.50 per full-album.
NetMusic 65 cents per song. $6.50 per full-album.
Puretracks 65 cents per song. $6.50 per full-album.
QTRnote 65 cents per song. $6.50 per full-album.
Rhapsody 65 cents per song. $6.50 per full-album. 1 cent per stream.
RuleRadio 65 cents per song. $6.50 per full-album.
Sony Connect 65 cents per song. $6.55 per full-album.
Viztas 60 cents per song. $6.10 per full-album.

All of this was from CD Baby

how much do the artists make per song?

gio wrote:how much do the artists make per song?

i dont think anyone ever thought to factor them in.

Moe Ron wrote:

gio wrote:how much do the artists make per song?

i dont think anyone ever thought to factor them in.

He he, no, seriously. What do they get, like two cents per song? Isn't that how it works--you get a ridiculously low cut of the percentage?

im curious about the albums that have over 20 songs on them. does bob dylan's Slef Portrait cost 24 dollars?

gio wrote:how much do the artists make per song?

It all depends on what the copyright holder or label gives them.


The numbers above are what is distributed to the labels.

Tom wrote:

gio wrote:how much do the artists make per song?

It all depends on what the copyright holder or label gives them.


The numbers above are what is distributed to the labels.

ah, i see, so that 65% or so is what the label then divvies up to cover its expenditures, pay its artists, and/or pad its pocket. thanks.

Moe Ron wrote:im curious about the albums that have over 20 songs on them. does bob dylan's Slef Portrait cost 24 dollars?

well, looks like you pay by song, so conceivably yes, that's what it would cost.

but the "benefit" is that you don't buy the tracks you don't want. If it's a crap album with twenty-six songs but three are pretty good, you can buy those three. I suppose that's the grand benefit that is passed over to the consumer.

It's interesting how this would make music consumption more granular, i.e. focus could move away from collections of songs onto the songs themselves, which I suppose started with radio and releasing singles and all.

I'm no fan of it, but hey, I'm also no businessman.