Contrary to widespread rumors that Apple will unveil a subscription based iTunes download model at the upcoming September 9th Event, Cnet reports that sources inside the music industry confirm the unlikeliness of any new release being based around music content.
When referring to the invitation Apple sent out yesterday, and the graphical representation of an iPod screen:
Sure, this suggests that Apple is gearing up for a music announcement. The trouble is, nobody in music appears to know anything about it. My sources say that they don’t expect Apple to announce anything to do with music content, and they are sure Apple won’t be rolling out an iTunes music subscription service.
Such a service has been rumored for some time but Apple still only has licenses with the major labels to offer digital downloads, sources said.
This means of course that the rumor skittering around about iTunes offering a social-networking service similar to iMeem or Last.fm may be bunk as well. Apple would have had to cut licensing deals for things like free streaming music and this hasn’t happened either.
Most people that I talked to connected with digital music are guessing that Apple’s announcement will focus on iPods. But again, they don’t know for sure.
Sources are shifting back focus on new iPods at the September 9th Event. It makes sense that Apple would need to have cut multiple streaming music deals with record companies, and that in order to have access to large bulks of iTunes content at once, for one price, the record industry would need a large portion of profits. Perhaps large enough of a cut would be demanded by the record industry, that it would hinder the success of the current iTunes business model of selling music. Surely something Apple would not risk.
Although the idea of a subscription based iTunes service sounds like it might work, when you get down to the nitty gritty, it would simply affect the current way iTunes does business, a little too much.
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