[opendtv] News: Apple Sells 70 Million Songs in First Year of iTunes Service

Apple Sells 70 Million Songs in First Year of iTunes Service
By JOHN MARKOFF

Published: April 29, 2004

SAN FRANCISCO, April 28 -  Apple Computer said Wednesday that it had 
sold more than 70 million songs during the first year of its online 
iTunes music service.

The company, which struck a landmark deal with record companies last 
year to permit iTunes users to download copyrighted music, had 
originally said it believed it would sell 100 million songs during 
the first year of the service.

Steven P. Jobs, Apple's chief executive, said the company, based in 
Cupertino, Calif., is now selling 2.7 million songs a week, charging 
99 cents a song.

"We feel we have lots of momentum," Mr. Jobs said. He also said the 
iTunes music service had generated a small profit during the most 
recent quarter.

In recent weeks, Apple has renegotiated licensing arrangements with 
the five major record labels - Warner, Universal, EMI, BMG and Sony. 
In a teleconference, Mr. Jobs said the iTunes service now offered 
more than 450 independent labels and during the first year of 
operation had expanded the number of songs available for purchase 
from 200,000 to 700,000.

  On Wednesday, the company released a new version of its iTunes 
software, available for Macintosh and Windows PC users, that offers 
several new features, including music videos and the ability for 
users to publish "playlists" of their favorite songs.

When it was introduced last year, the iTunes service was considered a 
breakthrough for the music industry in its battle against the illegal 
downloading of music. Mr. Jobs said that Apple had negotiated with 
the record companies several modifications of the use rights 
permitted with digital music downloaded from the iTunes store.

  It is now possible to share iTunes songs among five personal 
computers instead of three. But the number of times a particular 
playlist can be burned on a CD has been reduced from 10 times to 7. 
"We don't think this will affect many of our users at all," Mr. Jobs 
said.

Apple has considered the idea of offering a subscription service, but 
does not feel there is sufficient demand, he said, noting that most 
users would rather own their music than rent it for a limited time.
 
 
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