AfterDawn: Tech news

Licensing issues keeping iTunes track samples at 30 seconds, for time being

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 08 Sep 2010 1:50 User comments (5)

Licensing issues keeping iTunes track samples at 30 seconds, for time being Before Apple's much-hyped media event on the 1st, it was reported that CEO Steve Jobs was actively trying to get iTunes Store track samples extended to 60, or even 90 seconds, from the current 30.
The event came and passed, and nothing about the time lengths of the samples was discussed by Jobs or the country.

Cnet says today that licensing issues are holding up the process, but that Jobs is still in active discussions to get the samples extended to 90 seconds.

Says Hanna Pantle, a spokeswoman for BMI, one of the organizations that collects royalties for publishers and songwriters: "We are in active negotiations with Apple."



Furthermore, Apple has already received the go ahead to extend the samples, from the record labels. Their existing contract with the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) also allows for 90 seconds, so it appears to be just a couple of holdouts keeping the update from occurring.

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5 user comments

18.9.2010 02:42

just a thought but my bittorrent client allows me to sample what i like without any of the annoying licensing issues and also allows me to port my music to whatever device i like so i think ill give itunes a miss

28.9.2010 05:25

Geez...90 seconds? The average pop song is only about 120 seconds...and it is usually just the same thing repeating 4 times, so you could just reloop the last 30 seconds and you have the whole song, free and legal!

38.9.2010 09:13

I with ebald on this one. Never liked itunes.

48.9.2010 14:50

See..even doing things legally gets you screwed, The labels want it both ways.

58.9.2010 15:47

Why does a sample have to be more then 30 secs anyway???? Thats why its called a sample!

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