14 DAY TRIAL // Vivendi, one of the major labels is trying to make some waves by drawing attention to how badly its partner in the digital download business is treating it. Not only did Vivendi call Apple out on its horrible methods, but also announced that they are actively looking for new partners.
Vivendi CEO Jean-Bernard Levy has taken a stand against Apple, calling the contractual terms and the amount of the money they receive from every song sold 'indecent.' "Our contracts give too good a share to Apple," he said. This is not exactly new, as the labels have long been restless about Apple's fixed pricing policy and the amount of money they receive. Vivendi stated that of the ?0.99 that Apple charges for a song, they only receive ?0.70, the rest being taken by Apple. The CEO assured everyone that the company is looking into alternatives to "ensure that music is better remunerated."
Considering that Universal canceled the long-term contract it had with Apple and is not offering its catalogue on monthly basis, the speech was no doubt intended to scare Apple and get Jobs shaking in his boots. Unfortunately, calling the amount Apple keeps of every song sold indecent, and then stating that you get 70% of the total has the opposite effect. "How much does the artist get?" is a question that has been asked indecently, but to which there is no answer. Perhaps that is where the real indecency lies. As for Apple being greedy and taking too much, that money has to cover the cost of preparing the song, storing it, the bandwidth for transferring to the client and other costs that are not immediately apparent. Compared to the percentage of money that comes back to the label from a CD sold, the amount they receive from Apple per song is huge, as it is Apple itself the one to take care of everything iTunes Store related.
Jobs has called the major labels greedy before, but it is not often that they go out and confirm it with such public statements.