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Apple stepping up pressure on music labels to snub Amazon
原帖地�: TechSpott - Computer and technology forums http://www.techspott.com//showthread.php?p=598
Quote

Apple has allegedly been pressuring music labels to ditch Amazon MP3's "Daily Deal" promotions, lest they be excluded from being promoted through the iTunes machine. According to anonymous executives speaking to Billboard, Apple has always been uncomfortable with the labels double dipping with both iTunes and Amazon, but the company has ramped up its complaints lately in an attempt to retain its lead in the online music market. Though Apple still remains in the number one spot among all music retailers, the move is indicative that Apple takes competition from Amazon very seriously.

One unnamed music executive said that, when Amazon first launched its Daily Deal section in 2008, the labels weren't included in the discussion and no one was given any special privileges for being there. Nowadays, however, Amazon has asked labels to give the company a one-day exclusive before street date in order to be featured in the Daily Deals. This was the turning point for iTunes, it seems—iTunes reps allegedly began threatening to "[withdraw] marketing support for certain releases featured as Daily Deals" if labels continued participating.

Speaking about iTunes, another major label executive told Billboard that "[t]hey are . . . diverting their energy from 'let's make this machine better' to 'let's protect what we got.'"

Some of those threats have apparently worked: labels representing Corinne Bailey Rae, Lady Antebellum, and Ke$ha have all reportedly pulled out of Daily Deals consideration in favor of staying on Apple's good side. And, because Apple's distaste for the Daily Deals at Amazon has become widely known in the industry, other labels have decided not to play the game at all by holding back their online offerings on the street date and the day before.

Amazon MP3 has been gaining popularity rather quickly since its launch in 2007, due largely to the fact that it was the first major online music store with a fully DRM-free library. In late 2008, market research firm NPD Group noted that Amazon MP3's gains were not coming at the expense of iTunes, though. Instead, NPD said Amazon had been building its own user base and that only 10 percent of Amazon's customers had previously bought through iTunes.

Last year, however, NPD released a new report saying that Amazon had already taken the number two spot in online-only music sales—iTunes sat at 69 percent with Amazon MP3 at eight percent. Even though the differences in market share were significant, Apple knows that Amazon is gunning for its spot and that it's only a matter of time before the two are on more equal footing.