Apple Launches iTunes Volume Discount Program

An anonymous reader writes "Apple has launched a volume discount program for iTunes. The program allows for volume purchases of songs for giveaways, incentives, and others. Seems like this is what is going on beyond straight licensing programs to universities like Florida State."

mmm apple marketing

[ihatewinXP]

In a nutshell Apple is standardizing their marketing incentives for 3rd parties to come and take as they see fit. I would expect a steady stream of revenue coming from this program for a number of years. Just like the creation of iTunes gift certificates and allowances lets parents bot keep tabs on things and give a present at the same time, these volume certificates will allow universities and corporations to do the same.

Apple is doing a pretty good job IMHO on leveraging the music store to both make money and make mindshare. I have seen a number of Apple logos in _strange_ places on campus due to crosspromotions with pepsi and the school.

Re:mmm apple marketing

[danamania]

In a nutshell Apple is standardizing their marketing incentives for 3rd parties to come and take as they see fit. I would expect a steady stream of revenue coming from this program for a number of years. Just like the creation of iTunes gift certificates and allowances lets parents bot keep tabs on things and give a present at the same time, these volume certificates will allow universities and corporations to do the same.

Given the fact a few colleges & universities have already gone the supply-music-

How soon

[NivekEnterprises]

How soon until another company uses this to sell iTunes songs at discount? I would probably be a taker.

Mod parent down.

[tiktokfx]

Read the freaking website From the FAQ: "Restrictions on re-selling codes Q: Can I purchase these codes and re-sell them to customers for my promotion? A: No. iTunes song codes are available for purchase as giveaway items only. Song codes may not be re-sold to customers or other third parties."

Re:Mod parent down.

[NivekEnterprises]

All that they would have to do is have a raffel with a $0.75 entry fee. the prize would be a song, and everyone would be a winner. maybe sneaky, but thats the way to have fun.

That does not fit the description of a promotion

[tiktokfx]

As no other product is being promoted.

Re:That does not fit the description of a promotio

[macdaddy]

Sure it does. I've seen that very thing done many times. We raffle off a donated cooler or other such container which just happens to have something that they manufacturer claim couldn't be resold. We weren't selling them. We sold the cooler. The contents just happened to be included.

No, a promition PROMOTES by definition

[tiktokfx]

and is not simply reselling something. You sell raffle tickets to some sort of item on the premise that you are getting much more than the item is worth, because the money you raise is for some purpose other than simply selling the item. Hence, a PROMOTION and not a RESELLING.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

[Anonymous Coward]

For anyone wondering how they plan to make money off this.

J. TERMS AND CONDITIONS:

...

Goods, including song codes which expire unused, are not redeemable for cash and cannot be returned for a cash refund, exchanged, or used to purchase gift certificates or provide allowances by either Purchaser or possessor of Goods ("Holder").

...

Makes Sense for Apple

[LinuxMacWin]

Besides all the promotion etc., think of the CC processing fees they would be saving. The second biggest chunk in the $0.99 purchase price was CC processing fee. With this move, they eliminate 25-30c from their costs, give 20 to their customers and maybe get to keep a few cents themselves.

I know nothing is that simple, and it would cost them to build software for bulk purchase, keep track of codes etc., but I think this is a good move for long term.

Oh, so only now the volume discount?

[giaguara]

Did anyone ever believe that Pepsi Co etc who have bought 100,000,000 tracks in iTMS paid the full price?

wow, this is great

[Anonymous Coward]

I hope Apple can make enough on each unit sold, it must be expensive to manufacture each digital song.

I wonder if there will ever come a day when music can be reproduced for nearly zero cost.. can you imagine how inexpensive it will be! I bet CDs would be $2 and music downloads would be pennies.

Re:wow, this is great

[discogravy]

When you come back to reality, let the rest of us know, OK?

A system like this needs infrastructure of some sort. Note that the "free" programs that do this don't have much in the way of quality control, and you really can't trust the song that you download to be the song that you *wanted* to download. There's nothing to keep me from recording myself farting and belching for 4 minutes and putting it up on KaZaa or what-have-you labelled "Bjork - Medulla Demos - 01. (untitled).mp3". I'm willing to bet I'd get

Not for general public!

[mh101]

Notice the part of the web page that says:

The minimum volume purchase is 25,000 songs for commercial entities and 10,000 songs for colleges and universities.

This isn't a "$0.99 each, or 10 for $8" deal, so this won't make a difference for the vast majority of us.

Apple Records?

[DAldredge]

Does anyone know the status of the Lawsuit that Apple Records brought against Apple Computer?

Re:Apple Records?

[proj_2501]

it resulted in a new system beep for tiger entitled "sosumi remix". it was created by phil spector, but paul mccartney has released his own version based on original studio masters with very little postproduction.

Co-operative buying of iTunes

[crashcane]

I wonder if this will result in "co-ops" of iTunes Music Store users who band together to buy 25,000 songs at a discounted rate.

It seems like if you wanted 100 songs a year, you would just need 250 people like yourself to come together, pay apple $20,000, and everyone gets 20 songs free.

When I write out that final price, this seems less likely. But if there were some sort of online-escrow/bank account, maybe it would work.

Re:Co-operative buying of iTunes

[wheezl]

Though you would probably discover allofmp3.com first and not waste your time :)