iTunes Store

Coldplay Album Breaks iTunes Pre-Sale, First-Week Records

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on June 26, 2008 - 1:37pm.

Los Angeles - Coldplay's new album "Viva la Vida or Death And All His Friends" sold 288,000 digital copies in its first week in the U.S., some 275,000 of which are thought to have been sold at Apple's (NASD: AAPL) iTunes Store -- breaking the retailer's pre-sale and first-week sales records, Digital Music News reported. Nearly 40% of the 721,000 total albums sold were digital copies.

Beck Previews Album on TouchTunes; Offers iTunes Pre-sale

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on June 24, 2008 - 10:04am.

New York - Interscope/Geffen recording artist Beck will preview his new album "Modern Guilt" via 10,000 Internet-connected digital jukeboxes on TouchTunes' nationwide network a week before its official release on July 8. Meanwhile, fans who pre-order the album from Apple's iTunes Store are being made eligible to participate in a special concert ticket presale for Beck's upcoming tour, in conjunction with Ticketmaster.

Apple: iTunes Store Tops 5 Billion Songs Sold

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on June 19, 2008 - 10:13am.

Cupertino, Calif. - Apple (NASD: AAPL) said on Thursday that more than 5 billion songs have now been purchased and downloaded from its iTunes Store. iTunes has become the largest music retailer in the U.S., based on the amount of music sold during January and February as tallied by NPD Group's MusicWatch survey.

Individual Radiohead Tracks Now on Sale from iTunes Store

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on June 3, 2008 - 12:46pm.

Cupertino, Calif. - Radiohead's catalog is now available for download in DRM-free format from Apple's (NASD: AAPL) iTunes store, after the band apparently caved on its stance that its songs only be sold bundled as albums. Apple's policy dictates that consumers may purchase individual songs. Radiohead's music has been available on digital services like 7digital since last year, but only as full albums.

Hollywood Movies Coming to U.K., Canada iTunes Stores

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on May 29, 2008 - 11:23am.

London - Apple (NASD: AAPL) is expected to soon begin selling movies from four major Hollywood studios from its iTunes Stores in the U.K. and Canada, which to this point had only sold music and TV shows, the Times Online reports. Pricing for the store was not provided, although the studios named were Paramount, Disney, 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros. Lionsgate and MGM are also reported to be included in the launch.

NBCU and iTunes Make Nice, in U.K. at Least

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on May 13, 2008 - 7:27am.

London - In a sign that the companies may be resolving their dispute over TV show pricing at Apple's (NASD: AAPL) iTunes Store that led NBC (NYSE: GE) to remove its programs late last year, five NBC shows are now available for purchase from the U.K. version of the iTunes Store, Macworld.com reported. The series -- "Heroes," "House," "The Incredible Hulk," "Eureka" and "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys" -- are all produced by Universal Media Studios, and notably feature variable pricing -- one of the sticking points in failed negotiations in the U.S.

"Passing Strange" First iTunes Exclusive Broadway Cast Album

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on May 12, 2008 - 1:04pm.

Los Angeles - Ghostlight Records will be the first to offer an original cast recording from a Broadway show exclusively on iTunes when it adds the "Passing Strange" album to the store on May 27, Variety reports. The CD version of the album is not expected in stores until July.

Emmis Pacts with Apple for iTunes-Enabled Radio Station Stores

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on May 12, 2008 - 1:02pm.

Chicago - Emmis Interactive, the online unit of the radio broadcaster, on Monday announced a licensing agreement with Apple (NASD: AAPL) to market its custom Storefront technology to other radio stations. The technology lets radio stations build a storefront where listeners can purchase songs they hear on-air using their own existing iTunes Store accounts.

Report: HBO Shows Coming to iTunes with Flexible Pricing

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on May 12, 2008 - 8:52am.

New York - Apple (NASD: AAPL) will soon announce a new deal with Time Warner's (NYSE: TWX) HBO that will bring TV episodes to its iTunes Store under a new, separate pricing structure from other partners, Portfolio.com reported, citing HBO employees involved in executing the agreement.

Movie Studios Add Day-and-Date DVD Releases to iTunes Store

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on May 1, 2008 - 8:54am.

Cupertino, Calif. - Apple (NASD: AAPL) on Thursday announced that new release movies from the major Hollywood studios will now be made available for purchase and download from the iTunes Store on the same day as their DVD releases, and will be priced at $14.99. Participating studios include 20th Century Fox (NYSE: NWS), The Walt Disney Studios (NYSE: DIS), Warner Bros. (NYSE: TWX), Paramount Pictures (NYSE: VIA), Universal Studios Home Entertainment (NYSE: GE), Sony Pictures Entertainment (NYSE: SNE), Lionsgate, Image Entertainment and First Look Studios.

BBC America Adds TV Episodes to iTunes Store

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on April 29, 2008 - 11:28am.

New York - The BBC announced on Tuesday that it has made BBC America programming available for purchase for the first time from Apple's iTunes Store. The offering will include episodes of "Little Britain," "Torchwood" and "Robin Hood," with new episodes of the latter to debut on iTunes 24 hours after their network premieres.

20th Century Fox, Paramount Add New Release Titles to iTunes

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on April 16, 2008 - 8:46am.

Los Angeles - News Corp.'s (NYSE: NWS) 20th Century Fox and Viacom's (NYSE: VIA) Paramount Pictures have joined Disney in the practice of offering films for purchase and download from Apple's (NASD: AAPL) iTunes Store on the same day they are released on DVD, with Fox adding "Juno" to the retailer's offering on Tuesday, Variety reported.

Starbucks to Offer Free "Pick of the Week" Downloads on iTunes

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on April 15, 2008 - 12:33pm.

Seattle - Starbucks (NYSE: SBUX) announced on Tuesday that it has partnered with Apple's (NASD: AAPL) iTunes Store to launch a Pick of the Week promotion, which will see 1.5 million free iTunes song and music video download cards distributed each week to customers in 7,000 U.S. Starbucks locations. The downloads will be selected by the Starbucks Entertainment team and iTunes. The first pick is the Counting Crows' new single, "Washington Square"; other artists on deck include Carly Simon, Adele, Sia and Hilary McRae. The companies said their previous Song of the Day promotion in October 2007 resulted in over 6 million downloads.

Report: Only 10% of Amazon MP3 Customers Also Used iTunes

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on April 15, 2008 - 8:42am.

New York - The digital music market may be bigger than previously thought, as a new report from market research firm NPD Group found that only 10% of customers at Amazon.com's (NASD: AMZN) new MP3 store had also purchased songs from Apple's (NASD: AAPL) iTunes Store. "The fact that Amazon's early growth does not appear to be at the expense of Apple iTunes is a healthy indication that the digital music customer pool can expand into new consumer groups who have not yet joined the iTunes community," NPD analyst Russ Crupnick.

Report: 61% of U.S. Teens Download Music Illegally

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on April 11, 2008 - 9:20am.

Minneapolis - While a majority of U.S. teens still use illicit file-sharing services to download music, their numbers decreased slightly over the past year, with 61% reporting they download music illegally, compare with 64% a year ago, according to a recent survey from Piper Jaffray.

Report: Lollapalooza Artist Collaborations to Sell on iTunes

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on April 8, 2008 - 12:14pm.

Los Angeles - Perry Farrell, the former Jane's Addiction frontman who also created the Lollapalooza music festival, said that this year's event in Chicago will feature recordings of collaborations between various artists scheduled to perform at the festival, which will be sold on iTunes and then performed onstage during the event, MTV News reported. An Apple (NASD: AAPL) spokesperson told MTV that talks were underway, but nothing had been formalized. "We're going to have collaborations -- people collaborating on songs -- and then put them on iTunes, and then they'll perform them at Lollapalooza for a once-in-a-lifetime experience," Farrell told MTV News.

iTunes Store Canada Removes Anti-Gay Songs from Catalog

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on April 8, 2008 - 11:54am.

Los Angeles - Apple's (NASD: AAPL) iTunes Store in Canada has removed several songs by Jamaican dancehall artists from its catalog, after complaints about lyrics that advocate the killing of gay people were raised by LGBT groups Egale Canada and Stop Murder Music, Xtra.ca reported.

iTunes Overtakes Wal-Mart as Top Music Retailer in U.S.

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on April 3, 2008 - 9:43am.

Cupertino, Calif. - Apple's (NASD: AAPL) iTunes Store has surpassed Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) to become the No. 1 music retailer in the U.S., according to new figures from market research firm NPD Group. iTunes surpassed the retail giant based on the amount of music sold during January and February.

Radiohead Launches Song Remix Contest with iTunes

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on April 1, 2008 - 11:30am.

Los Angeles - Radiohead has partnered with Apple's (NASD: AAPL) iTunes Store to give fans the ability to create their own remix for their new single "Nude," offering the separate vocal and instrumental parts of the song for download from the online store.

Starz, Manga Entertainment Shows Added to iTunes Store

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 25, 2008 - 11:12am.

Burbank, Calif. - Liberty Media's (NASD: LINTA) Starz Media said on Tuesday that it has added programming from Starz Entertainment and Manga Entertainment to Apple's (NASD: AAPL) iTunes Store. The company added shows including Starz's "Head Case" and "Hollywood Residential," as well as Manga's "Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex" and "Tokko."