Vivendi/Apple & Sam Antupit

[RichardWarner]

So the LA Times and various other outlets are reporting that Apple may offer up to $6b to purchase Universal Music from Vivendi. Regardless of what you think of the business opportunity, this is exactly what those of us who hunger for cut out music are hoping for.

Give Steve Jobs credit. The hidden value of these music giants is the back catalog that sits in tape storage vaults --- too expensive to mass produce, warehouse, and stock in stores. But at $1 a song for a download, who wouldn't pay to purchase music by (fill in the blank) that's been out of print for eons.

This would NOT mean Alpert tunes would be available automatically because, like Chicago, Wendy Carlos and others, the rights have reverted back to the artist.

Herb still might not go for release of all the back catalog online even if he could be convinced it's secure. He has both a hang up about that period of his life and the music he made ("no interest in it")...plus, word on this board was that he was working on a box set.

But you could count on downloads for a myriad of A&M (and other labels) releases using the Apple system. Search, click, pay, download.

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On another note, Sam Antupit died last weekend, according to the NY Times. Sam, a Pete Turner protoge, designed the CTI/A&M album layout.

 

[Rudy]

I think it would be a bad move financially...AOL certainly isn't doing well (hemorraging money) after joining with Time/Warner. While you can't exactly blame AOL's woes on that, certainly the bad performance of one sector of the company can't help the others.

I would still feel more secure if another entertainment company got Universal. Vivendi has already killed a lot of it. But what can you expect when a bottled water company gets its claws into a record company?

 

[W.B.]

And there's something else to think about: namely, Sony's experience after acquiring both CBS Records and Columbia Pictures. That company's become as rigid, exclusivist and paranoid as the other entertainment-media megaconglomerates. Something tells me Apple will likely fall into that trap if the deal were to go through.

 

[Rudy]

And Sony is funny to watch: the music arm wants copy protection, worries about piracy, etc., and the hardware side sells computers, CD-RW discs, CD recorders, etc.

 

[Mr Bill]

Mixed emotions here. I can see Jobs and company doing just that --making all our favorite music available by download for a small fee. That's a good idea. What I DOfear is that to give their MAC platform more than its current 7-8% share of the PC market they'd likely make downloading a nightmare for PC ("Wintel" is the correct term, BTW, after all a MAC is a "Personal Computer) users and a simple click through for MAC users and their overrated IPODs...

--Mr Bill
whose MAC once told him "there's not enough memory to empty the trash" -- something a Wintel machine has yet to do...

 

[Rudy]

Then again, if the purchase did go through, and business really tanked, it would be the final nail in Apple's coffin. And Universal would be up for sale again at fire sale prices.

 

[jimac51]

Today's spin on these neverending rumors has Bloomberg Business News suggesting a possible management-led levereged buyout by UMV's Doug Morris,Jimmy Iovine and Lyor Cohen in partnership with Apple. According to the French paper "Le Figaro",the management trio made an offer of $5 billion a few months ago,but was turnded down by Vivendi Universal. Apple's solo bid of six billion also seems to be a bit low. One anaylst questions how Apple can finance a deal. Microsft has also been mentioned in the same breath as Apple-and so it goes...Mac