![\"iTunes](\"http:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/iTunes-music-South-Africa.jpg\" "\\"iTunes")
<\/a>iTunes music South Africa<\/p><\/div>\n
What\u2019s taken so long?<\/h3>\n
Licensing. Looking through the announcement from Apple, one will find that the 56 new countries are all frontier markets\u2026 all beyond the obscure Eastern European countries, random South-East Asian ones, and most of South America. To get into these obscure (\u2018frontier\u2019) countries, Apple needed to sign regional licensing and (local) content deals with record labels, not a trivial process. Also, it\u2019s no accident most of Africa is included in the 56 countries. Music rights are most often divided up as “Sub-Saharan Africa” by the suits in London.<\/p>\n
What about games?<\/h3>\n
The availability of games in iTunes remains a confusing nightmare. Current legislation means that games have to be submitted and classified\/rated by the Film and Publications Board (FPB) (yes, the same people who classified The Spear). But, the FPB has allowed distributors to keep distributing content while it finds a way to regulate it. I\u2019m not surprised Apple hasn\u2019t taken a chance.<\/p>\n
But the good news is the FPB has been \u201cworking on a system\u201d to allow such content to be sold without being (re-)classified here. More on the nanny-state quagmire here.<\/p>\n
What about movies?<\/h3>\n
Movies will come in time. This, too, is a licensing issue. In fact, of the 56 countries getting the music store on Tuesday, Russia, India, Indonesia and Turkey are getting movies too. There are well-placed rumours circulating that we\u2019ll see movies appearing in the SA iTunes store sometime next year.<\/p>\n
What about rival streaming services?<\/h3>\n
There\u2019s still a market for Simfy and other subscription-based music streaming services. In fact, some would argue that the market has moved beyond owning music and that \u2018renting\u2019 music via a subscription service is the future. It probably is. What if we think about music in the same way as we do a utility (see The Future of Music: Manifesto for the Digital Music Revolution)? I bought this book seven years ago and it\u2019s truly astonishing how ahead of its time it was.<\/p>\n
What about Musica?<\/h3>\n
Wonder why Clicks Group has been carefully and deliberately reducing store numbers and managing its margins over the past three years? Look at the now defunct Virgin Megastores worldwide and the possibly soon to be defunct HMV in the UK\u2026 CD sales have cratered, DVD sales have cratered. Expect the availability of iTunes Music Store in South Africa to hasten Clicks Group\u2019s \u2018rightsizing\u2019 of Musica.<\/p>\n
What about artists, record labels?<\/h3>\n
Ironically, artists win. South African artists now get exposure to that market of consumers who have Apple products \u2013 their target market. Many of those consumers haven\u2019t bought an album (including those by local musicians) for years, simply because there\u2019s been no easy way to do so. Some savvy users have used the US iTunes Store to buy music, but going that route has prejudiced our local artists.<\/p>\n
Record labels (most of whom fought Apple tooth-and-nail a decade ago) win. We spend more on music. And, given that digital albums are at least 30% cheaper than their physical equivalents, we really win (this isn\u2019t unique to SA or to iTunes).<\/p>\n
Consumers want to buy and not pirate music (in fact, all content). Just make it easy for us.<\/p>\n
Source: Moneyweb<\/a><\/p>\n iTunes music store in SA<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n iPhone 5 launch plans from Vodacom, Cell C<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n iTunes 11 launches<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n App Store games in SA \u201csoon\u201d?<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\nRelated articles<\/h3>\n