Selling music online

[Charles Martin]

> From: Neville Thomas <nevillet at clear.net.nz>
> .mac doesn't offer much on the end of a modem down here, but iTunes is
> a worrying example of being "on the outer" and no suggestion from Apple
> as to its rectification.
>
Greetings, Auckland!

To be fair, we've got the iTMS ... but YOU'VE got Middle Earth!! :)

Kidding aside, I have talked with people inside and outside Apple about 
this very issue. The following is NOT to be interpreted as "speaking on 
behalf of Apple."

I assure you that every effort is being made to make the iTMS available 
to other countries, particularly the ones where Apple has good market 
presence. The main problem is that copyright laws (and enforcement) 
outside the US are quite different, and that other countries sometimes 
have further laws regarding sound recordings that go well beyond the 
way it's set up here in the US. To oversimplify dramatically, Apple 
doesn't really deal with copyright issues in the US -- that's left up 
to the record companies to sort out -- but that might not be the case 
where you are. And there are other issues Apple does have to deal with 
directly -- what's "explicit" or "not obscene" in the US might be quite 
different than what the AUS/NZ authorities deem "suitable for minors" 
and so on. And that's just ONE issue -- there's also "regional 
interests" (I doubt you all go for crap boy bands quite as much as we 
seem to) to cater to, new labels/owners to deal with, additional music 
to encode, other gov't restrictions to consider, 
capacity/bandwith/personnel to set up in that area of the world, etc 
etc.

In short, the iTMS makes it all LOOK easy, but underneath is a 
staggeringly complex operation.

Since NZ and Australia (who I assume would operate under the same 
copyrights/etc agreements) represent a large Apple presence outside the 
US (and are clearly home to a lot of music lovers -- look how many 
great bands have come from there!), Apple is NOT discounting how many 
potential customers they have in that region of the world.

In the meantime, I've heard of people outside the US who are able to 
purchase music via iTMS, but of course they have a US bank 
account-based credit or debit card. Many internet shoppers who 
frequently buy things from the US have invested in such a card for a 
wide variety of purchases.

Cheers,
_Chas_

If this country had a national motto, it would be "DOH!"