Is Streaming Finally Coming To iTunes?

The rumors have been running rampant over the web the last few days regarding the upcoming changes to iTunes, which seem to have been leaked out of Cupertino.

According to the leaks, Apple will overhaul its iTunes music store by the end of the year. The revamp will reported include more integration with the company's iCloud storage service, and its ill-conceived Ping music social network will get the axe. In Ping's place will come closer integration of Facebook via the upcoming iOS6.


Apparently Apple has also been in talks with all the major labels. While some say it's over the ability for iTunes users to increase song sharing via iCloud, others say that it might be over the long-awaited subscription service that could be built into iTunes.


Whatever Apple is planning, it appears to be a key in iTunes expansion into Asia, which just added 12 new countries (Brunai, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand, Laos, Macau, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Vietnam).


Another quiet release was the new stand-alone iTunes Podcast app, which includes a host of new features dedicated to creating and listening to podcasts.


As I've said all along, an iTunes subscription service would set the music business on its ear and completely change the playing field for how labels, artists and publishers get paid. Let's see if it comes sooner than later.

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The New Ping Guidelines

To say that iTunes Ping has been underwhelming is an understatement. The new social feature seems like such a great idea, but also seems like it was released somewhat before it's time. In fact, one of the major problems has been the difficulty for indie bands to set up a profile, which significantly decreases its immediate social impact.

Thankfully Apple has reached the same conclusion and has come out with a PDF that contains a series of best practices, suggestions and guidelines to smooth the process considerably. I must admit that after reading the paper, it seemed like it contained some necessary information but didn't go quite as far as I expected.

It also had a number of interesting items that caught my eye. The following are right out of the PDF with my comments in italics afterwards.

• "URLs should not be included in the About section of your artist profile. This includes official artist
website URLs. URLs can only be posted in the Event feed." You mean you can't post a URL of your website, blog, or Facebook page? Apple again keeps everything tight and controlled, but in this case it's not such a good thing.

• "Video posts will not display in countries where the product is not available for sale, or where videos are not offered through the iTunes Store." In other words, Ping is a social network that's not available world-wide. This would make me think about spending more time on other social networks that would provide more bang for the buck instead of Ping.

• "Only Quicktime and MP4 files." Windows Media is not allowed, although that shouldn't be a surprise to anyone, considering the animosity between Apple and Microsoft.

• "Posts should not include advertisements or links to sites outside of iTunes." The advertisements I agree with, but again, not being able to include links to an artists website, Facebook page or blog is a serious limitation.

It's still too early to known just how effective Ping will be in helping a band increase its visibility and build its fan base. But as it stands now, it seems like there are better places to spend your precious time more effectively.

It's recently been reported that Facebook head Mark Zuckerberg had dinner at Steve Jobs' house. Perhaps Jobs will learn something from the meeting that can make Ping a lot stronger product.

Go here to download the Ping Guidelines.

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Ping For Artists By Invitation Only

While yesterday's announcement of iTunes Ping seemed like a boon to artists and bands, now comes word that there's no way to create an artist profile on the network. When Apple was asked about the process, a spokesman responded that artist profiles are only available on an "invitation-only" basis. This is a giant bummer for most bands that could really make use of this new social network.

The same spokesman points out that any iTunes user, be it person or band, can create a profile, but that doesn't help the artist much if he can't push content to the fans.

That being said, Tunecore stated today that it's working with Apple to get all of their bands and artists signed up in the near future. Stay tuned.

Another disappointment is the fact that Ping only displays the albums that your friends have purchased and not the albums that they're currently listening to. This would not only help in music discovery but be a boon in data measurement for any band or artist. Let's hope that Apple implements this feature soon.

One of the cool things that Ping does do is provide a Facebook-like news feed that shows a recent activity stream from the people that you follow. Artists will be able to post updates to this news stream, which then will be directly sent to fans. This is very cool and a potentially big deal.

Clearly Ping is a work in progress and doesn't meet many of our initial expectations. That being said, it's only been online for two days, so expect the kinks and bugs to be worked out eventually.

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6 Reasons Why iTunes Ping Is So Important

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Steve Jobs and Apple has done it again yesterday with the introduction of iTunes 10, which now contains the music social network Ping.

What is Ping? Jobs explained it this way, "It's like Facebook and Twitter meets iTunes." Although Apple is promoting Ping as a music discovery platform where artists and fans can interact, it's a lot more strategic than that. Until now Apple has mastered technology and content, but Ping gives them the one piece that they never had before - people, the most important of them all.

But Ping will be very significant for artists and bands too.  Here's how:

• 1) There are already 160 million iTunes users. That doesn't mean that they'll all use Ping, but it provide a huge base of people already on the network.

• 2) iTunes has a direct connection to your content that other social networks don't have. This should make an impulse buy easier.

• 3) Ping is about all music, unlike other social networks (sorry MySpace, you don't count anymore). At least in the beginning, there won't be any other distractions.

• 4) iTunes users consume content. They're used to buying, and they already have credit cards on file.

• 5) Ping is about music discovery. Discovery is still the Holy Grail of the music industry. Ping provides discovery on your own, discovery through friends, and discovery from other fans, and anything to help people find your music is a good thing.

• 6) Ping has a direct connection to buying tickets to gigs. With their database of over 17,000 shows and concerts (provided by LiveNation, by the way), it'll make it easier for a fan to purchase a ticket without ever leaving the network.

There's also a lot to be said for Apple's traditional ease-of-use, that could play a part in the development of Ping into something larger than intended.

Look for an announcement soon of how you can claim your artist page on Ping (check Lady Gaga's artist page out as an example). Then be sure to do it right away. Although it may be too early to tell, there doesn't seem to be a downside, unless you like being undiscovered, of course.

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Follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Check out my Big Picture blog for discussion on common music, engineering and production tips and tricks.