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Apple iTunes Music Store hits 100 million song mark

updated 05:55 am EDT, Mon July 12, 2004

iTMS hits 100M songs

Early Monday morning Apple announced that its iTunes Music Store has reached that that were given away as part of the Pepsi/iTunes promotion.

On its anniversary, Apple gave away free song downloads each day for eight days. Apple continued to the promotion, offering free songs each week as a "risk free" way to introduce to new users to the service. Today's announcement of the 100 million song mark likely includes these song as part of the tally.

Since the July promo announcement, several developers have developed software and charts for monitoring iTunes' download rate, which many readers used to help increase their own chances to win one of the several prizes being offered by Apple. Readers, however, report that they were unable to access the store as the store approached 100 million songs, frustrating many readers attempting to purchase music (and become the grand prize winner).

"Last night I tried to access the iTunes Music store as the 100,000,000 song mark approached--only I was unable to connect," noted Dennis Callahan. "I tried for about 10 minutes to view my existing shopping cart--all to no avail. Seems this type of demand should have been anticipated and dealt with before it became an issue to those of us who would have enjoyed the possibility of winning."

Several readers also note that the download rate has dropped off dramatically since the end of the promotion.

by MacNN Staff

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backspinner
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jan 2002

0

07/12, 06:27am | report spam | close Reply |
download rate is dropping

as can be seen on http://itunescount.tijdweb.nl the download rate is at the lowest value ever

ender
Junior Member

Joined: Mar 1999

0

07/12, 07:55am | report spam | close Reply |
Free Entry

Of course, people are forgetting that there was a way to enter for free. By the time they approached the 100 million mark there could have easily been tens of thousands of free entries which aren't tallied on the tracking chart. So anyone who used that chart to anticipate when to buy were probably too late. Even Apple's web site which was showing the count was labelling it as "songs sold" and not "entries received." It would be interesting to know how many free entries there were and whether those were included in the tally on Apple's site.

flask
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: May 2004

0

07/12, 08:15am | report spam | close Reply |
didn't even have a chanc

For some reason, every time Apple's count got toward the next 100,000 mark, it would change to a non-specific number, like 97,000,000+. I figured that was to keep people from constantly refreshing their home page to watch the count. The same thing happened last night/this morning: it said 99,000,000+ so I went to the iTMS and purchased my shopping cart, figuring it had to be close to the 100 million mark.

I came back to Apple's home page and it was a specific number again! It was at 99,8xx,x** so I went back to iTMS to find another album I wanted, and the whole computer locked up as I was accessing my shopping cart. As in, OS 9-style locked up, as in, I couldn't switch apps or force-quit or do anything at all. On another computer, I went to Apple's home page and saw that the count was now at 100,014,x**. Dang. Wouldn't it figure that the one time OS X has completely locked up on me was at the exact moment the grand prize was being given away?

VadersCape
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Mar 2004

0

07/12, 08:16am | report spam | close Reply |
Bad Promo

The whole 'contest'/'enter for free' aspect was stupid as the promo was specifically to get the 100,000,000th actual song downloaded. What were they going to say? That Joe Blow won the Powerbook and stuff because he was the 100,000,000th entry, even though Jane Doe actually downloaded the 100,000,000th tune? Not likely. Instead of making it a contest, it should have been cast as a customer loyalty promotion so that only folks actually downloading songs could participate (which would also encourage more folks to download and install iTunes and start shopping). And if that's not something that would have been legal, then I'm going to start writing to several airlines that I do not fly and demand free frequent flier miles everytime I send them another letter or an email asking for them.

njfuzzy
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Apr 2001

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07/12, 08:34am | report spam | close Reply |
"No Purchace Required"

If you are going to outright give something away to a random customer, you have to make it possible to enter for free. Otherwise, you are running a lottery, which is illegal.

Frequent flier miles and similar promotions are entirely irrelevant. Instead of one random person winning merchandise or money, anyone who joins a frequent-flier program (or enters a promotion) is given what is effectively a discount. It's perfectly legal to give a discount to people for being loyal customers.

uhanna
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jul 2002

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07/12, 09:15am | report spam | close Reply |
they simply did it

how about for a change just accepting that they got their number regardless of bad/good promo.

I'm sure those who got a prize think it's great.

I'm not saying that we should always accept everything a company does but sometimes people just have to find a spin or cynical statement about every damn thing.

They got their 100 mil number, it's a milestone (can't argue that) so just suck it up and move on.

groundwork
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2001

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07/12, 11:38am | report spam | close Reply |
:(

But they did it without me winning something. Waaahhhhhh.

poemtree
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Oct 2000

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07/12, 11:41am | report spam | close Reply |
Winner Win or Mac user?

I wonder if Apple can tell if the winner was using a Mac or PC. If he's a Wintelian, maybe we have a new switcher to add to our ranks, since most Wintel users say they would use a Mac "if they could afford one."

testudo
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2001

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07/12, 11:46am | report spam | close Reply |
rate slowing

Well, its kind of hard to say the download rate is slowing based on the links you provided, as (a) it only covers July, and (b) its a set of incomprehensible graphs with very little in the way of explanation (you know, keys to explain each line, c*** like that).

Oh, one would think that for a short time after the promotion the download rate would drop somewhat, as people tend to purchase more than usual during a promotion, and then reduce their purchases afterward to average out the costs (same goes with lotteries, after a big jackpot winner, the next one usually has little play on it because people already spent all their money).

Icruise
Moderator Emeritus

Joined: Nov 2000

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07/12, 11:59am | report spam | close Reply |
Downloads are down? Duh.

A lot of people would have been saving up things to buy at the last minute of the promotion, so it's not hard to see why downloads would be down just after the contest ends. Also, there's a psychological effect that you have to keep in mind -- it seems a little like a waste to download something now, since you no longer have a chance at a prize. That will wear off soon.

VadersCape
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Mar 2004

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07/12, 12:04pm | report spam | close Reply |
DEFINITELY a Bad Promo

A Lottery? Illegal? What are you smoking?

In order to play a lottery I have to BUY A TICKET. There is no "free entry" - otherwise I'd call every state in the union that runs a lottery and demand my free entries.

And why can't I give a loyal customer a 100% discount on something?

Irrelevant? BZZZZZZZ! Thanks for playing.

absmiths
Mac Elite

Joined: Sep 2000

0

07/12, 12:33pm | report spam | close Reply |
RE: DEFINITELY a Bad Prom

The lottery is not legal in a lot of states. The point about buying a ticket is exactly what the OP was referring to.

These "no purchase required" contests are as common as water. I seriously doubt the winner is ever a non-purchaser, though. Especially if you consider numbers. Did Apple receive 5 million free entry forms? If the 'free' entries are tallied manually (probably by a single part-time employee) and the purchases automatically, then the free entries don't have a chance.

z10n
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Oct 2003

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07/12, 12:37pm | report spam | close Reply |
Free marketing

Bleh. Buying a song or no, this promo WAS basically a lottery, since you have basically a zillion to one chance of winning. Frankly, it saddens me that apple is only interested in rewarding loyal customers when they can extract out of that customer's sale some free marketing by saying they have sold 100 million songs. Apple gets to seem gracious even while they're really being greedy b*******, whipping people up into a buying frenzy. It's a marketer's wet dream.

Bzzzt. Sorry apple. I'll buy when I want to instead of when you want me to, thanks. You were going to get 100 million without me anyway.

outZider
Junior Member

Joined: Sep 1999

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07/12, 12:49pm | report spam | close Reply |
VadersCape...

He's right -- it is illegal to run a contest that requires a purchase to play. it sucks, but that's life.

jedi1yoda1
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Dec 2001

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07/12, 01:00pm | report spam | close Reply |
free entries

It is common for a company accepting free entries to have a separate prize list for the "no-purchase required" entries. For instance, when McDonald's runs the monopoly contest, there is a 1 million dollar prize for collecting boardwalk and park place. If the winning piece was in the free entry prizes, then purchasing a drink or whatever to try for a piece would be a sham. And vise-versa, if it were only on a product, then free entry would be a sham. Therefore, they have a 1 Million dollar prize for a purchaser and a 1 million dollar prize for a non-purchaser. Just check the "Official Rules," it's in there.

Now in the case of iTunes, an "Entry" was considered for purchasing, or using the "tell a friend" feature. They counted "entries" not downloads. While I don't doubt that they have surpassed 100 million d/l's, The speculation is probably true in that this Kevin character did not have the actual "100 millionth" d/l. However, participation in the contest deems that you agree to the official rules. Since they define "entry" as a d/l or tell a friend, then they can have a counter that counts "downloads." Check it out for yourselves:

http://www.apple.com/itunes/100million/rules.html

Technically, if you don't agree to these terms, you cannot participate in the contest. Every contest is like this. If it was purchase required, then it would be considered gambling, (not just a lottery). Gambling is illegal in several states, and in all states without a specific license. To avoid this, states allow contests as long as no purchase is required. (this and raffles somehow qualify, I'm not entirely sure)

Anyway, hope this clears some things up. I'm not trying to bash anyone, but you all really had an equal chance weather you entered for free or not. THe only viable complaint should be that it was hard to gain a connection around that time, I;m sure it was a lot better thought since it happened on a sunday night and not during a week day or evening when more people are using the internet in general.

absmiths
Mac Elite

Joined: Sep 2000

0

07/12, 01:03pm | report spam | close Reply |
RE: Free marketing

Not exactly free. Apple did a big promo for it and gave away a lot of prizes - the 50 iPods alone cost (retail) $15,000.

Yes, they would have reached 100M without you, but how much worse is it that they gave the dude who bought the 100Mth song a laptop, ipod and a bunch of songs?

The odds of winning this contest are significantly higher than winning a lottery. If you bought 5 songs, you basically had 5 chances in 5M, or a 1 in a million chance (since they started the promotion at 95M, and would end it at 100M - if you disregard the bonus you get by knowing approximately what the count is and ignore the free entries). The Power Ball lottery on the other hand was at 80 million to 1 per ticket (quoted from here: http://members.cox.net/mathmistakes/rawdata.htm).

Everyone hates a promotion which doesn't involve them winning.

VadersCape
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Mar 2004

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07/12, 01:11pm | report spam | close Reply |
My Point Precisely

That's exactly my point - it should not have been run as a CONTEST. If you're going to give prizes to the people who download tunes, it can't be by definition.

Contests are also "random" ... but what kind of contest provides you periodic updates on when they are about to draw the next winner and lets you keep entering so you can attempt to slide into the winning spot? In effect, the "winning numbers" (the 100,000 multiples and the 100,000,000 grand prize) were pre-selected - NOT that they knew in advance WHO would be the winner, but the winning position/ticket numbers were already determined. Then it just became the IP version of musical chairs as folks attempted to land on the pre-selected spot. This was not quite a random thing.

If you wanted to make it a contest, how about one entry per person (ok, email address which isn't quite the same thing) per day and they will conduct a truly random drawing from among all entries received since the last drawing as each threshold was hit? That way it didn't matter who actually downloaded the milestone tune that triggered the next drawing - anyone could truly win, even if it was a 'no purchase required' entry. Yet the incentive would be there for folks to keep buying tunes to get to the next drawing.

testudo
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2001

0

07/12, 01:13pm | report spam | close Reply |
lotteries

First, in some states, its illegal to give anything away it seems (why else do they have those wonderful rules like "Void in AZ and WA and where prohibited by law" fun).

Second, from z10n,
Bleh. Buying a song or no, this promo WAS basically a lottery, since you have basically a zillion to one chance of winning.

Actually, I would think the odds were approx. 5 million to one, since it started at 95mill and went on to 100.

Frankly, it saddens me that apple is only interested in rewarding loyal customers when they can extract out of that customer's sale some free marketing by saying they have sold 100 million songs.

You're right! Apple should NEVER reward loyal customers, because no matter what they do, at some point, it'll leak, the press will get it, and then it will seem like they're taking advantage of the gullibility of their customers. So the only way for Apple to reward loyal customers is to do it in a super-secret fashion, but then no one will know it, and still get berated for not rewarding their loyal customers. h***, if Apple offered upgrade pricing on Tiger, or, even better, offered complete rebates on all previous versions, because they were all 'not-quite done', you'd be complaining because it was just a way to get good press or something.

Apple gets to seem gracious even while they're really being greedy b*******, whipping people up into a buying frenzy. It's a marketer's wet dream.

OMG! I don't believe it! Someone here is actually berating apple because they dare MARKET their product, AND trying to boost sales! Damn greedy b*******! Next thing you know, they'll be charging more than cost for their computers and not giving their OS away for free.

You know, now that I think about it, I think that whole "Free song download a week" is also just some marketing scam to get people in to buy music ("Wow, that sounds cool, maybe I'll buy the whole album").

Bzzzt. Sorry apple. I'll buy when I want to instead of when you want me to, thanks. You were going to get 100 million without me anyway.

Fine. I didn't buy any either (but, then again, once you've bought Air Supply's Greatest Hits, all other so-called 'music' just seems blah).

merloon
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Sep 2003

0

07/12, 01:29pm | report spam | close Reply |
Speaking of gambling...

and beating the odds, what do you think the chances are that the winning song just HAPPENS to be by the same band involved in the big Jaguar promotion?

Hmmmmmmmm?

PookJP
Mac Enthusiast

Joined: Jan 2001

0

07/12, 01:47pm | report spam | close Reply |
No Radiohead

They'd have 200,000,000 downloads by now if Radiohead were on there. We're rabid!!!

jonbwfc1
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Nov 2003

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07/12, 01:58pm | report spam | close Reply |
odds

"what do you think the chances are that the winning song just HAPPENS to be by the same band involved in the big Jaguar promotion?"

At worst, 1 in 700,000. Which given we're talking about 5 million songs being sold, isn't actually that unlikely. Given the promotion, it is in fact more likely than average because more people would be buying the promoted songs than the non promoted ones. That's the whole point of promoting them y'know.

One thing I would point out by the way - you can't say that something to do with the ITMS is illegal or not, since the iTMS covers state and country boundaries. What is illegal in (I dunno) Utah may well not be illegal in Kent in the UK. So while what the iTMS was doing may or may not be illegal where you are, that doesn't necessarily mean those rules apply to the iTMS. They will apply to you, which makes it rather dumb of you to join the competition frankly, but they don't apply to the iTMS unless you can show that it's illegal where the iTMS is based. Which of itself might be a trick, since the iTMS seems to be run from multiple places in multiple countries anyway. This is the internet folks, laws work slightly differently here.

As to the all the bitching - it would carry a lot more weight if people had been objecting more before the prize was given out. Now it rather just looks like some people having a tantrum because they didn't get a candy bar.

kentuckyfried
Senior User

Joined: Jan 2002

0

07/12, 01:58pm | report spam | close Reply |
heh...

Kevin...what a lucky b******. =P

z10n
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Oct 2003

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07/12, 02:05pm | report spam | close Reply |
Hmmm

"Everyone hates a promotion which doesn't involve them winning."

No I hate promotions because I hate capitalism, mainly because of the outrageous tactics companies will employ. S common tactic was employed here: suckering people into buying by promising them prizes they are unlikely to win. I view such things as dishonest and generally contemptable, but I guess they're part of the game if you're a company. The most ruthless company wins (see microsoft).

But point taken: apple paid a h*** of a lot of money to gain the advertizing that they did. At least there's some satisfaction I have in that.

jedi1yoda1
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Dec 2001

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07/12, 02:11pm | report spam | close Reply |
Contest

"contest

n 1: an occasion on which a winner is selected from among two or more contestants

lottery
... 1. A scheme for the distribution of prizes by lot or chance; esp., a gaming scheme in which one or more tickets bearing particular numbers draw prizes, and the rest of tickets are blanks."

Direct from Sherlock. This is a contest. Lotteries are random. Just cause you don't like the outcome or don't like how the winners were determined doesn't mean it wasn't a contest. If it was a lottery, they would have said "one of the next 5 million downloads will win at random." The winners were already picked, they would win at 500,000 ENTRY intervals, making the odds 1:100000. If this were a lottery, your usernames would now be in a pot and they'd say, OK we are now going to pick a number between 1 and 5 mil (50 times), and that person who downloaded that song will win.

The main difference is, lotteries and gambling pick winners at random after they enter. Contests, you enter to win a specific prize for accomplishing a specific feat.

it's a lottery, no it's a contest, no it's a lottery. I think at this point we are hearing pointless jargon from people upset that they didn't win. I didn't win anything, and i'm not upset, i guess I have no clue as to why i'm even trying to make an argument for this. Oh well. Apple doesn't owe it to me to give me an iPod for downloading songs, they were just trying to be nice.

PookJP
Mac Enthusiast

Joined: Jan 2001

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07/12, 02:20pm | report spam | close Reply |
Causality

If you're a loser, you hate capitalism.

pdsphil
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Dec 2002

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07/12, 02:25pm | report spam | close Reply |
Hays, Kansas

Wow. I didn't even know Hays had Internet access. I drive through there once in a while on I70, and can't imagine there being DSL or Cable.

I wonder if the winning song was downloaded via dialup?

testudo
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2001

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07/12, 04:04pm | report spam | close Reply |
Re: No radiohead

They'd have 200,000,000 downloads by now if Radiohead were on there. We're rabid!!!

You're also idiots, but that's another story. Why is everyone clamoring for radiohead, since those who clamor most likely already have their albums. So who cares? Its not like I'm clamoring for the beatles music, because, geesh, here's a thought, I bought that stuff long, long time ago, back when you just went and bought CDs at a store.

testudo
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2001

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07/12, 04:10pm | report spam | close Reply |
capitalism

Yes, its all capitalism's fault. Life would be so much better if we lived under communist or fascist regimes.

Sorry to ruin your little anti-establishment views, but capitalism is what spurs growth and innovation. Its what puts food on your table (unless of course you grow your own food). If it weren't for capitalism, we'd be lucky to be running 386 speed computers (if we even had personal computers to begin with).

BTW, you're argument about 'suckering people in' only more shows you hate stupid people, i.e. people stupid enough to be 'suckered' in. If it weren't for the suckers, they wouldn't waste the money on the promotions.

PookJP
Mac Enthusiast

Joined: Jan 2001

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07/12, 04:27pm | report spam | close Reply |
Re: No Radiohead

I said it in jest, but I do appreciate your calling me, and all the other Radiohead fans, idiots. Nice.

JSD303
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2000

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07/12, 05:30pm | report spam | close Reply |
Hays, Kansas

Well, my girlfriend is from Hays, Kansas and it shocked me to no end that her father had a Cable Modem and a computer and everything. Amazing, but true.

And for those of you who don't know, a girlfriend is a real live woman whose goodies you can play with without paying! Well, you pay, but just not usually in advance with cash.

carpier
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: May 2002

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07/12, 06:56pm | report spam | close Reply |
re: testudo

to be exact, it is the market economy that spurs growth and innovation, not capitalism.

Capitalism is not market economy. Capitalism is the planned economy of the capitalists. In case you missed that in your social sciences class.

ghost_flash
Professional Poster

Joined: Feb 2003

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07/12, 08:12pm | report spam | close Reply |
cap_i_tal_ism

[IMG]http://img69.photobucket.com/albums/v210/ghost_flash/cap_i_tal_ism.gif[/IMG]

LouZer
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Nov 2000

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07/12, 11:53pm | report spam | close Reply |
definitions

1. capitalism: An economic system in which the means of production and distribution are privately or corporately owned and development is proportionate to the accumulation and reinvestment of profits gained in a free market.

2. market economy: An economy that operates by voluntary exchange in a free market and is not planned or controlled by a central authority; a capitalistic economy.

Not sure where your semantics are trying to drive, but its the capitalists that drive the buying and selling, not just having a market.

JoshFofer
Junior Member

Joined: Nov 1999

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07/13, 10:05am | report spam | close Reply |
Taxes

I don't think Kevin's that lucky. He's now responsible for paying tax on a prize valued at $13,198:
http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:tvTccHqPwRUJ:wdb.apple.com/itunes/100million/+taxes+%2413,198&hl=en

That could work out to about $4000. Ouch, no thanks.

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Apple iTunes Music Store hits 100 million song mark

updated 05:55 am EDT, Mon July 12, 2004

iTMS hits 100M songs

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