Why Isn't Apple Selling Real Estate On The iPod?

from the seems-like-a-great-idea dept

I've heard a few similar ideas to this one, but Jimmy Guterman has made the perfect suggestion for what Apple should be doing with their iPod. Instead of just focusing on their iTunes product, why aren't they selling the real estate on the iPod? The idea would be to sell the iPod already full of tunes. You could sell "special edition iPods" for specific bands, that had mp3s of all their tracks, including a few rare or unreleased goodies. Or, you could sell the space to a label who could fill up all those unused gigabytes with samplers from a bunch of their artists. It makes some sense, but Apple says they have no plans to do such a thing. However, when Guterman called up people at various record labels, at least one sounded really interested in the idea. Of course, the main reason this is unlikely to work is that the music industry will want to charge exorbitant rates, driving the price of the already expensive iPod even higher - making it a less appealing buy. However, I wonder if a band couldn't do this themselves? Why not buy some iPods (or some competing mp3 player), dump all their own songs, a couple of live recordings and free extra goodies on the hard drive, and sell the complete collection (along with t-shirts or whatever other merchandise) at a reasonable price. I'm sure, if they could sell enough, the bands could get discounts from the mp3 player makers - such that they could sell the devices with all their tracks for only a modest markup, still make good money, and make their fans extra happy. Update: Found via a comment below this story (thanks!) is this other story of a DJ in Philadelphia who, instead of going in and DJing personally is selling a "subscription" service where he fills an iPod with the music for the restaurant or club. He first goes in, scouts it out, and then creates the playlist, and charges a monthly fee to adjust the playlists. The restaurants already pay ASCAP and BMI fees to play music, suggesting this is probably legal. Update 2: Then again, others are saying this isn't legal.
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  1. identicon
    data64, 13 Jun 2003 @ 5:34pm

    DJ iPOD

    The idea you mention about bands selling branded iPods is already to a limited extend being done. See this story on Gizmodo

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    Greg Johnson, 8 Dec 2005 @ 7:48am

    Real Estate on the iPod

    Its here!

    Real Estate Marketing now on the Apple ® iPod®

    Reno, NV, December 1, 2005 – Explicit Media Inc., a multimedia marketing innovator with a focus on the real estate industry has enabled its Real Estate Home Show product for downloading to the Apple® iPod® .

    Real estate agents and consumers may download videos of current real estate home listings directly to their Apple® iPod® to allow for portable marketing and viewing (website TheRealEstateHomeShow.com).

    Pat Dulleck, a real estate broker for Realty World in San Jose, CA, has embraced video in the marketing of her office listings and has been a customer of the Real Estate Home show product since its introduction in May of this year. “My clients love the Featured Listing Videos; I provide 6 images and a few details of the listing and they create an incredible finished video product that has been a tremendous aid to my marketing. Now that they have added the ability to load the videos to my Apple iPod, it is absolutely awesome. I carry the iPod with me at all times, it’s easy to use and just dazzles prospective clients as I am able to immediately provide them with video details of all of my active listings; no matter where I am, I never miss an opportunity to show a property, and it costs less than a 360 tour!”

    Scott Le Force, President of Realty World Northern California & Nevada, Inc. states, “Cost effective, progressive technology that is cutting edge. You can't get a WOW factor better than this for the money”.

    “Our Featured Listing Videos are now reaching all of the senses. They are viewable on the web, on our National Television show and now the Apple iPod, taking marketing of home listings to an entirely new level,” says Greg Johnson, CEO of Explicit Media.

    For additional information please contact:

    Explicit Media, Inc.
    Miles Johnson
    (800) 411-4471

    Email: Info@TheRealEstateHomeShow.com

    Apple, the Apple logo, iPod and iTunes are trademarks of Apple Computer Inc (AAPL-NASDAQ)

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    Costa Rica Real Estate Dude, 6 Aug 2007 @ 8:11pm

    Ipod revolutionized the way we do things in real estate. It's unbelievable!

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    Pure, 14 Dec 2007 @ 12:23am

    That is a darn good idea. I can imagine a band selling a loaded iPod at their concerts. You would have to think it would be a good seller, so many concerts already cost $300-$400 for two people these days, what's another $300 for a loaded iPod, maybe even with a live recording of the concert you just watched. Probably a logistical problem with that one, but they could load the concert from the night or week before.

    link to this | view in thread ]


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