Music label Numero Group opts out of iTunes Match

I feel like I'm missing something. Seems like what they are opting out of is the ability to have their songs automatically matched and added to a user's iCloud account. The assumption is, it seems, that if you didn't buy the track through, you stole it. But even IF that were true, anyone paying for the match service can manually upload any non-matching tracks, right? So what they're really doing is adding a small, extra step for anyone who got their music from a non-iTunes source (legitimate or otherwise), and cutting themselves out of whatever (admittedly likely very small) amount of the iCloud fee that Apple is sharing with the labels. So an extra step for users, less money for them, and this addresses piracy how?

HEY REMEMBER WHEN NAPSTER WAS A BAD THING???

The thing is that emusic and some others had this deal (more or less) for years... Then got told by " the industry" it was not possible and might count as "streaming" where they would have to pay more per extra download than they charged. A huge chunk of their main independent labels left? Then turned around and jumped ship to Apple?

I wonder how shops like emusic will play with Apple's stuff now? As much as I like the integration, I have a subscription to emusic for several years with hundreds of songs. I dont like Apple hijacking that model to lock everything to the phones.. Unless I can finally download stuff DIRECTLY to my library from other sites now.

This is fear-borne myopia. Labels have one of two choices: let piracy continue to eat at their revenue stream and have nothing to show for it, or come up with creative solutions like Match that at least give them some revenue to share.

$25 (per year, not a "one-time fee") may be as much as most pirates would or could spend on albums per year in a piracy-free world anyway, so it's not like the labels are losing much in the final analysis. If anything this is a play to restore some fiscal normalcy. It's short-sighted not to want to participate in that.

The other side of the coin is that pirates will continue to get more material than they're otherwise entitled to. That's really what's bugging Numero. That issue remains between the pirates and their consciences—and the law.

Sounds like someone tried to do a sweeter deal with Apple, and Apple just slapped him down and said - no you get the same deal as everyone else signed up for!

So what are they opting out of? My understanding of iTunes match was that if your song was not present in iTunes, it would just upload a copy from your library.

By this label "opting out" does it mean a song from this label wont be uploaded AT ALL, or i will i not be able to stream one of this labels songs until i upload my copy?

So somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but this changes absolutely nothing from a user standpoint, correct? If a song match isn't found on iTunes Match (i.e. if it isn't from one of the labels that chooses to participate in the program) then a copy of the mp3 is actually uploaded to the server and you will still have access to the song through iCloud. So unless I'm not understanding something correctly, the only thing that opting out does is make sure that instead of Numero receiving a cut of the $150M, they will receive nothing. Sounds like a silly move to me.

iTunes Match has virtually no impact on small labels anyway, as far as I can see. In general, someone who listens primarily to unsigned artists or artists from small record labels is never going to sign up for iTunes Match to begin with. If they want, they can always upload their own audio files to one of the several cloud services.

The owner of this record label is smart to come out and make a stand against iTunes Match. It can only draw attention to his label while enabling him to make a statement about the recording industry, without hurting his label in the slightest. It's very appropriate to be skeptical of the big four recording companies and how they use "artist compensation" as a justification for protecting their own interests, while not necessarily cutting artists a check when it "retrieves lost revenue." In other words, it makes a lot of sense that someone who runs an indie label would be opposed in principle to the major corporate labels.

who???

TUAW missed the beef of Sevier's complaint.

Sevier isn't blaming Apple; he's blaming current copyright laws. Publishing to iTunes doesn't automatically make you money, especially if the writer and publisher are not the same and he needs to pay other parties involved. It turns out he may end up paying more in mechanical royalties then he would have gotten from Apple's match service. Perfectly reasonable stance until the grey area is cleared up.