Universal Music Group Articles on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog

US District Court: Users can't legally resell iTunes songs

by Kelly Hodgkins (Apr 2nd, 2013)

US District Judge Richard Sullivan ruled in favor of Universal Music Group in a case involving the resale of songs bought on iTunes, reports AllThingsD. UMG filed the suits against startup ReDigi, a service that lets users resell their music library. In a judgment filed over the weekend, ...

Music artists, labels create enhanced albums for iPad

by Kelly Hodgkins (Mar 30th, 2011)

Launched with iTunes 9, iTunes LP would let record labels include extra content, such as liner notes, expanded artwork and lyrics, in albums sold on iTunes. The feature never took off, but the concept of adding value to an album using interactive digital content has not died. Record labels such ...

Streaming app Grooveshark pulled from App Store

by Megan Lavey-Heaton (Aug 17th, 2010)

Grooveshark, the music-streaming app that's had a home on Cydia for the past year, was kicked out of the App Store after Apple notified the company that they received a complaint from Universal Music Group UK. While Apple has approved streaming music apps (such as Rhapsody) in the past, ...

iTunes LP broken for indie record labels?

by Ken Ray (Oct 11th, 2009)

Update: ElectricPig is reporting on 10/13 that an Apple spokesperson said the LP format will be opened up for all, indies and majors alike. There's word from an indie record-label that iTunes LPs are not for the indies. Introduced at Apple's "It's Only Rock and Roll" event in September, the ...

Universal to sell DRM free songs, but not on iTunes

by Scott McNulty (Aug 9th, 2007)

It is safe to say that most folks aren't big fans of DRM, though Apple's flavor of DRM (FairPlay) is flexible enough that most will never run afoul of it. You might remember Steve's letter to the music industry in which he extolled the virtues of DRM free music. EMI has been the only major record ...

Drudge: Universal Music will not renew iTunes contract

by Erica Sadun (Jul 1st, 2007)

The Drudge Report has posted a newsflash claiming that Universal Music Group will not renew its annual iTunes contract. So what's going on? Hard negotiations? The recent EMI/iTunes Plus deal? Or maybe UMG just doesn't like earning a ton of money through iTunes? I'm not all that familiar with the ...

UMG Doug "You are all Pirates" Morris eyes iPod

by Erica Sadun (Nov 28th, 2006)

Remember Doug Morris? The Universal Music Group chief who claimed that iPods are repositories for stolen music? The guy who negotiated the dollar-per-Zune piracy-insurance scheme? According to Australian IT, he's working on putting together an iPod royalty fee similar to the Zune fee during the ...

Universal Music CEO says iPods are "repositories for stolen music"

by Laurie A. Duncan (Nov 13th, 2006)

Universal Music Group CEO Doug Morris is the latest tech exec to call iPod users thieves. Ballmer started it. Then came Glaser - who also dared call His Steveness "pigheaded." The comment was made in the context of the UMG boss stumping for Zune and applauding Microsoft's agreement to pay protection ...