Apple buys Lala Music service for $80 Million, shuts it down

[The Straight Story]

Apple kills Lala music service
Lala listeners will be compensated, says the site, whose technology may be integrated with iTunes.


Four months after buying Lala Media's popular online music service for a reported $80 million, Apple is pulling the plug on the 5-year-old site.

Lala notified its users in an e-mail Friday morning of the shutdown. Apple Inc. spokesman Jason Roth confirmed the plans, but he declined to say whether the Cupertino, Calif., company would resurrect the service under Apple's iTunes brand.

Lala lets users listen to any song in its catalog in its entirety once for free. After that, listeners can sample the song again for 30 seconds or buy a digital download of the song for 89 cents. What separated Lala from other music services, however, was its concept of a "Web song." Listeners could play a song an unlimited number of times for 10 cents, as long as they were connected to the site.

With iTunes, downloaded songs are stored on a user's computer and can be copied to other computers and devices. Web song files sit on Lala's computers and can be played only while the listener is connected to the Lala site. This is sometimes called "cloud" access.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-apple-lala-20100501,0,3183500.story

[WeDidIt]

1. I refuse to buy music from iTunes

I'll buy the CD or I'll buy an MP3 from Amazon, but I won't buy anything from Apple.

Apple is evil.

[Atman]

4. That's ridiculous

Dick Cheney is "evil." Apple hasn't spilled oil in your backyard, killed your brother, started illegal wars...they came up with a wildly successful new model for music distribution. You might like your ol' CDs and hatin' on Jobs, but that doesn't make Apple evil. It just makes you a hater.

[Nedsdag]

5. +1 n/t

[Richard Steele]

6. Yet.

I'm a bigtime Mac-Lover from the early '80s....
and I'm pretty convinced that Apple has gone over to the Dark Side.

[lazarus]

8. I refuse to buy anything in iTunes

because they sell screwed up files. I prefer an mp3 I can do anything with, so I'll buy it from Amazon. I can write my own ID3 tags, play them in any player.

[WeDidIt]

10. I prefer to buy the CD and rip it

but if I only want a song or two, I'll buy a real music file (MP3).

Apple's format works on Apple. MP3 works on every device I own.

[BlueIris]

13. Thanks for the tip. nt

[JerseygirlCT]

27. Yup, yup, yup nt

[WeDidIt]

9. No, Apple is evil

Apple is the new Walmart, IMO.

[Posteritatis]

18. "Always high prices - always." (nt)

[MyNameGoesHere]

21. You cannot be serious?

."they came up with a wildly successful new model for music distribution". Reaheaeaaaheeaaallly?

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2008/09/briton-invented/ Thieves like everyone else it appears. Oh well at least they did invent the iCult.

[AnArmyVeteran]

12. A 40 year old mediocre movie cost $9.99 on iTunes!

What a crock. All of the creators of work from long ago are probably getting nothing for their efforts. Many of actors who starred in movies live in poverty. But corporations can buy the licensing to sell movies and music and make billions. And when you download a song or a movie it doesn't cost them anything, nothing, nada. Their only cost is storing the media, which is miniscule.

I find it criminal that it cost so much to download movies from 40, 50 or 60 years ago. They charge more than it costs if you buy the DVD off Amazon or other outlets. You can get some DVDs for five cents with $3.99 shipping from Amazon. It's sad and just another example of how middlemen who don't create anything enrich themselves off of the backs of others, the people who are creative and talent.

I've said it over and over again in a lot of different forums, but it's true: "Those who produce the most get paid the least, while those who produce the least get paid the most". Itunes is just another example of how opportunistic middle men get massive wealth, while those who were productive and actually participated in the creation of a product get nothing.

[Greyhound]

41. But, but, but...

You're stealing from the artists!

Why do you hate America?

[AnArmyVeteran]

42. I wouldn't mind paying every penny of that $9.99 if it actually went to the creators of the movie...

But while the brilliant actors are starving, middlemen with no talent are making a fortune. I know (or I hope) you are being sarcastic thought. It would be nice if those who actually produced a product were rewarded the most, while those who produced virtually nothing, like Wall Street thugs sitting behind a computer make billions.

[Greyhound]

58. The whole thing is backward, and we wonder why.

:crazy:

[AnArmyVeteran]

47. I wouldn't mind paying every penny of that $9.99 if it actually went to the creators of the movie...

But while the brilliant actors are starving, middlemen with no talent are making a fortune. I know (or I hope) you are being sarcastic thought. It would be nice if those who actually produced a product were rewarded the most, while those who produced virtually nothing, like Wall Street thugs sitting behind a computer make billions.

[JerseygirlCT]

26. I prefer to use Amazon

I can then easily use the music on (gasp) MP3 players other than iPods. And it doesn't take 10 minutes to load or make it all kinds of difficult to use. (I really hate their interface. Form definitely doesn't follow function.)

[fishwax]

43. I'm not a big fan of it either

Not because I think Apple is evil, just because I think the service isn't that great.

[Lucian]

56. Amazon MP3 is far more superior than Apple iTunes.

At least their MP3s are DRM-free.

[Selatius]

2. Well, that's one way you can eliminate competition: Buy out your competitior and shut him down. nt

[glowing]

3. This is why we live under the illusion of a free capitalistic mode.

If a company gets big enough, it just swallows up the competition before it get too big... Like companies buying out patents for technology that would move us out of the oil age.

[SoCalDem]

20. If you can't beat 'em

EAT 'em :(

[JackRiddler]

53. It's the American way - see General Motors...

Except that this attempt to monopolize markets and take added value out of every single consumer of music is sort of doomed to failure, since songs are infinitely reproducible.

[DavidDvorkin]

7. But they did it with grace, beauty, slick icons, and in a

morally superior way.

[Touchdown]

11. Oh' FUCK! Here we go again.

:eyes:

You don't know anything yet. They may incorporate LALA into iTunes, or use LALA's technology as an added service. They bought it for a reason. Shutting it down and nothing else is not a reason.

[Posteritatis]

19. Sure it is. (nt)

[The Straight Story]

22. Either way, there is one less competitor out there. (nt)

[ProdigalJunkMail]

24. um...a very common way of 'beating' the up and comer tech

is to buy the company and dissolve it...very common.

sP

[Name removed]

30. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[The Straight Story]

31. I think you are talking about yourself here mostly. They bought it, shut it down

and eliminated a competitor. Pretty simple really.

[Name removed]

32. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[The Straight Story]

33. Well - are they or are they not shutting it down? (nt)

[Name removed]

34. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[The Straight Story]

35. Actually, I do know. They said they are migrating it to Itunes.

It still removes competition.

[Touchdown]

36. That isn't fact yet. It's speculation from other wankers in tech blogs.

So no... you don't know.

Buying it removed competition. Whatever happened afterwords is irrelevant. Why did Lala sell?

[Atman]

44. What's comical is that LALA can be referred to as a "competitor."

What were there revenues? What percentage of the music market did they command? What were their revenues compared to Apples, and their growth rate?

Another player, maybe. But a "competitor?" Hardly.

They did, however, had a technology Apple apparently wanted. Unlike the Microsoft model, they chose to buy it and legally own it (with the apparent intent of incorporating it into it's own distribution model), instead of merely ripping it off even knowing full well that LALA didn't have the legal resources to do much to them.

Evil? As I stated upthread...ridiculous.

.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

50. buy 'em while they're small...they're cheaper that way n/t

[ProdigalJunkMail]

37. not really...

regardless of what they do with the tech...the bought it up to destroy competition. and you know, while there are some people here that think Apple is the nexus of all that is evil in the universe, there are some who just cannot seem to accept that they would behave like a business...a ruthless business that is out to do nothing more than make money. they are not artists...they are engineers... profit seeking engineers and they are after a market that blindly accepts them as doing no wrong.

sP

[Touchdown]

51. So... in order to see them as a ruthless business that is out to make money...

we have to adopt your scenario of what happened and cheer and worship your good insight, because you have all the answers when it comes to business, and nobody with any ounce of logic could possibly question your conclusions. There is no other possibility in this situation. Only yours! If we think there might be, then we're "Fan Bois".

For if we question just one small part of your conclusion, we are automatically a "Fan Boi". Reminds me of those "Positive Thinkers" who repeat a mantra, and avoid anybody with a differing opinion as "full of negativity".

You either have a seriously warped opinion of your business insights, or you have been brightsided.

http://www.barbaraehrenreich.com/brightsided.htm

[Name removed]

57. Deleted message

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[Name removed]

38. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[JackRiddler]

54. Of course shutting it down could be a reason.

[BlueIris]

14. You know, Apple, Lala was the way some customers decided whether or not

to buy crappy iTunes versions of songs.

I'm glad I've never bought any of your stupid iAnythings now.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

15. Apple has become the entity it railed against when it introduced the IMac

1984... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R706isyDrqI

[ProdigalJunkMail]

25. +1 n/t

[Rex]

16. Now that is the way Microshaft would have done it!

Looks like Jobs still wants to be Bill Gates...sad...

[Atman]

45. 100% BULLSHIT. Microsoft would have stolen the technology...

...then dared LALA to tried to sue them, knowing full well they'd be buried in a decade-long legal battle they couldn't afford. Apple actually PAID the owners of LALA a handsome sum, considering the size and relative obscurity of the service.

Why aren't you bitching at the LALA owners? They could have stood the supposed moral high ground and told Apple to take their money and shove it. But they didn't. THEY SOLD OUT, according to you. But you blame Apple.

Wow. Nice alternative reality you live in.

.

[krispos42]

17. Excellent business decision

After all, the very last thing any company wants is competition. Monoplies are much more profitable.

[AsahinaKimi]

23. For the past 3 years...

The only way for me to buy any Japanese music from Itunes, was to go to Jbox.com and get a Itunes YEN card to buy from their Japanese site. I have written to Itunes for the past two years, trying to get them to open up the US market to Japanese music. Finally, they have listened, and now there are some great Japanese tunes on Itunes for US consumption.

I used to get Jpop/Jrock/Visuel Kei music from friends, from Japanese fan websites, all for free, and used other programs to download this music, risking the possibility of getting some nasty virus.

Now I don't have to. Yes I can buy CDs..and I have. But now Itunes offers me Japanese music. So I will buy them.


I don't like the idea of the LALA technology where you could not listen to songs unless you are on the website, and I hope they don't include that .. But I am very happy I can now buy the Japanese songs I want, from Itunes, and I am supporting the Artists by doing that.

[Fading Captain]

28. I am so fucking pissed about this

I just figured out how to do lala.com and thought it was great.

[Mr. Blonde]

29. There are other options

www.grooveshark.com for instance.

[Book Lover]

48. Another strong vote for grooveshark (nm)

[Junkie Brewster]

52. I was an early adopter of Lala.com

It was a great service at first, too good to last, I suppose.

[sendero]

39. Congratulations..

... Apple is now officially as morally bankrupt a company as MicroSoft.

[Mudoria]

40. It always has been

Many just chose to ignore the truth because it had a nice logo and advertised itself in a different way.

[paulk]

46. +1

They made owning an Apple both a political and lifestyle statement.

Brilliant marketing...

[JackRiddler]

55. Absolutely. But they make a hell of a better machine than the Windows OEMs.

[Book Lover]

49. I think many folks here would appreciate the Ars Technica article

http://arstechnica.com/media/news/2010/04/the-day-the-music-died-lala-flips-the-off-switch-may-31.ars

and the comments in particular.