Amazon.com Widgets

Apple soon to distribute and sell indie productions.

March 7, 2008  | Filed under AppleTV, Distribution, iTunes

Steve Jobs - CEO of Apple ComputerA few weeks ago on the podcast, I postulated the possibility of selling your movie through Apple. I discussed the idea of low- to no-cost independent movie distribution via the iTunes Music Store, and suggested that this would happen someday soon.

Independent producers can’t currently sell movies in this way, but yesterday Apple took another step toward making this happen.

Steve Jobs and company announced that they will begin distributing and selling independently-produced applications for the iPhone in June of 2008. Anyone who can write a computer program will be able to sell it through their new App Store. It’s like the iTunes Music Sore for computer programs.

But here is how it significantly differs from the iTunes Store model, and why it is important to filmmakers. The iTunes Store only sells TV shows and movies from major film and television studios. The App Store will sell independently-produced content, at a price set by the producer. This pricing model is a first for Apple.

It will work like this. A programmer writes an app for the iPhone and submits it to Apple. Once it passes an internal review process, Apple posts it to the App Store where anyone can purchase it with a single click, right on their iPhone, iPod Touch or computer.

Although these are not movies or video, take note of the way they are approaching the business plan and compensation, because I feel quite certain that we will soon see a similar model for video and film producers.

Steve Jobs - CEO of Apple Computer - App Store pricing structureApple handles the hosting, bandwidth, and credit card transactions at no cost to the developer. The developer sets the price of their program, and splits the sale with Apple 70 % to the developer, 30%. to Apple. There is a one-time nominal $99 fee to join their developer program, but other than the cut of the sale, there are no other costs or charges. This is really an amazing deal for developer and programmers.

I expect to see them create a similar deal soon for video and film producers, possibly later this year.

When this happens, it will be a game changer for indie filmmakers. The concept of stocking your movie on the same “virtual shelf” beside major Hollywood releases, with no manufacturing or distribution fees is quite unprecedented. Customers will purchase, or possibly rent, your movie with the click of a button. And Apples send you checks monthly.

Never before has this type of distribution power been available to the indie filmmaker.

These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Technorati
  • Google
  • Slashdot
  • TwitThis
  • StumbleUpon
  • Reddit

Comments

5 Responses to “Apple soon to distribute and sell indie productions.”

  1. Aaron Matthew Kaiser on March 8th, 2008 12:46 am

    Ummm…. I’m actually wondering how accurate the statement is that indie musicians and filmmakers can not currently marketing their ware through iTunes. I know of SEVERAL indie musicians who not only have albums iTunes, but DEMO albums (with 4-5 songs) on iTunes. They have no record label association and are doing it entirely on their own.

    Now, I’ve seen the application to submit content to iTunes. It’s right here: http://www.apple.com/itunes/contentproviders/

    On the page, it basically says the same thing as submitting to the App Store. “Submit your content, we’ll review it, then put it in the iTunes store.” I haven’t personally filled it out and I don’t know if the same applies to video content or movie rentals, but it definitely means to me that I can currently sell my indie music through iTunes as is.

    Just my $0.02 and I hope that it didn’t come across too combatative. I am enjoying the podcast and this blog incredibly! Keep up the good work!

    [ Aaron Matthew Kaiser ]
    AntiKaiser Productions

  2. Tracy on March 8th, 2008 1:49 pm

    Aaron, thanks for the info and the kind words about the podcast.

    I was unaware of the deal for musicians. After looking into it, I find that it currently only covers music sales. I have corrected the article with the new information you provided, and written a companion article based on some interesting info I found on that page.

    Thanks again for your comments and contribution to the site.

  3. Edie on October 23rd, 2008 9:01 am

    This is great info to know.

  4. Aaron Matthew Kaiser on October 23rd, 2008 1:12 pm

    Here’s something else to check out:

    http://www.tunecore.com/

    Last time I spoke with them, they were distributing feature-length films to iTunes on behalf of filmmakers. Going to their site right now, I can’t find the information about that. :-(

  5. Macy on October 27th, 2008 7:32 am

    Interesting to know.

Leave a Reply