While the music industry has been pushing for Apple Inc. (AAPL) to add a subscription-based model to their iTunes music store, Apple CEO Steve Jobs says that he probably wont be doing that any time soon.
"Never say never, but customers don't seem to be interested in it," Jobs told Reuters in an interview after Apple reported blow-out quarterly results. "The subscription model has failed so far. People want to own their music."
He's saying this to set the stage for contract renewal negotiations with the labels that will take place over the next month.
The music industry wants it so it can build a residual income base, but overall consumers reject it.
Most do believe that Jobs will push the music industry hard to drop the DRM copy-protection software which consumers hate. Apple has already made a deal with EMI Group (EMI.L) to sell their music without the software.
This has put additional pressure on Vivendi's (VIV.L) Universal Music Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment -- a joint venture of Sony Corp. and Bertelsmann - and Warner Music Group Corp. (WMG) to take the same steps as EMI Group.
"We've said by the end of this year, over half of the songs we offer on iTunes we believe will be in DRM-free versions," Jobs said. "I think we're going to achieve that."
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