“It’s perverse, but true. If the last ten years have taught us anything, it’s that proper licensing carries serious disadvantages, and oftentimes, invites failure. Doing the right thing just hasn’t paid. It’s why Spotify is begging to get into the US, why Pandora still can’t cross into the black, and why hundreds of startups have perished trying to satisfy inane …
Apple, Google Licenses in Holding Pattern as Labels, Publishers Battle Over Revenue Shares, Sources Say
Billboard.biz reports, “One of the issues behind Google’s decision to launch its Music Beta Cloud service without the necessary licenses has also been felt in negotiations between the majors and Apple over the latter’s forthcoming cloud offering, sources told Billboard. The Google negotiations derailed for a number of reasons, sources said, but one of them occurred when Universal Music Group …