Apple has begun the process of rolling out 90 second song previews on the iTunes Store. According to a letter from Apple to its music distribution and label partners that leaked online last month, the company is increasing the length of music previews on the iTunes Store in the U.S. from 30 seconds to 90 seconds for all songs longer than 2 minutes and 30 seconds in length. The letter also stated that by continuing to offer their music on the iTunes Store, the labels are indicating acceptance of the new terms, meaning that any label not wishing to participate would need to pull their music from the store. Notably, it seems the lengthier new previews are appearing on top/featured songs and albums first, while many older, less popular titles have yet to see their preview times increased. [via BGR]
90 second song previews appear on iTunes Store
5 comments
Now, this I like. Admittedly, until they offer lossless, the only sales they get of mine are things unavailable in lossless from somewhere else, but the store is well organized and iTunes does manage to score a fair number of digital only exclusives.
Something like this only makes sense, particularly given how unrepresentative or downright bad some of the 20 second preview selections they have had in the past are. If you can’t manage to find something appealing in a 90 second preview, though, odds are you’re going to dislike the whole shebang.
I agree that this is an excellent move. The previous 30 second clips often misrepresented the songs. 90 seconds should span through enough to give you a real feel for the song.
Now watch, they’ll manage to put up a clip of 90 seconds of mostly audience noise from song right before the encore on a live album 😉
Sadly, that would not surprise me. They are already doing that on some tracks! 🙂
Awesome! I kinda was okay with the original 30 second previews as long as they included the songs chorus but I found out that most don’t……. 90 seconds is great!