macnn/electronista
12/22/2007, 12:30pm, EST
Saturday, December 22ndX-Factor to sue Apple over iTunes outage?
Co-host of the British talent show X-Factor Simon Cowell is considering suing Apple for a failure to cope with demand after posting the music from winning contestant Leon Jackson, according to a claim from The Sun. The newspaper claims to have contacts within Jackson's representing label Sony BMG who say that iTunes UK effectively collapsed moments after the artist's "When You Believe" single went on sale, preventing visitors from buying the music until the issue was resolved 15 hours later. The overload may have cost Jackson and Sony BMG valuable sales in the immediate wake of the show's ending despite indications the single will still be a strong seller.
"Everybody is really upset for Leon and don’t want technical malfunctions to mar his big week," says the alleged record label source.
The failure is said to be less than justifiable given Apple's previous ability to maintain demand. Previous X-Factor winner Leona Lewis tracked 50,000 song downloads within an hour and without any accompanying downtime, The Sun says, though the paper does not say whether the figure is attributable solely to Apple's online service.
An Apple spokesperson has reportedly declined comment, though the company is regularly connected to promoting music from talent shows associated with Cowell, such as American Idol.
Filed under: industry, Apple
Other story tags: iTunes, X-Factor
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Apple: Sorry, can we try again?
Simon: Your just so just ridiculously amateur, thank you for coming. Don't let the door smack you on your way out.
Oh SonyBMG, how I cry for thee. I only wish all corporations hated their customers so much to go around suing them constantly. What a wonderful world that would be.
Probably . . .
Screw you Simon/SonyBMG/Idol-type shows!
I can only imagine it really is just a bogus story...
Man, I tell you. THE HARDER THESE LABELS try to go after Apple, the more and more we're going to fight back. They had better watch it. We're all PISSED.
BMG - why not go read some of your letters on PIRATE BAY. It's worth a laugh.
People PAY for the artist, not you. I want Apple to turn the industry inside-out. Artists directly to Apple - so they get their slice and Apple gets their iPod sales. No more fat!
Merry Christmas or whatever religion you celebrate or do not celebrate!