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Apple apparently cutting back on the freebies, Single of the Week the latest casualty

There was surprise expressed when Apple quietly dropped its annual 12 Days of Christmas promotion this past year, just one year after it first reached the US. The app provided a free digital gift–which could be a song, app, book, TV show or movie–for each of 12 days, starting on December 26th.

A number of our readers noticed that it has now apparently done the same with the Single of the Week, which has offered a free music track on iTunes every week since 2004. No track was offered last week, and a participant in a support communities thread spotted by Business Insider says he’s been told by an Apple employee that the promotion has been discontinued … 

If Apple has indeed ended the promotion, rather than it falling victim to a technical glitch, it seems an odd decision. Single of the Week was a win-win-win for consumers, artists and Apple alike. Consumers got free music, artists got exposure (with a link to buy the album right next to the free track) and Apple got the goodwill that stems from giving away free stuff.

We’ve asked Apple to comment, and will update if we hear back. The good news is that–for now, at least–the Free App of the Week lives on.

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Comments

  1. Mark Carabin - 9 years ago

    I think this is a huge miss, if they’re actually getting rid of it. I can’t even count the number of artists I discovered, and subsequently purchased albums and promoted to friends through this program. I can understand, maybe, if they’re going to be promoting artists and discovery through iTunes Radio or Beats Music, but sadly neither of those services are available in Canada, so I’ll likely be turning to other companies for music discovery. Seems like such missed opportunity.

    • crichton007 - 9 years ago

      Agreed. I still remember one of the first free tracks they gave away (if I remember correctly) was one from Snow Patrol and I still remember how I heard them first as a free single of the week.

  2. PMZanetti - 9 years ago

    Yal had to complain about free U2. First 12 days of christmas, now single of the week.

    Pretty soon EarPods will be an extra $19 with purchase of an iPhone.

    Yal ruined everything.

    • Dil Ribeiro - 9 years ago

      I couldn’t agree more. People complained so much about the free U2 album. Therefore no more free gift…

      • prukel - 9 years ago

        Not only U2, there were constant complaints about the FREE iTunes London line ups from ppl in the U.S. not even going!
        Some ppl jus gotta whine.

    • Yes, that’s certainly the same thing.

      /sarcasm

    • Agreed. If people actually were thankful for what they get for free we, the normal ones, could still have it. Some people are very stupid.

      • Andrew Messenger - 9 years ago

        yes, people not being thankful enough is why they’re getting rid of iTunes free single of the week.

      • I’ll take a different stance to you.

        I contribute in some small way to the salaries of every single person who works at Apple when I purchase a new iMac or iPhone, any music off iTunes and any App via the AppStore. I also help to line the pockets of all those investors who are happy to see Apple make more profit each and every quarter. I do it not because I’m forced to, but because I love my Apple stuff (something I would of laughed at 18 months ago).

        Forgive me then, if I don’t fall down on my hands and knees in gratitude because Apple very kindly “gave away” a free single of the week. They could give away a free single a week for over a year and I still wouldn’t recoup the £65 cost of the Superdrive I had to buy because Apple very kindly decided to remove it from the iMac (without reducing it’s cost incidentally).

        Your a customer of Apple – nothing more nothing less. You owe them nothing.

    • stuffradio (@stuffradio) - 9 years ago

      Who is Yal and how do we get a hold of him!?

  3. Funny how a company with $182B in revenue feels like it has to tighten its belt. I can only hope it’s going to compensate somewhere else, like going back to basics and provide a stable environment in iOS and OS X.

  4. chrisl84 - 9 years ago

    Its entirely possible this is due to new contract agreements from negotiations with their Beats subscription service. You all know Apple doesn’t just give things away without the other party agreeing to it.

  5. ChildsPlay - 9 years ago

    Very disappointed. I looked forward to hearing new music each Tuesday.

  6. Taste_of_Apple - 9 years ago

    Very disappointed. Part of why I looked forward to checking the store weekly.

  7. rogifan - 9 years ago

    People didn’t complain about a free U2 album they complained about it being pushed to their device whether they wanted it or not.

  8. crichton007 - 9 years ago

    On the plus side it appears that the free giveaways from iTunes via the Starbucks app is still going on. At least I got one from there last week.

  9. Tony West (@westtony1) - 9 years ago

    Bearing in mind Apple normally excel in their marketing approach just dropping the free song without explaining why, does not seem the Apple way of doing things. Perhaps they are not so different after all!

  10. Jerry Donel - 9 years ago

    The free singe of the week WAS the most significant marketing tool Apple used. I too found lots of good music I otherwise would not have been familiar with. But the free app of the week is worthless to me. 99% of the time it is just more junk in the form of games — Apple could do a lot better than that IF it was not so greedy!

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Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Ben Lovejoy

Ben Lovejoy is a British technology writer and EU Editor for 9to5Mac. He’s known for his op-eds and diary pieces, exploring his experience of Apple products over time, for a more rounded review. He also writes fiction, with two technothriller novels, a couple of SF shorts and a rom-com!


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