jimhenry wrote:You probably should add "Why aren't there previews of the songs?" in your "FAQs" at the bottom of the page. You could point out the availability of the free songs to judge the quality of the offerings as part of the answer.
There are enough quirks (and even more to communicate) that I might introduce a separate Store FAQ. Those other links are kind of hidden at the bottom of the store page, so those might move up to a new position near the top.
Maybe something like this would bring the other options to the fore and help make the store FAQ discoverable. (It will help that the top-most menu will be undergoing significant change when the music store launches. In particular, the words "FAQ" won't appear twice in such close proximity to each other.)
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jimhenry wrote:... the first sentence seems to say that the app can play the outside purchase if there is no in-App store.
My reading of it is a little different. I'm seeing something along the lines of "Your app can use whatever content it likes so long as you don't advertise outside-of-app purchases." From that perspective, the second sentence becomes justification: "We only receive a cut from in-app purchases [so it's in our best interests to discourage out-of-app purchases]."
jimhenry wrote:I think what they were trying to say is you can play external purchases as long as there are no links for making those external purchases in the app.
Yeah, that is my understanding too and congruent with my reading of the guideline above.
jimhenry wrote:This is all a lead up to saying I think you ought to consider selling content with in-App purchases even if you have to pay Apple a 30% cut...
I wish I could. I would easily pay the "Apple tax" if it were allowed.
The day after I received my first set of licenses back from RightsFlow, I also received an email from one of the publishers of one of the songs I just licensed. It was along these lines: "Thank you for the [notice of intent] to use 'Song X' in the Synthesia program. We feel however that the interactive nature of the use keeps it from being covered by a compulsory license..."
They had assumed the "to use [...] in the Synthesia program" on their own and I promptly corrected that they were plain MIDI tracks sold on a website with no interactive features (e.g., previews) whatsoever. Still, it brought up the issue of selling the MIDI files inside the app and how it might be increasingly challenging to convince a court that including any sort of store/purchase functionality inside Synthesia wouldn't constitute an interactive use.
In terms of confidence, I am much more sure I'll be able to follow Apple's guideline (despite an external-only store) than I would be able to satisfactorily convince every copyright holder that an inside-Synthesia music store didn't constitute an interactive use of their content. Worse yet, if I were to try by putting up all sorts of notices like "This is just a MIDI file! You can use it however you like, not just with this app!" I'd inadvertently be violating another of Apple's guidelines. Namely:
Apple wrote:11.3 Apps using IAP to purchase physical goods or goods and services used outside of the App will be rejected
I would describe MIDI files you can use with any program anywhere as a "good[...] used outside of the App".
That is:
To keep Apple happy an in-app purchased song can only be used inside the app.
To keep publishers happy, the same song must be completely divorced from the app (and then the type of use is still fuzzy at best).
If I was only allowed a single word to describe the situation, it would be "frustrating".