Given how robust our DashBook desktop royalty solution is, perhaps the iPhone program is more aptly called a Royalty Estimator.
In any event, a few weeks ago we released our first iPhone app, entitled Royalty Calculator. This app runs natively on the iPhone and gives quick answers to the simple questions of, "How much royalty would a sale of so much be?" If you are in the music industry, you would be pleased to see that this app will calculate your U.S. mechanical rights for you based on your song or track length.
For all industries, the percentage calculator will instantly show you the royalty either before or after discounts.
This app can be good for publishers of books, music, etc. in estimating the royalties they might owe. It is also an excellent tool for the author, musician, etc. in determining how much they might make.
Right now and for the foreseeable future, this iPhone app is FREE! This link will show you screen examples, as well as provide a link to download Royalty Calculator to your iPhone/iPod or iTunes account:
http://dashbook.com/CalculatorIPhone.aspx
If you prefer a program that remembers special royalty deals for each author or artist, of course DashBook will do that job handily.
Showing posts with label iPhone. Show all posts
Showing posts with label iPhone. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Amazon Kindle vs Apple for eBooks. Is an Apple eReader app coming?
The big news today is that Amazon will be offering 70% net royalties for Kindle sales soon. (press release) This announcement is just one day after the Wall Street Journal reported that Apple is working with HarperCollins to bring their eBooks to the iTunes store (WSJ article)
Since Amazon is currently only paying 30%, it looks like they are concerned about Apple. Amazon has other competition paying up to 80%, but that didn't cause them to blink. I suspect that they've known for a while that they would have to raise the rate, and had this plan in the drawer awaiting the need.
But what is Apple going to do? Obviously they will be selling eBooks through their iTunes store for buying and reading on iPod and iPhone devices. Most people expect Apple to introduce a tablet device on the 27th, with assumptions that this device will be running the same operating system as the iPod/iPhone. However, there is a strong possibility that they will be upgrading this from the current version 3.1.2.
Would Apple include an eReader from Apple or HarperCollins? Since the introduction of OS version 3 last year, users could purchase content while within the application. Amazon's Kindle app has yet to take advantage of this feature. But if Apple preloads an eReader onto every new device plus all current devices via an update, they could easily overtake Amazon's sales for books read on the Apple handheld platform.
Apple enjoys selling music, apps (some of which are eBooks), and videos on their iTunes network, but they get no rewards from current book sales from Amazon, even though these books may be read using the iPhone Kindle reader. When Apple provides books on iTunes, they'll take a cut from those sales. Surely they'll want to funnel as much buying to their own iTunes eBooks as possible, and having their own eReader would do just that.
Since Amazon is currently only paying 30%, it looks like they are concerned about Apple. Amazon has other competition paying up to 80%, but that didn't cause them to blink. I suspect that they've known for a while that they would have to raise the rate, and had this plan in the drawer awaiting the need.
But what is Apple going to do? Obviously they will be selling eBooks through their iTunes store for buying and reading on iPod and iPhone devices. Most people expect Apple to introduce a tablet device on the 27th, with assumptions that this device will be running the same operating system as the iPod/iPhone. However, there is a strong possibility that they will be upgrading this from the current version 3.1.2.
Would Apple include an eReader from Apple or HarperCollins? Since the introduction of OS version 3 last year, users could purchase content while within the application. Amazon's Kindle app has yet to take advantage of this feature. But if Apple preloads an eReader onto every new device plus all current devices via an update, they could easily overtake Amazon's sales for books read on the Apple handheld platform.
Apple enjoys selling music, apps (some of which are eBooks), and videos on their iTunes network, but they get no rewards from current book sales from Amazon, even though these books may be read using the iPhone Kindle reader. When Apple provides books on iTunes, they'll take a cut from those sales. Surely they'll want to funnel as much buying to their own iTunes eBooks as possible, and having their own eReader would do just that.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Import sales reports from iTunes Music and App Store
This week we released DashBook v3.2. Yes, we sometimes just can't wait to get new features in the program and out the door!
Our prior version 3.1 introduced our sales report import ability. DashBook can import sales reports from text formatted files, such as csv and tsv. Although we provide a utility that you can use to create a mapping to the sales reports you receive, we also include a bunch of them directly in our package so you can focus on your business.
Both the music business and software development require a community effort that is often compensated by paying a percentage of sales to those involved in creation of the product. And one of the hottest places to sell these wares today is iTunes.
v3.2 added an import map for Apple's iTunes sales reports. This map allows you to import your iTunes sales whether they are from music sales or iPhone App Store sales. During import, you can enter a currency conversion factor. One of our customers noted that typing in the bank transfer fees as a sales commission percentage allowed him to pass the pro-rata of that expense to each of the products sold, so that the royalties he pays out are properly accounted.
Our import was also enhanced to enable creation of invoices for consignment sales. This was critical to properly add the reports for Midpoint Trade Books and Consortium, two more distributors used by DashBook customers.
If you have a distributor or reseller for which DashBook does not have a built-in import, please let us know so that we can help.
Our prior version 3.1 introduced our sales report import ability. DashBook can import sales reports from text formatted files, such as csv and tsv. Although we provide a utility that you can use to create a mapping to the sales reports you receive, we also include a bunch of them directly in our package so you can focus on your business.
Both the music business and software development require a community effort that is often compensated by paying a percentage of sales to those involved in creation of the product. And one of the hottest places to sell these wares today is iTunes.
v3.2 added an import map for Apple's iTunes sales reports. This map allows you to import your iTunes sales whether they are from music sales or iPhone App Store sales. During import, you can enter a currency conversion factor. One of our customers noted that typing in the bank transfer fees as a sales commission percentage allowed him to pass the pro-rata of that expense to each of the products sold, so that the royalties he pays out are properly accounted.
Our import was also enhanced to enable creation of invoices for consignment sales. This was critical to properly add the reports for Midpoint Trade Books and Consortium, two more distributors used by DashBook customers.
If you have a distributor or reseller for which DashBook does not have a built-in import, please let us know so that we can help.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)