Apple Thoughts: Licensing Problems Responsible for iTunes 30 Second Song Samples

"Apple's plans for minute-long iTunes samples may have been thwarted by the sheer number of deals it needed, both official and unofficial sources divulged Tuesday afternoon. Although all the music labels themselves are still reported by CNET as onboard, Apple had yet to clear both Broadcast Music Inc.'s performance rights and the National Music Publishers Association's rights."

It's incredibly complicated to clear rights on intellectual property in today's world, and even large corporations have a hard time doing it. It takes a lot of lawyers and a lot of money. I'm sure Apple will eventually get what they want, but it's not going to be on Apple's timetable. There are just too many agencies involved. I really hope Apple gets this cleared up soon, though. Thirty-second samples aren't quite long enough in most cases to determine if a song is worth purchasing or not. Usually, I end up trying to find songs on youtube before I purchase them. That takes me out of the iTunes experience, which is exactly what Apple doesn't want people doing. Ideally, sample length should be between one and two minutes in my opinion. What do you think? How much of a song do you need to hear before you're willing to purchase it?