McDonald's 1 Billion Song Promotion... A Go? - MacRumors
Skip to Content

McDonald's 1 Billion Song Promotion... A Go?

Martin Bandier, Chairman and CEO of EMI Music Publishing, spoke at EMI's Interim Results 2003 Conference today.

Starting at 38 minutes into the webcast, Mr. Bandier speaks of EMI's performance over this past year, and goes on to discuss the growth of legal music download services such as Apple's iTunes. On future performance, he notes:


    "... but there is real potential for the future especially when PepsiCola makes a commitment to giveaway up to 100 million downloads and Mcdonald's commits to 1 billion in download giveaways as part of a promotional campaign."

The New York Post first reported that McDonald's was close to announcing a 1 billion iTunes song giveaway. While McDonald's had no deal to announce at the time, we subsequently received confirmation that the deal was in the works.

While it is possible the comments may simply be reflective of the circulating rumors, it seems likely that EMI's CEO would be privy to such knowledge and that he would be unlikely to make comments at a financial conference based on unfounded rumors.

Related Forum: Mac Apps

Popular Stories

iOS 27 Next to iPhone

Here's When iOS 27 Rolls Out Today in Every Time Zone [Update: It's Out]

Sunday September 13, 2026 3:00 am PDT by
Update 10:04 a.m.: iOS 27 is rolling out now, though it may take a bit for all users to see it, so keep checking! Apple is about to release iOS 27, which will finally deliver more advanced Siri AI capabilities as well as a variety of other refinements, improvements, and new features to iPhones. It's Apple's biggest software update of the year, and Apple announced at Wednesday's iPhone event...
iOS 27 Icon iPhone

iOS 27 Available Now With These 8 New Features

Monday September 14, 2026 9:00 am PDT by
Update — 10 a.m. Pacific Time: Apple has released iOS 27. During its iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Duo event last week, Apple announced that iOS 27 will be released widely on Monday, September 14. iOS 27 should be available around 10 a.m. Pacific Time / 1 p.m. Eastern Time today via the Settings app, under General → Software Update. Below, we have highlighted eight new features and...
Apple iCloud Plus expansion hero

iCloud+ Now Includes Apple TV, Apple Arcade, and Curated Apple Music Stations in Over 100 Countries

Tuesday September 15, 2026 1:43 am PDT by
Apple today announced a new subscription initiative that turns paid iCloud+ subscriptions into a broader services bundle in more than 100 countries. In select countries, Apple says every paid iCloud+ plan, including the cheapest 50GB tier, now includes Apple TV and Apple Arcade "at no additional cost," while family sharing extends the storage, TV and Arcade access to up to five people....