Big Music Angry at Apple, iTunes

Two and a half years after the music business lined up behind the chief
executive of Apple, Steven P. Jobs, and hailed him and his iTunes music
service for breathing life into music sales, the industry's allegiance
to Mr. Jobs has eroded sharply.

Mr. Jobs is now girding for a showdown with at least two of the four
major record companies over the price of songs on the iTunes service.

If he loses, the one-price model that iTunes has adopted - 99 cents to
download any song - could be replaced with a more complex structure
that prices songs by popularity. A hot new single, for example, could
sell for $1.49, while a golden oldie could go for substantially less
than 99 cents.

Music executives who support Mr. Jobs say the higher prices could
backfire, sending iTunes' customers in search of songs on free,
unauthorized file-swapping networks.

Signs of conflict over pricing issues are increasingly apparent. This
month, Apple started its iTunes service in Japan without songs from the
two major companies - Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Warner Music
Group - leaving artists like Avril Lavigne, Beyonc=E9 and Rob Thomas out
of the catalog because the companies refused to license their music to
iTunes, executives involved in the talks said.

It's puzzling. Jobs found a way to get people to pay to download music
from the Web, giving the majors a model for selling music online. And
now the big labels want to destroy it. Could it be that big music isn't
getting a large enough piece of the action from the iTunes music store?

At the price of 99 cents a song, the share of the major labels is about
70 cents.

If someone told me they would market and sell my product for me, and
hand over 70 percent of the take (all while I stayed home in bed), I'd
be inclined to go along with it.

This all reminds me of a scene you might see in an old-fashioned
gangster flick, where the mobsters walk into a successful businessman's
shop and say, "Nice little place you've got here. Be a shame if
anything was to ... happen ... to it."=20
----

Patrick
'93 Cobra

RIAA is only interested in it's profits. The bands like Metallica
which began this whole fight brought it home. RIAA doesn't even want
the bands who want their music out there in the public, whether free
or otherwise, to allow it, or to do so for free. That alone says RIAA
doesn't care about intellectual properties and the artist's wishes.
They only care about the money. Add the situation with Jobs, where
they got what they wanted, but it's not enough now that the file
sharing has dropped from the levels it was at. Now they figure they
have that under control, so it's time to go after the BIG bucks again.
They want their cake, and they want to eat it by themselves.


On 29 Aug 2005 13:01:46 -0700, wrote:

>Two and a half years after the music business lined up behind the chief
>executive of Apple, Steven P. Jobs, and hailed him and his iTunes music
>service for breathing life into music sales, the industry's allegiance
>to Mr. Jobs has eroded sharply.
>
>Mr. Jobs is now girding for a showdown with at least two of the four
>major record companies over the price of songs on the iTunes service.
>
>If he loses, the one-price model that iTunes has adopted - 99 cents to
>download any song - could be replaced with a more complex structure
>that prices songs by popularity. A hot new single, for example, could
>sell for $1.49, while a golden oldie could go for substantially less
>than 99 cents.
>
>Music executives who support Mr. Jobs say the higher prices could
>backfire, sending iTunes' customers in search of songs on free,
>unauthorized file-swapping networks.
>
>Signs of conflict over pricing issues are increasingly apparent. This
>month, Apple started its iTunes service in Japan without songs from the
>two major companies - Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Warner Music
>Group - leaving artists like Avril Lavigne, Beyoncé and Rob Thomas out
>of the catalog because the companies refused to license their music to
>iTunes, executives involved in the talks said.
>
>It's puzzling. Jobs found a way to get people to pay to download music
>from the Web, giving the majors a model for selling music online. And
>now the big labels want to destroy it. Could it be that big music isn't
>getting a large enough piece of the action from the iTunes music store?
>
>At the price of 99 cents a song, the share of the major labels is about
>70 cents.
>
>If someone told me they would market and sell my product for me, and
>hand over 70 percent of the take (all while I stayed home in bed), I'd
>be inclined to go along with it.
>
>This all reminds me of a scene you might see in an old-fashioned
>gangster flick, where the mobsters walk into a successful businessman's
>shop and say, "Nice little place you've got here. Be a shame if
>anything was to ... happen ... to it."
>----
>
>Patrick
>'93 Cobra

Spike
1965 Ford Mustang fastback 2+2 A Code 289 C4 Trac-Lok
Vintage Burgundy w/Black Standard Interior; Vintage 40
16" rims w/BF Goodrich Comp T/A gForce Radial
225/50ZR16 KDWS skins; surround sound audio-video.

Gad what fools these morons be....
Children are obscene but should not be heard
Give me a peperoni pizza... or give me a calzone!

I'm a conservative. I believe in the free market.

But the Music industry has made my blood boil from the time I found that I
could have 1000 CD Roms or any content on CD made for $2900

And THAT was in 1984 when there were only 3 houses in the US that did it!
- Never mind i was a music lover in the fifties and sixties and read
plaenty of stories on how the labels had conspired to screw artistrs out of
most of their royalties... just like the old mining company/ company store
trick.

By 1990, it surely cost less to stamp a CD than to make a cassette YET the
industry was still charging a premium... even long after AOL started
mailing out shiny coasters to every man woman and child in the US 4 times a
year!

Now this.

Never mind that this (RIAA) is a government enforced monopoly, or maybe we
SHOULD mind...
Maybe WE SHOULD enquire with these artistic moguls as to EXACTLY what their
politics are.

Bet I know what we'd find.

Well, let them get their short term gains. It wont be long before they're
either retiring or out in the streets looking for the next marketing job.

Because that industry is gonna die... too bad we cant mercy kill it by
nationalizing the RIAA into a branch of the FTC.
Then force BMI ASCAP ans SESAC into fairly representing the artists.

On Tue, 30 Aug 2005 03:34:57 GMT, Backyard Mechanic
> wrote:

>
>I'm a conservative. I believe in the free market.
>
>But the Music industry has made my blood boil from the time I found that I
>could have 1000 CD Roms or any content on CD made for $2900
>
>And THAT was in 1984 when there were only 3 houses in the US that did it!
> - Never mind i was a music lover in the fifties and sixties and read
>plaenty of stories on how the labels had conspired to screw artistrs out of
>most of their royalties... just like the old mining company/ company store
>trick.
>
>By 1990, it surely cost less to stamp a CD than to make a cassette YET the
>industry was still charging a premium... even long after AOL started
>mailing out shiny coasters to every man woman and child in the US 4 times a
>year!

Reminds me of Microsoft.... You can buy the latest OS at whatever the
going rate is, and yet you'll still pay full price for any of the OS
levels still supported by MS. Even if nobody is using it anymore.
>
>Now this.
>
>Never mind that this (RIAA) is a government enforced monopoly, or maybe we
>SHOULD mind...
>Maybe WE SHOULD enquire with these artistic moguls as to EXACTLY what their
>politics are.
>
>Bet I know what we'd find.
>
>Well, let them get their short term gains. It wont be long before they're
>either retiring or out in the streets looking for the next marketing job.
>
>Because that industry is gonna die... too bad we cant mercy kill it by
>nationalizing the RIAA into a branch of the FTC.
>Then force BMI ASCAP ans SESAC into fairly representing the artists.

Spike
1965 Ford Mustang fastback 2+2 A Code 289 C4 Trac-Lok
Vintage Burgundy w/Black Standard Interior; Vintage 40
16" rims w/BF Goodrich Comp T/A gForce Radial
225/50ZR16 KDWS skins; surround sound audio-video.

Gad what fools these morons be....
Children are obscene but should not be heard
Give me a peperoni pizza... or give me a calzone!