What’s better than a buffet? Free Buffet. In the quest to devalue its music, Universal Music is pitching a new service to music player manufacturers: a “Total Music” player would come with all-you-can-eat music.
As Big Music swirls down the crapper, Universal is trying to throw out a lifeline with another new digital music distribution product: A product that simultaneously changes the way people interact with their music and changes the ownership model for music. Big Music has been trying this for years, but I’m sure this new pitch is GOLD.
According to an article in Business Week, Doug Morris, head of Universal Music, wants consumers to think of music like a utility (like water and gas). I think this idea is more like a buffet.
Like your meal at a buffet, one buys admission by purchasing a “Total Music” player and then “never shells out a penny for the music. ‘You know that it’s there, and it costs something,’ says one tech company executive who has seen Morris’ presentation. ‘But you never write a check for it.’ ” Talk about reducing the value of your music.
What does Steve Jobs think of Morris? I can’t help but hear a backhanded slap in this quote he gave Business Week, “He’s the last of the great music executives who came up through A&R. He’s old school.”
I’m not really a buffet-type. I prefer the hotel’s 24-hour sit down restaurant or Spago when I’m in Vegas. I avoid the buffet because a buffet, even a Vegas buffet, draws you in with a few high cost items and fills the rest of the serving line with awful stuff. I’d rather eat well and eat what I want.