Rotophonic

A geeky blog discussing the world of music, technology & politics.

Archive for category Music Business

NBC’s Zucker: Apple Destroyed the Music Business

Oct 30

Posted by rotophonic in Apple, Music, Music Business, Technology, Television | No Comments

Steve Jobs“We know that Apple has destroyed the music business — in terms of pricing — and if we don’t take control, they’ll do the same thing on the video side.”
- Jeff Zucker [source]

Acting as a proxy soldier for the Music Industry’s third prong of attack on itself, Jeff Zucker, President & CEO of NBC Universal, attacked Apple (and the iPodfather) for destroying the music industry’s pricing model.

Zucker’s statement is painful because it’s so far from reality. The music industry was aware of the changing digital marketplace throughout the 1990’s and launched venture after venture to try and capture a piece of the digital music market. They failed. Again and again they failed. The iTunes Store opened in 2003 after Steve Jobs, likely sick and tired of watching the Music Industry’s bungled attempts to sell music hurt Apple’s iPod business, decided to bring his golden consumer touch to the world of selling music.

When the iTunes Store opened, the music industry had already spent 10 years trying to sell music online. With crappy subscription models, oppressive DRM, limited selection and overpriced music tracks (I’m talking to you, MusicNet, PressPlay and Rhapsody), they’d fail to gain any traction with consumers (not that it was their fault…labels like Universal basically made that impossible with their licensing terms).

Finally, Apple comes along with enough clout to make a deal and a simplified pricing model and the features consumers wanted (the ability to easily play tracks on multiple computers and burn CDs).

Zucker is mad that Apple wouldn’t let them sell downloadable copies of NBC shows for $4.99/episode (something that NBC took pains to deny, but Apple had confirmed). You read that correctly: $4.99/episode. You mean a season of Heroes is worth $115? In digital form? At 640×480 resolution? With no incremental costs to NBC for distribution? Wow. We are still talking about the show that beams for free through the airwaves to every home in America, right?

I can buy the DVD set for $40, but the digital version is $115? And the DVD set includes “several behind-the-scenes featurettes, mini-documentaries, 50 deleted scenes, select episode commentaries, the original pilot (w/ commentary), and a character map?” And I can get the HD DVD for $70. But Zucker wants to charge me $115.

Zucker, you’re nuts. I can’t wait to see Hulu.com. Perhaps they’ll sell episodes of 30 Rock for $30? Oh wait, Hulu content is free with commercials. Huh?

I get that the Industry is bitter at their inability to build a store that could sell their own products, but to blame Apple for the problem is complete crap. If Zucker really believes this, I would seriously question Hulu’s future. Apple didn’t do anything that the industry couldn’t have done (more easily) for themselves long ago.

[UPDATE]
Just how delusional is Zucker? “Apple sold millions of dollars worth of hardware off the back of our content, and made a lot of money,” complained Zucker. “They did not want to share in what they were making off the hardware or allow us to adjust pricing.” So now he’s retroactively bitter about all that money Sony, Magnavox, RCA made selling TVs. Clearly the flavor of the month at NBC Universal is charging the hardware manufacturers for their content.

And just to be clear, Zucker, Apple made millions of dollars off of MY content: my music, my shows. Items that I own and purchased.

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Universal to Launch “Total Music” Buffet-Style

Oct 12

Posted by rotophonic in Apple, Music Business, Technology | No Comments

Total Music Buffet

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.

Music Industry Launches Four-Pronged Effort to Destroy Itself

Oct 10

Posted by rotophonic in Apple, Dance Music, Music Business | 19 Comments

Big Fork
Like a snake eating its tail, the Mega Music Industry has launched its four-pronged strategy to destroy itself:

  • destroy the goodwill of music fans by entrapping the children, the poor and the technically illiterate then suing them;
  • continue to release music that no one would be caught dead sharing;
  • turn their back on profitable, legal sales by backing out of deals with legal music sales entities, like Apple’s iTunes music store;
  • finally, gut fair-use by pursuing those true thieves–their own customers–who burn mix CDs or rip their own music for their iPods.

In the circle of life the big labels are headed back to dust.

Destroy the goodwill of music fans
The music industry has always been populated with greedy bastards. It’s a fairly common story to hear of the band signing a deal with a big record label and then being forced into using that label’s own producers, studios, and marketers, only to have their earnings from music sales eaten up by exorbitant charges: charges that were paid right back to the label itself.

Now, in the name of the artists, the RIAA, with evidence gained from its hacker team, is suing individuals under the weakest rationales. The RIAA is now celebrating its first win in the courts. This is clearly going to bring tons of goodwill to the industry and its artists. Brilliant.

Release Unsharable Music
Given that the radio industry has become a wholly-owned subsidiary of the music industry, the labels can continue to release trash music with an extremely short half-life and be assured that it will get tons of airplay. This isn’t music people want to buy. It’s like a pop version of Muzak. This music will embarrass any potential file sharer. If you become the butt of jokes because you’re sharing the latest Britney Spears album, you’ll be a lot less likely to share music. Again, brilliant.

Turn its back on iTunes
While the music labels whined about Napster and pursued pathetic attempts to market digital music via repressive DRM and subscriptions, Steve Jobs and Apple single-handedly saved the retail music industry by opening the iTunes Store and giving the public a reasonable way to purchase music online. For that, many labels in the music industry are now crying foul and threatening not to renew their deals with Apple or going month-to-month on their deals.

I think they’re right. They own the music. And if they don’t want to sell any, they should back out of those deals. This will be a very effective prong of their strategy.

Start suing their own customers
In the most depraved prong of their strategy, the labels now appear poised to begin criminalizing the fair use of music. Always bitter that the software industry had a better model for selling their product than they did (licensing per device), the music industry is now hinting that they will begin pursuing their own customers for ripping music onto an iPod or burning it on a CD. By doing this, the industry reduce even further the value of its music to its customers. This is likely the final nail in the coffin for Big Music.

With this four-pronged strategy, I believe Big Music has sealed their fate.

I’m not a serial music sharer, just a long-time customer of Big Music. I purchased and own thousands of CDs. I feel like I did my part to support good music being released by the big labels. At this point, though, I will never purchase another track from the big labels. I’ll buy from Radiohead. I’ll buy from independent artists on iTunes. And I’ll continue to buy from Beatport. Those folks get it. The “Industry” doesn’t.

[photo by Erica Marshall]