"He (Bezos) went on to describe Amazon’s actions as ‘stupid, thoughtless and painfully out of line with our principles.’"

Amazon.com Offers to Replace Copies of Orwell Book

What if your enemy suddenly becomes your friend?

What if someone you hate, for oppressing you, for doing something stupid, admits his mistake and offers to make amends?

I’m not talking about a Hollywood apology, where you say you’re sorry for uttering a gay slur and go to rehab.  Huh?  When did they institute reeducation rehab?  Wherein you eradicate all the prejudices you’ve learned while you’ve ignored school and watched television?  People don’t believe those apologies.  We don’t want perfunctory mea culpas, we want takebacks that are real!  That evidence honest remorse, repulsion at previous behavior.

Maybe we believe Bezos more than actors because he’s demonstrated a modicum of intelligence.  In a country that reveres looks, where your side tattoo, however misspelled, is a bigger badge of honor than a measly G.E.D., when smart people render words of wisdom, we pay attention.  I’m not speaking of politicians, they’re lying, cheating scumbags, not beholden to us anyway.  But corporations, like Amazon, without us, they’re nothing.  Hell, the idiot CEO of Whole Foods railed against health care reform and his liberal customers immediately organized a boycott.  You don’t shit in your own backyard.

Like the record companies.

It’s kind of like that old Eagles record, "Life In The Fast Lane":

He said, call the doctor, I think I’m gonna crash
The doctor say he’s coming but you gotta pay him cash

That doctor doesn’t expect to see the patient again.  Or, he’s been burned so many times, he doesn’t want to expend effort trying to collect on one more bill.  Cash is the mark of an underworld operation, or one that’s going out of business, like the record business.

Let me get this straight.  The labels want everybody to pay for music, to stop stealing, and they raise prices?  According to Thursday’s "Billboard Bulletin", "Since February, weekly sales of tracks has dropped from the 25 million-per-week range to 21-22 million in July and 20-21 million in August."  But, since the default price at iTunes has risen to $1.29, record company wholesale revenues are up! Huh?

In the name of short term profits, the majors are decimating their business.  In other words, they raised the prices and people either stopped buying or stole.  This is a business plan?

Where’s the record industry executive who says mea culpa like Jeff Bezos?

Amazon wiped Kindles of George Orwell’s "1984" and "Animal Farm" because they didn’t have the rights.  Kind of reminds you of labels, who keep complaining about publishers, all kinds of internal shit that the public can’t understand and doesn’t care about.  Can anyone truly explain to a fan why the Beatles are not available on iTunes?  With CD sales down 54.7% in the last five years according to the "Wall Street Journal", does anybody other than Kid Rock believe that making people buy the complete album, preferably on CD, is a way to satiate customers and further your business?

It’s not surprising, the executives think they’re stars, just like their charges.  And they believe they’ve got to protect their images, or in the alternative, fly beneath the radar.  If they’re being paid so much, can’t they have a public presence where they come clean?  You want the public to do the right thing and pay for music when the industry overcharges and scalps its own tickets?

So now Bezos says if the company took back your copy of "1984" or "Animal Farm", you can have it returned.  Or get an Amazon gift certificate or a check for $30.  The sting of the offense will not be eradicated, but the settlement offer is fair.  As opposed to the labels who settled with the government over CD price-fixing and then sent all their unsellable crap to public libraries.

It’s a totally new business environment.  CEOs are expected to have a relationship with their customers.  And, unlike in the music industry, honesty reigns, at least at the successful companies.  Kind of like that malpractice study…if doctors just apologize, then people don’t sue!

Sure, the majors are in a death spiral.  But the overcharging live industry isn’t in such good shape either.  Because of the dishonesty of ticketing.  The elusive final price and the inability to get a good ticket.  How is it that an industry that blew up on the honesty of its acts, the truth exhibited in their songs, has become just another rip-off business, mistrusted by the public?

What are the principles of the music industry?  We hype it to high heaven, creating momentary demand, and we charge you up the yin-yang for momentary satiation?  And you wonder why music sales are tanking and people are employing other diversions.  When the act is afraid of taking a stand, speaking truth, for fear of offending sponsors, radio corporations, all the faceless people their audience hates, do you really think it creates a bond between them and their fans?

Stop blaming the customer.  This industry only turns around when the customer is respected, when apologies are made for the abuse, when reparations are paid.

Ignore this at your peril.