{"id":165,"date":"2005-09-23T17:11:34","date_gmt":"2005-09-24T00:11:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/archives\/2005\/09\/23\/itunes-pricing\/"},"modified":"2005-09-23T17:14:02","modified_gmt":"2005-09-24T00:14:02","slug":"itunes-pricing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/2005\/09\/23\/itunes-pricing\/","title":{"rendered":"iTunes Pricing"},"content":{"rendered":"
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"jawbone" – verb <\/p>\n

attempt to persuade or pressure by the force of one’s position of authority : the Federal Reserve Board Vice Chairman jawboned the dollar higher by calling its recent steep decline a purely speculative phenomenon |\u00c2\u00a0 an analyst jawboning about the industry.<\/p>\n

(New Oxford American Dictionary via Apple Computer.\u00c2\u00a0 Yup, it’s right there in the Applications folder of Tiger.\u00c2\u00a0 Drag the icon down to the Dock and use it forevermore!)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The music industry thinks Steve Jobs has them by the balls, and they’re not happy about it.\u00c2\u00a0 They’ve been selling records for DECADES!\u00c2\u00a0 They know the marketplace, not this arrogant computer nerd in Silicon Valley.<\/p>\n

But, unfortunately, the record execs know absolutely nothing about technology.<\/p>\n

How many record execs owned Altairs?\u00c2\u00a0 Or even Osbornes.\u00c2\u00a0 No, not Ozzy, but the computer.\u00c2\u00a0 Do you hire an A&R guy who doesn’t know music history?\u00c2\u00a0 Then why do these label heads think they can make pronouncements on technology?<\/p>\n

The reason that executives have any knowledge of technology today, the reason they use it to the limited degree they do, is because of USABILITY!<\/p>\n

And who’s the king of usability?\u00c2\u00a0 Apple Computer.\u00c2\u00a0 The company that pioneered the Graphical User Interface, never mind the iTunes Music Store.\u00c2\u00a0 Microsoft?\u00c2\u00a0 The labels’ friend?\u00c2\u00a0 The company has never innovated in its life.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s just leveraged its monopoly to enter new markets.\u00c2\u00a0 The Redmond, Washington company was asleep when MP3 became the standard and their Plays For Sure doesn’t.\u00c2\u00a0 Their Janus technology savior doesn’t even work.\u00c2\u00a0 But rather than follow an innovator like Steve Jobs, the labels want to get behind this LEVIATHAN known as Microsoft to solve all their problems?\u00c2\u00a0 Have they seen ANY of this movie?<\/p>\n

If it was just as simple as varying the price, the Wal-Mart online store would be selling all the tunes.\u00c2\u00a0 You see, it’s NOT about the price, it’s about USABILITY!\u00c2\u00a0 THAT’S why the iTunes Music Store is successful to the degree it is.<\/p>\n

And that’s also why the iPod is so successful.\u00c2\u00a0 Unlike Microsoft product, it WORKS!<\/p>\n

There’s no law against people competing with Apple.\u00c2\u00a0 Why is it that not ONE other company can come up with an adequate solution?\u00c2\u00a0 PROBABLY because they think it’s about hardware, not software.\u00c2\u00a0 Apple make both, they have a seamless solution, and for this they’re the ENEMY?<\/p>\n

Don’t the labels get it?\u00c2\u00a0 That by taking out the price equation, there are fewer detours on the way to SALE!\u00c2\u00a0 That’s what Steve Jobs wants, your MONEY!\u00c2\u00a0 Ever sell anything?\u00c2\u00a0 The less you confuse, the more you sell.<\/p>\n

But if you don’t know all of the above, you’re an idiot.\u00c2\u00a0 What’s interesting now is not the facts but the BATTLE!<\/p>\n

The major labels started rattling the cage and Steve Jobs FOUGHT BACK!\u00c2\u00a0 God, this guy rarely goes on record.\u00c2\u00a0 But now he’s lambasting his partners, telling them variable pricing is RIDICULOUS!\u00c2\u00a0
<\/span>Apple CEO Attacks ‘Greedy’ Music Companies<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

And what does Edgar Bronfman, Jr. do? HE KICKS BACK!!!\u00c2\u00a0
 Bronfman Fires Back at Apple<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

God, this is a battle you can’t win. This is Napster redux.\u00c2\u00a0 The labels are BARELY MAKING ANY MONEY at the iTunes Music Store.\u00c2\u00a0 And, anybody with a brain knows it’s not the future.\u00c2\u00a0 Why risk all the BAD PRESS?<\/p>\n

God, you don’t want GOD saying you’re greedy.\u00c2\u00a0 Yup, that’s what kids believe, Steve Jobs is God.\u00c2\u00a0 Just look at the surveys.\u00c2\u00a0 He’s jawboning the labels, and they should pay attention.\u00c2\u00a0 Since he pays them the lion’s share of the revenue from the iTunes Music Store ANYWAY!<\/p>\n

But, what does Edgar Bronfman, Jr. want??\u00c2\u00a0 He wants a share of the iPod revenues.\u00c2\u00a0 Isn’t that like gas companies wanting some of the revenue of AUTOMOBILE companies?\u00c2\u00a0 I mean they go together, but they’re truly separate.\u00c2\u00a0 Then again, cars need gas to run.\u00c2\u00a0 iPods need music to run, but you don’t have to acquire it through the iTunes Music Store.\u00c2\u00a0 You can RIP IT!\u00c2\u00a0 Shit you can even get it for free, by trading P2P!<\/p>\n

But the labels don’t like that either.\u00c2\u00a0 God, what kind of topsy-turvy world do they live in?\u00c2\u00a0 Where they want no more ripping, no more burning, no more trading.\u00c2\u00a0 Why don’t they CHARGE FOR THESE USES!!!<\/p>\n

It’s not about getting a piece of somebody ELSE’S pie, rather it’s about finding NEW PIES to get a slice of.<\/p>\n

As for building a business on the music industry’s back…do timber companies want a piece of the revenue from selling houses?<\/p>\n

I mean this is so fucked up it’s hysterical.\u00c2\u00a0 Doug Morris was right to charge for the use of music videos online, but he wouldn’t be right to ask for a piece of all net revenue of Yahoo Music.\u00c2\u00a0 God, everybody who sells something now wants a piece of whatever it’s used in down the line?<\/p>\n

I mean how much greedier can you get.\u00c2\u00a0 Apple is selling your tunes for ninety nine cents, you’re getting over sixty cents a track, Apple eats all the costs, you barely pay the artists, if at all, and APPLE’S the problem?\u00c2\u00a0 Continue taking this message to the public.\u00c2\u00a0 Play these cards.\u00c2\u00a0 Give FURTHER rationalization for people to steal your music.\u00c2\u00a0 God, can you be THAT out of touch?\u00c2\u00a0 This is greed PERSONIFIED!<\/p>\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

"jawbone" – verb attempt to persuade or pressure by the force of one’s position of authority : the Federal Reserve Board Vice Chairman jawboned the dollar higher by calling its recent steep decline a purely speculative phenomenon |\u00c2\u00a0 an analyst jawboning about the industry. (New Oxford American Dictionary via Apple Computer.\u00c2\u00a0 Yup, it’s right there […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music-business"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p96vPs-2F","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=165"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}