MTV, Microsoft promise the ‘iTunes-killer’<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\nThis is the kind of mind-numbing ignorance that got the business into the snit it’s in to BEGIN WITH!<\/p>\n
It took almost twenty years, but then it became clear.\u00c2\u00a0 MTV was the major labels’ worst nightmare.\u00c2\u00a0 Oh, it blew acts up.\u00c2\u00a0 But they fell to earth so quickly that people rushed to get out of the way, not wanting to be tainted by the shit that emanated from the impact.\u00c2\u00a0 I.e., you’ve got no careers and no catalog sales.\u00c2\u00a0 Sound like a recipe for success?\u00c2\u00a0 Then why did Time Warner blow out Warner Music at such a cheap price?\u00c2\u00a0 Why did Sony merge with BMG?<\/p>\n
Then you’ve got these same ignoramuses functioning in the online sphere.\u00c2\u00a0 Or not functioning, as the case might be.\u00c2\u00a0 Hell, they sued almost a thousand people for trading THIS WEEK!\u00c2\u00a0 It’s almost as if Wham-O had a big campaign promoting Hula-Hoops.\u00c2\u00a0 OR, we started seeing ads for Maypo on TV.\u00c2\u00a0 HUH?\u00c2\u00a0 Doesn’t everybody have an iPod?\u00c2\u00a0 Aren’t iPods GOOD for music?<\/p>\n
Good for music, bad for major labels.\u00c2\u00a0 At least that’s the way the major labels see it.\u00c2\u00a0 Married to the CD paradigm, too fucking stupid to see there might be another way.<\/p>\n
They’d sue Apple too if they could only find a way.\u00c2\u00a0 For variable pricing.\u00c2\u00a0 For the opening up of FairPlay.<\/p>\n
Have you READ the mainstream press in the past six months?\u00c2\u00a0 Apple is the VILLAIN!\u00c2\u00a0 Primarily for not opening up its FairPlay DRM to anybody who wants it.<\/p>\n
But what makes it truly laughable is the labels’ perceived problem with Apple has driven them right into the hands of Microsoft, an ADJUDGED monopolist.<\/p>\n
If I were a major label I would RUN from Microsoft.\u00c2\u00a0 The Redmond company has NEVER demonstrated any benevolence.\u00c2\u00a0 If you won’t sell them your company at the price they dictate, then they go into competition with you and squash you.\u00c2\u00a0 THIS is a partner?<\/p>\n
Only in the record business.<\/p>\n
It all comes down to Windows Media Player.\u00c2\u00a0 Windows Media Player WILL NOT RIP in MP3.\u00c2\u00a0 You’ve got to pay for and download and install an extra module.\u00c2\u00a0 Hell, if this wasn’t the case WMA would be EVISCERATED from the planet.\u00c2\u00a0 Because people are too stupid, or too SCARED to download this MP3 module.\u00c2\u00a0 (And wouldn’t YOU be scared if you were running a Windows platform?)\u00c2\u00a0 Furthermore, the European Union sued Microsoft for bundling its Media Player with its operating system.\u00c2\u00a0 Saying it was monopolistic.\u00c2\u00a0 That it gave Microsoft an unfair advantage.\u00c2\u00a0 Does THIS sound like a good partner to YOU?<\/p>\n
But Apple has to be defeated.\u00c2\u00a0 At all cost.\u00c2\u00a0 Steve Jobs is heinous.\u00c2\u00a0 He doesn’t play nice.\u00c2\u00a0 He’s primarily interested in satisfying the CONSUMER, not the CORPORATION!<\/p>\n
Microsoft is Bill.\u00c2\u00a0 A kiss-ass nerd playing along with the teacher, never cool.\u00c2\u00a0 Whereas Steve Jobs is the renegade, doing what he feels is right.\u00c2\u00a0 Who do you want to rule the music roost?\u00c2\u00a0 Since music is ALL ABOUT cool!\u00c2\u00a0 Hell, that’s one of the main selling points of Apple Computer\/iPods.\u00c2\u00a0 They’re COOL!\u00c2\u00a0 Bono wants to play along.\u00c2\u00a0 EVERY hip act.<\/p>\n
So, under the cloak of trying to defeat Apple, Warner Music and Sony BMG are RUNNING into the hands of MTV and Microsoft.\u00c2\u00a0 Fucking RIDICULOUS!<\/p>\n
Apple doesn’t open up FairPlay to competitors?\u00c2\u00a0 At least their software and iPods WORK with PCs.\u00c2\u00a0 Windows Media Player is a generation behind on the Mac.\u00c2\u00a0 And, Urge is not Mac-compatible.\u00c2\u00a0 But, never forget, APPLE is the problem!<\/p>\n
Apple wanted the music sold at the iTunes Music Store to be copy protection free.\u00c2\u00a0 Would have been a good idea.\u00c2\u00a0 HELL, if they could trade, would the people purchasing at the iTMS be BUYING??\u00c2\u00a0 Once again, only those PAYING are being fucked, limited in use, while those STEALING can do whatever they want with their tunes, are not limited to a number of burns or playlists.<\/p>\n
And sale by track isn’t where it’s at ANYWAY!\u00c2\u00a0 To believe so is to believe that MTV is gonna save the major labels.\u00c2\u00a0 Ain’t THAT a laugh.<\/p>\n
MTV is going to get preferred placement embedded into Windows Media Player.\u00c2\u00a0 The format is going to be incompatible with iTunes\/iPod.\u00c2\u00a0 Every device that plays with WMA is inferior to the iPod.\u00c2\u00a0 The To Go feature doesn’t even work right, it’s the OPPOSITE of the seamless iPod\/iTunes combination that SOLD the damn device to begin with!<\/p>\n
The majors just don’t get it.\u00c2\u00a0 Apple blew up the online music sphere.\u00c2\u00a0 The hand-held business.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s their expertise and execution that got the public to pay attention.\u00c2\u00a0 They let the labels take the lion’s share of the revenue.\u00c2\u00a0 BUT, they won’t let the labels raise per track prices.\u00c2\u00a0 AND, they won’t make their tracks compatible with Microsoft, which, as stated above, has left Mac-users in the dust and has an antitrust CONVICTION!\u00c2\u00a0 But SOMEHOW, Microsoft is the savior, Microsoft is the answer.<\/p>\n
I’m beginning to wonder whether these execs know anything about music.\u00c2\u00a0 But one thing’s for sure, they know NOTHING about technology.<\/p>\n
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Lyor Cohen: "With Urge, MTV Networks is again at the forefront of revolutionising where and how our combined audiences across the globe can connect with the music and the artists they love." MTV, Microsoft promise the ‘iTunes-killer’ This is the kind of mind-numbing ignorance that got the business into the snit it’s in to BEGIN […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","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-257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music-business"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s96vPs-urge","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257","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=257"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}