The music industry still doesn’t seem to get it. They constantly complain about lackluster sales in the recent years and try to find every conceivable direction to point the finger to for blame except one. Internet piracy, peer-to-peer file sharing, and George Bush are all reasons that have been cited for why there is a problem (ok I threw Dubya in there because I like blaming things on him). They just can’t seem to look at themselves and the way they do business as the reason why the industry isn’t doing well.
Apple Computers bigwig, Steve Jobs called the music industry “greedy ” recently over their attempt to want to renegotiate prices on songs for the popular iTunes music store. Right now all songs are set at $0.99 cent’s each or $9.99 an album. The deal that Apple has with the labels is about to run out early next year and will be up for renegotiation.
Now the Apple iTunes model has been a picture of success and has basically legitimized the electronic music market. Of course some say the artists are still not getting their just due by selling songs at such a low price but who are we kidding by thinking that if the labels up the price per song they will pass that on to the artists?
When are they going to realize they have some major house cleaning efforts to undertake in order to get the industry into better condition? For one, stop trying to drive the industry by hot single. If there is only one good single on the album then of course over priced CD sales are going to plummet. Who wants to pick up an album with 25-30 tracks of which only a few aren’t skip material? Edgar Bronfman, chief executive of Warner Music Group, shows that he still has yet to learn this lesson by saying “That’s not to say we want to raise prices across the board or that we don’t believe in a 99-cent price point for most music,” he said. “But there are some songs for which consumers would be willing to pay more. And some we’d be willing to sell for less.” So basically he wants the digital music domain to follow in suit to the traditional music medium that they are complaining isn’t doing so well these days real smart Edgar.
How about bringing A&R back? It’s been said a million times. A lot of these artists that pop up with a hit single fade away quickly. The labels won’t put any development time into them so they have no longevity. You make fast food artists instead of music legends. Come on people seriously wake the hell up. MC Trend of the Moment will make you sales right now off of his new Big Name Producer single “Booty, Drugs and Bling ” and a bit more with the remix featuring Established Artist for credibility appearance but when his next joint flops he owes you, gets discarded and you whine that the internet is ruining it for everyone. Then the RIAA goes on a witch-hunt to prosecute the very customer they are trying to get to buy from you and fines them a stupdiculous sum of money that a 14-year couldn’t possibly pay for and it’s all the fault of the software Have Some of My Crap V1.
Really, aren’t you a bit old to be playing the blame game? I’m not going to say that Internet piracy isn’t making a dent in sales. I’m sure there is an effect but my money is more on the way you are running things as to why your charts are having a fly south for the winter trend. It is the Music Business, so make Music not Money the first priority. Corporate interest in an industry that supplies a product that touches it’s consumers on a personal and emotional level is going to do nothing but alienate the customers, degrade the quality and do it with poor service .word to the Health Care Industry.
“If they want to raise the prices, it means that they are getting greedy. ” – Steve Jobs on the music industry.
Articles:
Apple, record labels to face off over pricing
Apple Head Calls Labels ‘Greedy’ For Suggesting iTunes Price Hike
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