Report: Music Labels ‘Operated In Fear’ Of Apple
8:59 am, February 2nd, 2009, Ed Sutherland
In a sign of where power now rests in the music industry, music label heads “operated in fear” Apple might pull their albums from the dominant iTunes store, according to a Monday report.
In a behind-the-scenes post-mortem of the recent agreement creating a multi-tiered pricing arrangement for songs sold on iTunes, Apple was able to get labels to give up their piracy fears and sell their songs through the iPhone, the New York Times reported.
A breakthrough occurred after Apple CEO Steve Jobs and Sony’s chairman got into a Christmas Eve shouting match. Soon afterwards, the lone hold-out signed-onto the agreement, according to the report.
Talking to anonymous music executives, the newspaper paints a picture where Apple controls the future: wireless downloads of music.
While iTunes sold $1.8 billion in 2008, the amount is dwarfed by wireless sales that reached $70 billion during the same period.
Posted by Ed Sutherland in News | Comment on this article
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My heart bleeds for them.
Having spent a few hours in a room with music business lawyers during some earlier internet skirmishes I can tell you this – these people are like vampires. THe idea they are all afraid of anything is rubbish – they just haven’t figured out the angle of approach yet.
William Gill, on February 2nd, 2009 at 9:39 am
Read the article again, Ed:
“But right now that is a tiny business in the United States. Forrester Research estimates that downloading music from Web stores like iTunes generated $1.5 billion in 2008, compared with just $70 million in wireless sales. ”
That’s 70 million, not billion. Completely different meaning.
Thomas, on February 2nd, 2009 at 10:12 am
My prediction: Apple will soon be a Music Label owning the whole chain, from the musician ’till the consumer.
Tiago, on February 2nd, 2009 at 11:25 am
“Web stores like iTunes generated $1.5 billion in 2008, compared with just $70 million in wireless sales.”
This was taken from the New York Times article. I think you need to edit the post.
oochie, on February 2nd, 2009 at 1:03 pm
How odd that Apple Records once had Apple Computer in fear, discouraging them from ever getting into music seriously. And yet, bit by bit, piece by piece, see where we stand years later.
Apple, in some senses, almost feels like a Microsoft of music now. But with more silhouette-dancing and white-earphone-boppin’, of course. ;D
Torley, on February 2nd, 2009 at 4:12 pm