“Michael Nash, Warner’s digital strategy chief, suggested labels might have no choice other than cut Apple’s digital music sales off at a stroke,” Andrew Orlowski reports for The Register. “‘What if Jobs says 39 cents or 29 cents per download – what then? The industry can say, OK we’ll cut him of – very few people people buy music from digital downloads,’ said Nash, who pointed out that most of the music on iPods is from their own collections. The iPod won’t disappear, he pointed out, and the decapitation will really feel no more painful than a gentle shave. ‘[Jobs] will figure out another model,’ said Nash… His comments came at the CTIA Telecomms Show, in a panel titled ‘Artists, Labels, Publishers: What Do License Holders Want.'”
Nash also said, “The industry got together and said ‘We don’t want another MTV’. Well, now we’ve got another MTV, in Apple. And we have to deal with it.” And an unnamed executive stated, “It’s going to be difficult to get the consumer to stop thinking about owning music, and think about paying for participation instead,” Orlowski reports.
Full article here.
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Sorry, Michael Nash, but either I own my music or I do NOT participate. There are some web sites where you purchase music directly from the artists that created it. How would you like that model to spread Mr. Nash? Maybe Apple should figure out how to encourage that model and let these arrogant bastards twist in the wind.
This is only the soundings of a CEO/President that has grossly underestimated the market with Apple & iTMS.
‘Don’t worry they thought it’s Apple and they only have a small market share’, bozos!
Bronfman, Jr and all of the executive board are answerable only to their shareholders, they can and will call for Bronfman to resign should they feel that the board has worsened the companies overall performance. Then yes they’ll vote on who’ll be the next CEO/President.
I sent an email to my local copyright theft organisation, FACT, telling them of my willingness to go to jail if my legal choice of where I buy music off the internet is forced to close, unlikely I know, but to offer those in power a worse case scenario helps more.
Not sure if it was a good idea, but hey I have deep feelings that Apple have provided the answer to piracy and idiots at the top deserve to get burned* for their gross mistakes, after all that is what happens in business when you make gross errors.
*By burned I mean to state lose revenue due to piracy and from peer-to-peer servers in countries like Russia, out of their reach etc.
I am an artist and illustrator. Maybe that’s an idea? Instead of this silly idea people have of buying art and actually keeping it to do whatever they like with it, maybe we artists should sell tickets instead, so people can participate instead? If they don’t pay their monthly fee, we will come and take that scenery above the couch down immediately!
Maybe it isn’t crack they’re on these people? Maybe it is some kind of hallucinogene? Hallucinations can be really convincing, sometimes. Well, they just tell me when they hike up the prices and I will google for the nearest peer-to-peer service.
as retarded as these people are they still have a lot of power. when they want to push the variable pricing model and apple doesn’t go with it, they can just stop dealing with apple. downloadable music doesn’t go away when apple is not in the game anymore. all the other wma-based shops will do what the majors want. the market leader will change to napster or real or whoever. simple is that. here in germany apple is only second to musicload with a 15 % marketshare. apple doesn’t hold the cards here i think. it’s sad but it’s true, if the record labels want, they can pull the plug of off the iTunes Music-Store. And Apple being a label is just wishful thinking. It would take years to build that up. Years in which Apple is the direct enemy of the labels with no songs of the majors to sell on iTunes. Be careful apple, don’t get to arrogant here, it is a dangerous situation for the whole iPod-iTunes combo. I hope you do it wisely, Steve!
re: Nashe’s comment: “It’s going to be difficult to get the consumer to stop thinking about owning music, and think about paying for participation instead”
Is he saying that the music industry wants to move us way from owning and submit everyone to a subscription model? I wouldn’t have thought these guys were that arrogant and desperate.
Yet it will be interesting to see what happens in the next 12 months. Will the labels pull out of iTunes? Will they go running to Microsoft? This is going to be quite a show.
iTMS have over 10 million customers, so I am very feel bad for the RIAA lawyers if half of these customers start Peer to Peer music. I am consider this is a form of protest to the music industry and Congress because Congress is only side with record industry. It will be very funny if 10 million of the would be P-to-P use the same name such as itune, Apple, or iTMS. Let me know which name we should use in our protest. The Senators will have a hard time read all the name of iTMS#1, iTMS#2…, and iTMS#10,000,000.
The executive’s comment was a textbook example of “bluster”. I honestly doubt you would hear talk like that if they truly had a leg to stand on. Cutting off the iTMS means running away from the ONLY model that works. Jobs knows this and so do the record companies, which are very, very frightened. They don’t like the idea of Apple holding so much power over them.
That being said, the record companies have no choice but to go along. But they’ll do so kicking and screaming.
“very few people people buy music from digital downloads,’ said Nash,”
Unbelieveable. How does more than half a billion songs equal very few people. That’s more than $500,000,000 in sales. in just a relatively short time. It will certainly balloon now that so many stores are on line worldwide, with more to come.
I think the shoe is on the other foot here. Steve Jobs can simply say; “We’re removing your label from the iTunes store.” Then you’ll see panic in the streets.
This article reminds me that there are always winners and losers when any new technology is introduced:
Refrigeration:
Winners – Refrigerator Manufacturers and Customers who can keep food more easily.
Losers – Ice House owners
I think these record “executives” are the future ice house owners. There has never before been a group more deserving of being made irrelevant by new technology.
Also, I concur with the people who suggest buying used CDs. Most of my new purchases are now used CDs. No additional revenue for the music labels, I can rip them with no DRM in any format and it supports a local business.
One word to these smart Warner execs:
AOL
Any questions?
Yes, Michael, I’m sure that you and your idiot boss, Baby Bronfman, have really thought about the implications of your actions.
No sooner has Madonna agreed to iTMS distribution than you want to take her material from it – I’m sure she’ll be thrilled and she’ll doubtless wish to thank you for depriving her of income come her next contract negotiation. And I’m sure that goes for all the other Atlantic/Elektra/Asylum/WB artists as well.
The moment you so obviously put your narrow interests above that of the artist is the moment that you cease to be an attractive career choice: artists who would otherwise sign up to the “security” (what a joke) of a big label will be encouraged to think of whether they should really be signing to an independent.
Apple has got it right. Like many of you said, if they raise prices, there will be a lot more pirating out there.
I’m very grateful that there is iTunes because as an independent artist, people all over th world can download my music and they have! My songs are priced exactly the same as every other song and people don’t seem to mind! What does that mean for me if they a varied pricing? obviously indie’s are not hot property…will they make our songs priced $0.50 and the hottest new songs from the labels $1.50? I like that everything is equal on iTunes and it benefits everyone.
The main issue is that iTunes helped a lot with the pirating and what they intend to do is push people back into it! They are being VERY selfish!
so stop sales completely? cmon…39 cents is better than 0 cents…what are they thinking? and it would never go that low anyway….what the heck.
haha…mw medical….these guys need medical attn.
Half a billion downloads isn’t significant? These guys are really greedy aren’t they? Fine everyone will be back to PtoP downloads since they don’t want our money the legal way. Hey Michael Nash stick that in your ____ and stuff it. Steve Jobs founded legal downloads where everything was fair and now stupidity in the record industry wants to blow it all away. That’s fine but so much for legal downloads. They will have to sue the world if they take iTunes down cause everyone will be back to PtoP downloads again. That’s half a billion going back to PtoP. Think about it Mr. Nash you would basically make people go back to illegal downloads.
Guys this all a part of the negotiating process. Apple is (or will be) negotiating over a new price. The music industry is just trying to put pressure on the other party. They’re using the press to put pressure on Apple to up the ante.
Eventually they’ll sit down and cut a deal. As for the issues of “participation” i.e. renting music, the public won’t accept this model and the industry can’t afford another illegal download war. Apple and the companies need each other so they’ll cut a deal.
Time-Warner- owner of AOL and business partner with M$.
NBC/Universal- unit of GE and business partner of M$ (MSNBC, etc).
Sony- business partner of M$ and maker of Windows OS PCs.
Follow the money.
See the following links
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collusion
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cartel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monopoly
http://www.duhaime.org/contract/ca-con6.aspx
Should Apple post how many songs every artist sell in the ITMS…. And every Major.
It would be funny!
His yearly salary is $1.00 — that’s $1.00 per annum!
Warner is barking up the wrong tree. Take that to your boardroom
warner and see if that makes any sense to your high priced group
of executives.
All in all…you gotta feel that these types of situations only improve
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your position, come what may.
CT =====]————- U don’t stop & U don’t quit
iTunes is like the movie “The Field of Dreams” with one exception.
That field is used the world over for just about anything imaginable.
baseball diamonds are based on cricket…children play kick and
whiffle ball in them. If you like baseball, you respect these other
forms of the game. Heck…some baseball stadiums have hosted some
of the biggest events of our time…completely outside of the game itself!
Let’s get one thing straight…either you can appreciate the big picture
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or you just decide you don’t belong. If so, then c’est la vie.
CT ======]———– Ballers, shotcallers…and a certain amount of magic
Yeah, and when I fling my runny bowel movement at Michael Nash he doesn’t have to think about owning it… just participating in it.
“OK we’ll cut him of – very few people people buy music from digital downloads”
er.. nice attitude
Seriously, if any of the Record Labels “cuts” ITMS off, then someone should really consider using the Rico Act to prosecute those “Big cigar smoking, Fat Cats” and expose them for what they are once again.
Racketeers!
If the market decides that this business model is the best at the moment, then why should the Record Execs be allowed to take us back to the stone age.
What’s next? CDs that only work on a proprietary CD player bought from each Record Label. Yeah, that’s what I need, 12 different CD players in my car.
What a bunch of backward-looking, money-grubbing idiots!!!
Defragment our hard drive. Connections over money issues are purely
a waste of time. If all those commas in your paycheck don’t give you
occasional fits…somethings wrong. <•>^<@>
CT =====]———- Commas – Comments – Cements – SweatSwiped…Phew!
Here comes The Hot Stepper, yadayadayada.
We never missed a beat on the street…don’t hold my horses!
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CT =====]————- Soldiers of fortune
I think that Steve Jobs should make a very public offer to Warner saying that if they’re unhappy with iTMS, then Apple will agree to release them from the contract immediately and stop further sales of there tracks.
SJ would make it quite clear that this offer does not apply to other companies and their music will remain on iTMS.
Then we’ll be able to see if Warner has the balls to take their artists away from a market of that size.