“‘Apple has destroyed the music business,’ said Jeff Zucker, [President and Chief Executive Officer of NBC Universal], today at an event organized by the Newhouse School of Public Communications. ‘If we don’t take control on the video side, they’ll do the same’ to video,” David Schatsky blogs for Jupiter Research.
“Zucker made the comment in response to a question by moderator Ken Auletta of the New Yorker. (Auletta did a fabulous job of volleying one penetrating question after another at Zucker),” Schatsky reports.
“Zucker put in context the highly publicized conflict between NBC Universal and Apple over pricing on the iTunes TV show store. NBC sought to introduce flexible pricing; Apple refused,” Schatsky reports.
Full article here.
The Financial Times also has a report on Zucker’s comments, “‘We know that Apple has destroyed the music business – in terms of pricing – and if we don’t take control, they’ll do the same thing on the video side,’ Mr Zucker said at a breakfast hosted by Syracuse’s Newhouse School of Communications.”
“As part of NBC’s push for more flexible online pricing, Mr Zucker said he urged Apple for months to price one programme at $2.99 per download – as opposed to the current $1.99 – as an ‘experiment’ but was rebuffed by Steve Jobs, Apple’s chief executive.”
Full article here.
If by “destroyed,” Zucker means “saved,” then he’s completely correct.
I too was blind, but now I see.
These dolts can’t tell when their butt’s have been saved from their own incompetence and outdated business model. Well, perhaps they can but if they admitted it, they would admit to their own irrelevance.
And NBC had “saved” the news business…..
(and by “saved” I mean destroyed)
“Destruction leads to a very rough road
But it also breeds creation”
Red Hot Chile Peppers
Mr. Zucker needs to learn that if it ain’t available for a reasonable price it is always available for free on BitTorrent.
This is what I call “Creative Destruction”.
Sticks and stone, Jeffy. Sticks and stones.
He has to blame somebody.
Loser.
Zucker-Zucker, the money hungry – – – ker.
Apple has leap-frogged all you middlemen. Retire now, while you still have the chance.
And now you understand the creative power of Shiva the Destroyer (aka Transformer).
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The music business has been destroyed by the music labels all jumping on one bandwagon after the next, pushing the next boy band, Britney look-alike, and other fad after another until the person is so over-exposed no one wants to see them anymore.
Try finding some talented artists, letting them make their music, and let the creativity flow. THAT would save the music industry.
BTW, last time I checked, people hadn’t stopped listening to music. They just aren’t buying the crap shoveled at us anymore.
Let’s translate:
Destroyed = removed the record labels’ ability to gouge the hell out of consumers by charging 18-20$ for a CD with one good song and 9 crap songs. Sorry fellas, gonna have to cut back on the hookers and blow.
Ironically, MW is ‘value’
The link give almost no info on what went on at the discussion. NBC says they want to “experiment” with different business models or something. I love to know how they a justify giving up one business model which is actually making money before they have developed an alternate model.
“Flexible” can ONLY mean higher prices for consumers. Period.
Even if NBC adopted a $2.99 per tv episode download, that’s something like $70 for a season! Per consumer! And it’s not as good quality as a DVD, nor does it have the extras! Hummm oh I forgot, it’s about paying through the nose for convenience.
considering the source, this is unqualified praise. in the terms of the legacy “music business” model. this is quite true and it needed to be destroyed to save the consumer and content creator. kind of like destrying a champion thoroughbred on the track after it has broken an ankle. you do it to stop the suffering.
If the One is named Steve Jobs.
Just this caution: absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Who is Steve’s next victim? He has already proven he has little respect for Apple customers (shiny screens, corrupt iMovie replacement, no cash for phones, etc), so before we get so sumg about this, better listen for the sound of a guy in stealth Levis coming up behind us.
These suited fat cats kill me. They don’t have a problem with a world dominated by M$ (NBC has been in bed with them for years, i.e. M$NBC) but even the THREAT of a future digital world with terms dictated by Apple is untenable.
Yo, Zuck, kiss both cheeks, OK? What you forget is every one of us can get content anywhere, and paying for it is optional (Tivo/EyeTV/not to mention Bit Torrent, as someone already has). Just ask those record companies whose business you claim Apple (ha!) destroyed.
Unbelievable.
Peace.
Olmecmystic
In a GE company, if your not the #1 in the market, your sold off as weak value.
For Zucker he is weak value.
They follow an interview with him soft selling HULU on CNBC with their new commercial touting ‘unbiased’. What a Hollywood portrayal of themselves..
I hope 70% of the movies next year are just released digitally.
I can also believe that Zucker can’t remember when the problem of illegal downloads was the industries biggest problem.
Now it is the fact that one site has too much traffic, but they’ll sell movies to WalMART.
Give him a chance, he partnered with the enemy to make a ‘better’ alternative…Good thing he hasn’t run for President yet…He would make Iraq look like a good decision.
He will end up looking like a Merrill Lynch leader in the next 24 months.
I would back this comment only if they were going to experiment by lowering their prices. They are mad to think anyone would pay more money per episode.
This almost makes me want to start buying NBC stuff again just so I can stop buying NBC stuff again!!
Zuker!
‘nuf said.
Beatles: “All we are say—ing, is give peace a chance!”
Steve Jobs: “That’s for when NBC calls!”
Audience: Hilarious laughter.
Peace.
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Olmecmystic
The Music Business is dead!
Long Live MUSIC!!!
What a mucking foron!
Apple has saved from Big Music bloodzuckers.
What he meant to say was “Apple has destroyed our business model” – which is true
Disruptive technology, iTunes is.
Perhaps the Music Business needs to be destroyed.
An artist or band could record music, negotiate with Apple, and sell their music directly on iTunes Music Store.
No need for middlemen, Record Labels, or expensive CD burning/distributing.
That way, most of the profits for the music goes directly to the artist/band.
This guy is obviously put off by the fact that he faces losing control of his own market by a business model that he stubbornly refuses to implement. But before we go and blame Apple for the ‘destruction of the music business’, why don’t we just listen to what the artists have to say about all of this? Surely it’s their business too, and I’d think that they would tell us what they’d be happier with- Apple’s model, business as usual, or something else.
I believe that most, if not all artists will say that Apple has done a good job of rejuvenating the music bizz.
i thought hip-hop and rap destroyed the music business….
.. You have to destroy before you can rebuild .. Lord Shiva said it already a long time ago.
I wish I had the name of the guy who posted this and what site it was, I only thought to copy the text. This has to be the finest example of why the record industry has no clue, it was teh last time NBC started these shinanigans.
1. You start buying out all the small players, in many cases swooping in for the kill when really all of these labels needed was a little investment.
2. You start jacking up prices on physical product, changing formats to force re-purchasing along the way (kind of what Microsoft is attempt with their iPod ripoff).
3. You start killing true a&r;, and artist development, and then wonder aloud why your financial recoup isn’t at expectations (maybe you should try developing artists for a REAL amount of time, past their first hump). Instead you pretend to let the labels you bought out develop for you, only to shutter their doors once they’ve developed their existing roster as far FINANCIALLY as you think they can.
4. While you weren’t looking, simple hotline file trading and ftp sharing catapults into the monster that becomes p2p. You should have seen this coming, especially considering how much $$$ you waste on inefficient promotion techniques and PR shite. Instead, the U was too busy “acquiring” content to realize the world had developed a new way to distribute it.
5. Because you didn’t react fast enough, you lost LOTS of money (so did the other big guns. get over it)
6. Because you still didn’t react, a newly re-appointed Steve Jobs beat you to the punch, figuring out what hundreds of other content and device companies couldn’t.
7. After you realize that “this Apple stuff might actually work”, you use various offensive means to kill off the BIG thieves in the p2p arena, and try to scare the crap out of the public. You try multiple bad ideas for going on your own, mainly because they lacked the simple and effective design of iPod/iTunes.
8. You start whining that “we should have flexible pricing”, “we should control the pricing models”, “we can’t manage the system, because we not smart enough to, but it should still belong to us”. What don’t you understand about simple and effective? You guys/girls are worse than OPEC. Would you like to dictate how much milk and eggs should cost too?
9. Microsoft realizes they are never going to gain real traction in the market with PlaysForSure (like anyone didn’t see that coming). They decide to once again copy Apple play-for-play and announce the Zune (or is that iTurd?).
10. You see an opportunity to spoil the success, excuse me, THE ONLY TRULY SUCCESSFUL ONLINE CONTENT DELIVERY MODEL, ahem, by poisoning m$’s iPodalike with a petty overhead fee. Why should Microsoft care? They won’t sell a fraction of what Apple does. Or did last year. Or the year before. What kind of payments do you hope to see? $1000? $5000? $100 000 [that’s stretching it I think]. Your just trying to create what the dirt in your world calls “leverage” against Apple next year when negotiations begin again. How much will that mean next Xmas? A HELL of a lot more. If you truly believe the model isn’t Artist-Intended, DEVELOP A BETTER ONE! Oh wait, you’ve tried to (albeit late), OVER AND OVER AGAIN. And the public has flatly rejected every attempt you make to hi-jack their wallets.
11. Your CEO justifies all this with 1 sentence that completely and transparently puts on display the spite, irreverence, and disrespect your entire organization displays to it’s customers. And you wonder why they’ve stolen so much from you. Maybe you should have kept your CD prices in check at Retail! If I make a product for $5, and expect to see $5 profit on it’s sale, why would I let retail channels make more than I do? The consumer fallout you’ve suffered is NO ONE’S FAULT BUT YOUR OWN.
11 moments in time. 1 stupid sentence. First rule of business “listen to your customers”.
Now we know for sure how you feel about your customers. Unbelievable.
If he thinks what has happened to the music business model is bad, wait till he sees what happens when iBank comes online. Direct, person to person iLoans backed by iGold with low iInterest.
“He has already proven he has little respect for Apple customers (shiny screens, “
What? comments like this just make you look like you need to gete your head out of the oven.
How does a shiny screen translate into somoen have disrespect for a group of consumers. And before you answer, just remember that no one is forcing anyone to buy anything, and your comment has a slight ring of the entitlement generation to it.
Note on above:
it was when Doug Morris called all iPod owners thieves. Fits here too.
I’ve said it once b4. Isn’t the whole price thing about Apple wanting to sell NBC’s content for too cheap? Then why is it alright for Amazon to sell the same content for the same price, and even cheaper, than Apple? Sounds like NBC has some personal issues with Apple or something.
1) Most people are fine with the glossy screens, and while there is of course a vocal minority who want matte screens, there was also a vocal minority during the Intel switch. In the long run, except for a few graphics professionals, glossy screens are better.
2) I personally never used iMovie before the replacement and now I get great use out of it, so you can’t call Apple just disrespecting its customers for offering it. And for the customers, like yourself, who apparently don’t like it, they still offer the old version. So how is that bad at all?
3) Are you JOKING? Steve Jobs is greedy for not offering iPhone refunds in cash? Look, I’m happy I got my refund, but considering that anyone who bought an iPhone before the price cut wasn’t expecting a refund, it was FREE MONEY. If free money given is the worst thing you can say about Apple, I’d hate to see what you have to say about NBC.
Until the early 1980s the health industry made millions ineffectively treating peptic ulcers with bland diet and psychological counseling. Ulcers were a lifetime subscription. Then Robin Warren and Barry Marshall showed these ulcers could be cured with a 14 day course of antibiotics. They got the Nobel Prize in 2005, but the “industry” denied, ignored and diminished the value of their work for decades for ongoing profits at the expense of the patients. Let’s hear it for disruptive technology.
F8cking idiots.
Complaining that Apple makes money off the recording & broadcast industry is like complaining Sony’s stereos and televisions were profits off the recording & broadcast industry.
I’d love to see the video companies charge television manufacturers a dime off every tv.
Man, those idiots really blew it, and they just don’t get it.
From my perspective, I’m a 47 year old male who grew up with album oriented rock, and frankly, I’m tired of big music cramming whoever THEY think is great down my throat.
Indie bands and labels have single-handedly renewed my interest in music.
I could care less what Universal has in store for me.
of course his statements about Apple destroying the music industry are utterly rediculous….however I do believe streaming video Flash (like Hulu) is the future of the video/film industry
Lets get Flash 9 Update 3 on AppleTV and iPhone and let the games begin.
Two different animals, music and video. I believe Apple is right about uniform pricing for music, but wrong about uniform pricing for video.
They should embed the Hulu viewer right in the iPhone
Then companies like Brightcove will take care of the independents and keep the majors honest.
Throw in Silverlight as well and Apple will clean up the device market.
Maybe if 95% of the music they put out didn’t suck people would buy it.
@Dude
You don’t need to look elsewhere, it was here at MDN, lol.
The poster’s name is beatboxrob.
Please allow me to translate the headlines….
“Apple has destroyed our ability to squeeze the ignorant public”
‘Nuff said..
Is this the same Zucker that makes those airplane and Naked gun movies? – cause he’s fricken hilarious!
If you’re going to make a mistake, make a big one.
All that higher prices will do is make people want to steal more.
Zucker is a F@£ker
Since the original announcement by NBC about removing their content from iTunes, I removed all NBC channels from my TV’s and TiVo’s (NBC, MSNBC, Sci-Fi, Bravo & USA networks). You don’t miss what you don’t even now is on… I hope others do the same.
I thought, ok, give this guy a chance, have a listen. But then when I see his tanty is all because Apple wouldn’t let him charge *more* for tv progs, he lost me.
So is this how Apple was going to destroy the video business? By charging a reasonable price instead of one, some 33% higher!
And we assume this is how Apple destroyed the music business (“in terms of pricing”), by giving the consumer, not the publisher, a fair price. And funny how that pricing has destroyed the music industry, they’ve only been able to sell a piddly billion songs thru iTunes. Poor buggers. Oh, I see, if Apple had’ve charged say another 33%, those greedy scum publishers could have made an extra $300m! None of which of course would have went to the artists.
Apple came up with a way to conveniently and easily purchase music instead of stealing it and they are just ruining the whole damn thing.
They are going to ruin the whole industry.
That lying NBC shill. $2.99 for the show you want plus $1.99 for the bundled crap show you don’t want = $4.98 for the popular NBC TV shows.
Note to NBC-Universal:
You were offered the chance, however indirectly, to have variable pricing on music when Apple introduced iTunes Plus music at $1.29 per track. If you’d played along, a premium price tier could have been established, and you could have made more money. But no, you dolts pitched a fit about DRM issues. Then just to spite yourselves, you later released your music DRM free for less money than you could have got through Apple. Now everyone expects DRM free for 99¢ or less. Like I said — dolts!
“Henry Ford has destroyed the buggy whip business”
Apple has merely been selling DRM music as enforced by the music industry.
CDs are still selling along side iTunes.
The other on-line music stores (selling DRM-FREE) songs to WINDOWS only platform are SHARING the songs as YOU can not do so under Apples DRM system. The music is fairly well protected to YOUR 1) MAC / iTunes, 2) Your iPod, 3) a DRM BACK-UP or your Purchases.
IT’s MUSIC but for the digital life… it is not killing music or the industry.
Jeff Zucker must be intelligent enough to see this.
And if NBC was holding it’s ground by MAKING the most sales then any other partner to iTunes… then it is only this…
THEY WISH TO CONTROL the profits for themselves.
So – NBC has decided to COMPETE with APPLE.
Apple is THEREFORE creating competiton not by wish but by others greed… and this is fair business.
SULK some more Zucker!!!!
Wahhhhhhhhh!!!!!
And another thing…
Why would I pay $2.99 for an episode of, let’s say, The Office? Even at $1.99 per episode, with 20 or more episodes per season, I would have paid more for the downloaded season than the eventual DVD release. Not to mention the download version of any show is currently at a lower level of video quality, arrives on my computer without any expensive physical packaging, and is missing the normal promotional materials contained in a DVD release. Go figure.
NBC should end.
They are the dinosaur. Go back into bed with Microsoft and wither away and die, NBC.
Apples open-source H.264 encoding of the tv shows are very close to MPEG 2 DVD quality encoding.
The compression is slightly inferior… you are right
however, like a mp3 encoding compaired to the original AIFF CD file there is such small quality changes that it is not totally noticeable to everyone. THE encoding is required inorder to travel with less bandwidth. These Apple tv files are not iPOD mini thumbnail files.
That said, I do agree with you. I rather wait 4 the Box set to come out and buy it. And also like to see it drop in price – say at WallyMart and save even more pennies.
Finally…
I recently heard John Dvorak speculating on the amount of revenue a network can expect to make from advertisers on a per viewer basis. He put the figure at somewhere around 25¢ per viewer per broadcast show. I’m not sure how accurate that is, but his logic seemed sound. Now, given the $1.99 cost per download episode less the bandwidth costs and Apple’s (more than likely) meager cut, it seems to me the networks are making a lot more on a per viewer basis selling their content through iTunes than they do through over the air/satellite/cable broadcasting. Is NBC going to realize as much revenue via its Hulu venture? I doubt it. What complete dolts!
Apple recently dropped it’s pricing…
does this mean Apple is scared???
NO… they are in the driving seat at ready to compete.
Well now… I can’t speak for others, but iTunes has restored my passion for music.
I’ve bought more music in the last 3-4 years thru iT than in the previous 3 DECADES using traditional outlets.
Same with Amazon et al.
Let the video boys stuff themselves. What a bunch!!
You can’t see me live, but I’m making the same face that Tom used to make when Jerry lit matches under Spike’s paws.
Here’s the thing about Jeff Zucker: he’s a wannabe lawyer who failed to get into Harvard Law School and instead went into TV. In reality, he’s never actually “sold” anything to a consumer given that what he really does is assemble a mass audience and then “sells” that audience to advertisers.
Whilst he probably knows something about how to make programmes that appeal to a large demographic, that’s not the same as knowing how to produce a tangible product that “real” people pay “real” money to either put in their homes or on the technology that exists in those homes. His experience on how those people want to consume content in the digital age appears to be significantly skewed to the agenda of a group of vested interests and, even worse, it appears that his lack of understanding is considerably reinforced by a stunning degree of arrogance.
Here’s the pitch: We know you were happy paying $1.99 for an episode of our hit programmes, but we’re a little concerned that you’re not paying us for the dross we create.
Well, to tell the truth, we’ve decided that we’re not exploiting you – the viewer and consumer – enough – so we’re going to up the price for our hit shows, but – in order to make you feel that you’re not getting gipped – we’ll bundle it with some shows that you didn’t want to watch on TV.
Personally, I thought NBC Universal were wandering off the reservation when this whole dispute started. However – with this outburst – I’m beginning to wonder whether Zucker is suffering from some sort of post-traumatic stress or long-term after-effects from his brush with colon cancer.
To quote the IFPI report on digital music in 2006:
“Digital albums now account for six per cent of all album
sales in the US and grew faster than single tracks in 2006, although from a small base.
iTunes, the leader in online downloads, has sold over two billion tracks since its launch in April 2003 and more than one billion in 2006
alone. In November 2006 it expanded its operations in the US to include a mini-store dedicated to Latin music and entertainment including music, videos, television shows, audiobooks and podcasts.”
Now, I’m trying to reconcile those statements – written in a report commissioned and published by an industry body headed by a man who was a former President and COO of Universal Music – with Zucker’s comments and I’m having a problem.
And the problem doesn’t go away with further analysis: if iTS is destroying the industry, why are CD sales per capita of population highest in countries with a functioning iTS? Whilst Jeff is thinking his way through that, let’s consider some numbers…
In 2005, the music industry sold $20.795 billion of material, of which $19.755 was physical (95.0%); in 2006, the figures were $19.587 billion of material with $17.432 billion (89%) was physical.
To summarise, the music industry lost $2.322 billion in physical sales, but lost only $1.208 billion overall. In other words, the digital industry contributed $1.11 billion to the well-being of the music industry in 2006 which is hardly in accord with Mr. Zucker’s picture of an industry being pillaged and exploited by the onslaught of the digital barbarians.
For the half-year reported in September, the global record industry reported a net loss of sales of around $706.75 billion compared to the same period in 2006. And yet, digital has already contributed around $1.335 billion to net (trade) sales which is around 61% of what it contributed in the whole of 2006 and with the busy Holiday season still in front of us.
I think Jeff needs to go and look at the reality of numbers, but – on second thoughts – maybe that wouldn’t suit his position?
Macview…
You’re thinking of Jerry and David Zucker, who are a) considerably older and b) originate from a completely different part of the world.
It sounds like Jeff Zucker is haveing a hard time justifing his take home pay!
Maybe just maybe the middle man is no longer needed…and that would be a realy good thing!
Once it became clear that iTunes was the success it is, the music companies should have been making sure every other service was as good as iTunes. Unfortunately they tried to get behind numerous services that worked in their interests not those of the customer. Now they have iTunes virtually owning the music market and they’re exposed even more as being useless – instead of changing to suit the digital age they’re just trying to badmouth it. Sadly, I think things will get worse before they finally die.
Zucker has no grasp of reality in the real world of 2007. Online music sales are booming, if that’s destroying the music business, so be it. Better for the artists and the public anyways. Zucker and company only complain, complain, complain, no matter how much they sell and make in profits, it’s never enough. So if the music business is destroyed, let’s celebrate!!! The artists don’t need you Zucker or any of your kind as the internet can easily advertise for them without you and your kind taking 99.9% of there hard earned money away from them.
Didn’t Zucker sign the original contract with Apple? Torrent here I come.
Thank you Steve Jobs! Who is Zucker kidding??? Packaging television we don’t want to see so that we can see shows we want and then charge us more for it??? NBC can use any distributor they want, but I’ll be avoiding their shows. I hope it bites them in the rear…..
So, this loon also wants a cut of hardware sales from iPod revenue…. I’m curious, is he also getting a cut of HDTV sales from Sony, Samsung, etc? What an idiot….
The more artists that makes moves like Radiohead, Madonna, etc. that go straight to the customer, the sooner NBC Universal and their other oligopolists become irrelevant…
nothing quite as pathetic as the complaints of a crybaby capitalist
@The Power of One
I like the shiny screen on my MacBook.
I love iMovie ’08 and
I couldn’t care less if I buy an iPhone with a card or cash What’s the difference.
Stop whining.
I think Jobs has brought us way more good things than bad. Where would we be if it weren’t for Apple?
Command line heaven?
major media execs are like lawyers….they need complexity to keep their jobs. Apple’s system is too simple too perfect
…smart labels will get back to music and get rid of the suits who need confusion and complexity to keep their jobs.
What Apple has destroyed is the music MAFIA business.
It can be translated in many ways:
Apple has destroyed the music label business
Apple has destroyed the music executive business
Apple has destroyed the physical CD business
Apple has destroyed the music manager’s business
Call it however you want. But one thing I know for a fact: I am in a rock band and we’re recording our own music. By the time we decide to go out, we don’t need any label to dictate how to do it. We can do it ourselves.
How’s that for killing the music business? In fact, this is reviving the music business by giving it back to musicians and taking it off people who doesn’t know anything about music’s hands.
MW: “pressure”…. can you feel it, NBC?
Yes, I did help destroy the greedy little bastards!
Hey, do I have this wrong or am I just confused.
But, I thought TV was transmitted for FREE. Then I could video tape it for later viewing.????
Did tv go off the air or something???? Pay for TV. I must be confused here. LOL Going back to sleep and pulling the covers over my head.
en
In Zucker’s bizarro world, “destroyed” = “saved”.
Having Apple in control of pricing of media may seem unfortunate for their industry, but they are wrong. If they controlled pricing, piracy would have continued unabated. Without Apple’s influence, legal digital downloads would be be one-tenth of what it is today. And having a “hardware company” set the price for media (instead of the media-creating industry) is definitely good for consumers.
What a mother Zucker!
NBC is absolutely right (for once). Apple has destroyed the OLD music business.
Like any other paradigm shift, NBC is the old school, and they can either adapt or die.
“If we don’t take control…” is a pretty frank deer-in-the headlights response. Old media knows they’re in big trouble.
The Office is a very funny show, but I will not watch it on Hulu. I want to view it when I want and on the device of my choosing!
Apple saved the music industry. Buying music is fun again.
All of these so called entertainment executives have no “vision” and use fear and greed as a business plan.
Just my 2 cents…
Good MDN take.
The music business “destroyed” the music business, Apple tossed it a lifeline to try and recoup. Shame it hasn’t. Somedays it is hard to find even one song to drop 99 cents of $1.29 on – let alone buy a whole CD. I can’t remember the last time I bought a whole CD. I know exactly the time I will in the future – when the Beatles library releases on digital – remastered.
Ooh, don’t get me started.
“As part of NBC’s push for more flexible online pricing, Mr Zucker said he urged Apple for months to price one programme at $2.99 per download – as opposed to the current $1.99 – as an ‘experiment’ but was rebuffed by Steve Jobs, Apple’s chief executive.”
Doesn’t that sound like the worst kind of price fixing? An attempt by one content distributor to dictate terms to a competitive distributor is patently illegal. Shame on Congress if they let Mr. Zucker get away with it.
“Mr Zucker also suggested Apple had rejected requests to share revenue from its sales of iPod devices, which are far more profitable than the digital media store.”
As a musician, I write my own songs and own an iPod simply to take these with me to band rehearsals, business meetings, etc. NBC / Universal has no right to tax a device that does not necessarily have any of their legal content on it. In the 1990s, I helplessly watched our elected officials grant record companies the right to tax blank DAT tapes, which I bought to record my own original music onto. This unfairness has to stop.
“During his remarks, Mr Zucker emphasised that conventional media companies were struggling to develop economic models for new forms of digital distribution, and trying to ensure that a dollar of traditional revenue was not reduced to mere pennies in an online world.”
I’m living in a world where good jobs are outsourced, often replaced by lower-paying jobs with fewer benefits and diminishing security. Every time I go into a store, I see prices falling under the pressures of technological advances or nimble Chinese companies entering a new market. Yet in this same world, Mr. Zucker expects his music to sell at or above historical prices, and if not, he resorts to accusing his competitors of destroying the business. Not to mention that Steve Jobs and Apple actually saved his business.
Mr. Zucker exhorted Apple to test a 50% price increase in the iTunes music store, and he continues to lambaste Apple’s decision to drop copy protection even as NBC / Universal has begrudgingly launched its competitive DRM-free catalog on Amazon. While Apple is focused on giving customers what they want, Zucker is mired in trying to figure out how to push the product he’s willing to sell.
You are correct about one thing Mr. Zucker. Today’s music business looks nothing like it did ten years ago. Your version of the business died back then, and you should be grateful that Apple and a few other pioneers have given you a ten year extension before the inevitable sea change takes place.
And one more thing, maybe some else has pointed out..
Maybe the record labels are so afraid, because digital distribution starts to eliminate the need for a big label for a band to get their music out to the public. No one needs to front burning and distribution costs. With the internet, communities of practice, and the whole Web 2.0 jive – bands can market themselves. ha take that “big music” asses!
NBC Universal is in part owned by Vivendi – if I recall correctly – which is the Waste Management of France (they haul garbage and water, among other things). In fact, just take a look at the wikipedia entry on Vivendi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vivendi for proof of how badly they run things.
Now, after all the noise they made this past year on the music front, I suppose it was just a matter of time before they took a look at the TV side of things. And this whole Zucker business just stinks of French garbage.
Well, I for one am fed up with their childish behavior. I haven’t bought a CD in several years, choosing to download my music from iTunes. And I’ve downloaded quite a bit… But maybe I need to check out which label is behind the artist before I hit the download button – if they’re connected at all to either Universal or Warner Music (Bronfman heads the latter after nearly burying the former before selling it to – wait for the fanfare – Vivendi!!!).
And the same goes for video content. I don’t download as many TV shows or movies from iTunes – mainly due to the less-than-DVD quality. But I have a collection of nearly 1,000 DVDs that I’ve bought over the past few years…
I believe that the music industry, and, now, the TV/film industry are shoveling crap down our throats. And they’re trying to please their shareholders by demanding a chunk of Apple’s hardware sales – which is just NUTS, because they’d be out of a job if people didn’t first buy a TV or iPod. However, the thing that really ticks me off is that they think we’re stupid, powerless, and will sit there like little bunnies while they pull this crap.
Maybe the hundred-million-plus people who have bought iPods, and who have helped Apple & iTunes sell over 3,000,000,000 songs should boycott their music, TV networks & movies…
• Maybe if for just one weekend at the box-office every film released by Universal did a few million dollars less than expected.
• Maybe if next week, when new DVDs are released on Tuesday, if they sold 1/2 or 1/3 of what they had expected.
• Maybe if the latest CD by a crap artist only managed to sell 50,000 copies, rather than the 250,000+ everybody expected in it’s first week.
• Maybe if the cable & satellite companies started to see people dropping their service, or requesting changes in their channel packages, or people just turning off their TVs…
Maybe if we, the consumers & end users stood together in a grass roots demonstration, giving these delusional billionaires the financial-finger, it would show them that we’re way beyond being tired of their greed…..
Of course what will happen is what always happens – which is what they know will happen… Absolutely nothing! That’s because we are all sheep.
We have gotten so used to the crap coming from the latest Britney Wannabe that we wouldn’t know good music if it kicked us in the nads – and judging by Top 40 – er, I mean Top 5 radio, it’s true.
And we have gotten so used to the deluge of Reality TV crap that we will buy a half gallon of ice cream simply because it’s the American Idle/Idol flavor – that show, as well as Big Brother, Survivor, and a sewer-full of other drivel owe their roots to the latest British invasion.
And when was the last time that Hollywood had a truly original idea – what that wasn’t dependent on Happy Meal tie-ins to cover the bloated salaries of the Tinsle Town hacks who would give Freud seizures with all their namby-pamby, whiny, brattish behavior.
Maybe,… just maybe,… if enough of us gave these idiots the financial-finger, then it might just encourage the few truly gifted artists in the music, film & TV worlds to walk away from their gluttonous overlords.
Although, if you look at it from a practical standpoint, for most of these talent-less hacks it’s best that we support them on welfare by choice. If we didn’t throw money at them, Uncle Sam would tax it from us to support them on the real welfare.
I think a lot of printers said the same thing around 1985 when Apple entered into the print world. “Apple has ruined the print business”
Those that didn’t adapt got left behind.
The print world seems to be fine these days. Same thing will happen to the music industry and movie industry.
Roll with the times dudes or get left behind.
Or if you think it will help – give your favorite legislative lackey some money and get him/her to pass more laws protecting your business from free enterprise.
If I owned Chevron or Exxon-Mobil stock I should ask the board of directors to demand a cut of all auto sales. I think around 15% of the cost of every new Hummer should get the ball rolling.
Then I’d write the board of directors at Charmin, and tell them there’s product being siphoned down a hole in the floor of every home in America featuring a Kohler, Elger, Whoever porcelain throne.
And let’s not forget the Scotts Seed company, either. Their CEO should be hauling John Deere, Ryder, Toro, Snapper, and every other one of those hooligans out their supplying us with lawn mowers.
The world has changed and they (MPAA/RIAA members) are flat-earthers. That just about says it all.
It wasn’t a 50% price increase, it was a 250% price increase. Every copy of an Office episode at $2.99 was to be bundled with a show that no one wanted to buy at $1.99
If you wanted an episode of Office, the bill came to $4.98
250% increase.
As henry lawson wrote: “We’ll all be rooned said Hanrahan”….
It seems quite apropos to see in the LA Times Channel Island column how poorly this seasons shows are holding up. The networks need to get a clue and realize that people aren’t watching as much anymore.
Let’s see:
Watch tonight = Free +commercials
Hulu.Com = Free + Commercials
iTunes = $1.99
idiots.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/tv/la-et-channel29oct29,0,5635297.story?coll=la-home-entertainment
read this on another news site, but..
“He says Apple made money off of their work? Very few people bought iPods so they could view NBC content.”
i had to laugh.
very few? lol! name one!
I stopped watching “must crap TV’ a long time ago, due to lack of quality programming. It’s sad, even ‘Discovery Channel’ type educational stations are stooping down to becoming more dramatic, irreverant, and obnoxious to be more like the ‘Big 3’. TV has truly become a lowest common denominator type medium. When you see the insight of its exec, you can see, both parts were made for one another. Enter Steve Jobs with vision, and iTMS with variety, this of course, doesn’t mesh well (having steak and dog food on the same plate never does), yet, picking only the best of TV, a-la-carte, on demand, INEXPENSIVELY AND EASILY, makes Apple a game changer.
Message to the public: WAKE UP!!!!!
The music business destroyed itself when the technology to distribute music online came along, and they tried to, “protect the steam engine” rather than coming together and developing a method to distribute on their own. They destroyed themselves when their answer to napster was litigation and not an alternative. Apple is mopping up the pieces, not destroying the industry.
The music industry should have seen digital distribution coming in the early to mid nineties.
Did NBC think plastic would last forever? Not when the market is shrinking by 30% per year and the labels are paying royalties when the stuff is produced.
DRM-free downloading is going to keep the music market alive – keeps competition for pricing and provides a business model labels can live with. That takes it out of even Apple’s hands… they just have a good head start on the competition.
I can’t remember the last time I watched anything on NBC. Who cares about their stupid shows anyway? If you really want them that badly – just download them from a torrent site.
He’s wrong.
Apple is destroying their music business.
In their place Apple are building a new one.
That’s the point of competition. If you cannot adapt to the changing business environment then you will lose.
NBC is the new CBS.
Way to go, NBC. Can’t wait for the return of the geriatric Law & Order.
I’ll get my entertainment the way I do today — from other sources but NBC.
NBC tries too hard to be cool. It fails miserably. Those Jerry Seinfeld Bee commercials are the most embarrassing. I predict NBC will go the way of the Oldsmobile within 3 years. You read it here first.
The Power of One,
Huh???
‘Apple has destroyed the music business’
Yes; and Henry Ford ruined the horse & buggy business.
Ooh, don’t get me started.
“As part of NBC’s push for more flexible online pricing, Mr Zucker said he urged Apple for months to price one programme at $2.99 per download – as opposed to the current $1.99 – as an ‘experiment’ but was rebuffed by Steve Jobs, Apple’s chief executive.”
Doesn’t that sound like the worst kind of price fixing? An attempt by one content distributor to dictate terms to a competitive distributor is patently illegal. Shame on Congress if they let NBC get away with it.
“Mr Zucker also suggested Apple had rejected requests to share revenue from its sales of iPod devices, which are far more profitable than the digital media store.”
As a musician, I may write my own songs and own an iPod simply to take these with me to band rehearsals, business meetings, etc. NBC / Universal has no right to tax a device that does not necessarily have any of their legal content on it. In the 1990s, I watched as our elected officials granted record companies the right to tax blank DAT tapes, which I bought to record my own music onto. This unfairness has to stop.
“During his remarks, Mr Zucker emphasised that conventional media companies were struggling to develop economic models for new forms of digital distribution, and trying to ensure that a dollar of traditional revenue was not reduced to mere pennies in an online world.”
I’m living in a world where good jobs are outsourced, often replaced by lower-paying jobs with fewer benefits and diminishing security. Every time I go into a store, I see prices falling under the pressures of technological advances or Chinese companies entering a new market. Yet in this same world, Mr. Zucker expects his music to sell at or above historical prices, and if not, he accuses his competitors of destroying the business. Not to mention that Steve Jobs and Apple actually saved his business.
Mr. Zucker exhorted Apple to test a 50% price increase in the iTunes music store, and he continues to lambaste Apple’s decision to drop copy protection even as NBC / Universal has begrudgingly launched its competitive DRM-free catalog on Amazon. While Apple is focused on giving customers what they want, Zucker is mired in trying to figure out how to push the product he wishes to sell.
You are correct about one thing Mr. Zucker. Today’s music business looks nothing like it did ten years ago. Your version of the business died back then, and you should be grateful that Apple and a few other pioneers have given you a ten year extension before the inevitable sea change takes place.
Actually, Apple has paved the way for the music business to be saved; the only thing that’s dead is your ass-backwards system and possibly (probably) your overly inflated salary. Good riddance, mothuh zuckuh!
It’s funny how 99.9% of the comments on here are anti Mr.Zucker. This is probably a good representation of how the rest of the world feels as well.
So basically we have another stupid loser as a CEO of a huge company that claims to know what the people want…he will be gone soon enough!
Nothing But Crazy
“…he will be gone soon enough!”
And in the meantime, he is darkening the hallways of the Newhouse School trying to convince up-and-coming media professionals to see things his way.
Mr Zucker needs to spend alot of time around music buying customers.
IF he ever did that he would have realised that music buying has changed drastically.
Gone are the days of going to a high street record store and paying over the top prices for a cd/album with 2 decent songs on it.
He seriously needs to get a reality check.
Everyone wants music downloads now. They want instant downloads of very high quality at a fair price.
To be honest, Mr Zucker is your typical Global Corporation CEO who is so out or touch with its customers that he is single-handly destroying his own company from the inside.
Well here’s a word of advice from a person who runs a small design business (me): “Do some market research on your customer base, gather as much information on their buying habits as you can get and above all LISTEN to them and what they want!”
IF your company did any of these things then you would have realised how lucky your business has been with Apple coming along with the iPod and saved your lilly white ass.
Goodluck in creating a new business model that actually caters from your customers needs – because unless you do ‘my friend’ your business is going down the pan very fast.
Had a couple of friends tell me about the new Bionic Woman show on NBC. It has a couple of the actors from the new BSG in it, and has a similar dark, gritty, almost film-noir element to it.
Found full episodes available for viewing on the NBC website. It actually played on Safari, thank God.
The experience was less than ideal. Each episode was sponsored by a large corporation, who had four one minute commercials in it. I couldn’t fast forward past the commercials, and lost the ability to pause, rewind or fast forward when the commercials were on. Instead, I pulled up another browser window and looked at some widgets while the commercials were on. Worst of all, the episode player wanted to take me back to the beginning of the episode after every commercial! It was very frustrating, and had I not really wanted to see the freakin episode, I would have given up and continued not to watch the show.
I can’t get how NBC possibly thinks their solution is better than iTunes. If the large corporations who sponsored the episodes gave them anywhere close to two bucks or more per viewing, they’re freakin idiots. I can’t even remember who they were, except for the pizza one, and that’s only because I intensely disliked the actress on the commercials. I cannot even remotely see myself buying or patronizing any of the sponsors. If the sponsors can’t see any increase in customer base or revenues, they’re going to stop buying time on the shows, period.
I’m not going to start bit-torrenting episodes of the bionic woman. That process is a PITA, and I’m not going to spend the time or the computer and internet resources to do so. But I’m also not going to their crappy website to watch future episodes, assuming they’re available. Guess what? I’m also not going to go out of my way to find out when the program is on and watch it. I’m not going to tell my friends about it, or talk about it around the office. And I’m darned sure not about to go out and buy a season on DVD for 30, 40, 50 or 60 bucks. Especially if it will enable greedy idiots like him to be able to tip the washroom attendant at Spago’s twenty bucks.
@ clyde
I think you have hit the nail right on the head!
All this isnt about charging $2.99 to dowload an episode or a price battle between Apple and NBC, its about lost advertising revenue!
I bet NBC wanted to put advertising on all the episodes on itunes and SJ told them no way.
This makes alot of sense to me, tv networks rely on advertising to make any money so having advertising free downloads on itunes means they cant sell the show to potential advertisers to have their adverts on it – therefore NBC loses revenue.
Tbh NBC had not intention of ever renewing the itunes deal anyway so Apple hasnt lost anything.
Zucker meant to say that Apple was instrumental in his salary cut. That’s why he’s pissed off.
Actually, Zucker said Apple has destroyed the music business pricing structure, which is true, of course.
This is a good thing for consumers but the content providers do not like it. Who can blame them?
The content creators may end up winning in this new scheme eventually, but for now they are stuck with the middlemen.
In fairness to Apple, I would say that the internet is destroying a lot of middlemen across the board. It is just too easy to search for the lowest price from drop-ship e-tailers and never enter a WalMart or a record store (remember those?).
So Zucker is trying to save his business model and get a handle on the digital distribution of his media assets.
iTunes has changed the game for content providers and they don’t know how they will fit in. Their biggest fear is that they won’t.
Sooner or later, this will work itself out….
Here’s a little clue about how much Zucker and his marketing moron crew respect the broadcasting arts: Hulu.com is going to expand upon that already disgusting practice of crawling advertising on top of the program you are trying to watch, as if 20 minutes of commercials every hour wasn’t enough to endure. Who is /really/ destroying the broadcasting business?
We know perfectly well that if they could get we the public to sit there and watch just ads 24 hours a day they’d be in Nirvana. Who needs programming? Writers want more money? Screw them! We’ll show more ads. Who is causing the writer’s strike?
The fact is that this snake is eating itself, it is so greedy. Meanwhile the entire art of entertainment is moving into a new culture and new technology that they cannot comprehend. The art evolves, the dodos go extinct. In this case, good riddance.
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Pot; Kettle; Black!
NBC Universal CEO Zucker: ‘Apple has destroyed OUR business’
Last season I downloaded every episode of “Heroes,” initially to get caught up on the early espisodes and later because the experience of watching it sans commercials and at a time of my choosing. It was great. The story flowed smoothly and kept me wanting more. This year I’m forced to watch it when broadcast, not always easy, and with all the commercials intact.
IT TOTALLY SUCKS! The show goes to commercial break every 10 minutes and runs nearly five minutes of commercials. I’ve lost interest in the show, it’s just not the same experience. I don’t have time to record it, edit commercials or spend any time trying to make it pleasurable viewing experience. Downloading from iTunes was the perfect set-up. Maybe I’ll just wait for the DVD release and Handbrake the season to my Mac/iPod. Or maybe just not watch the show period.
The music industry destroyed itself.
I went from about 1998 to 2005 without buying any new CDs. I bought a bunch of used ones but no new CDs from that period. Why? I hated all the music from that time.
Recently I have been buying some new CDs again
Are we Sucker’s Mr. Zucker?
Go teach your Granny how to Zuck eggs!!!
Sorry Jeffy-boy, you and the collective asshatery of Universal and RIAA/MPAA killed your own industry by not adapting to the times and screwing your customers. The business model is a sinking ship and has been for years. Enjoy your obscurity though, the rest of us will be out downloading our content without you.
Thank you, Mr. Zucker. I thought that insidiously crappy music witten, played, produced, and shamelssly foisted on the public were the causes of loss of profits. Silly me.
Zucker is so incredibly full of shit. The networks have no frigging idea how to compete. They’ve had a market handed to them for 60 years. Now they have to compete in the market of ideas. They’re clueless.
The programming is idiotic. “My Name is Earl” is one joke – over and over and over. Same with every sitcom. The situation is funny. The writing is crap. The characters are about as complex as Eggshell Semi-gloss latex.
M*A*S*H was the best sitcom ever. The situation was the absolute pit of not funny. The writing was tight. The actors were excellent. The characters were really human. That show was funny BECAUSE the situation wasn’t. I already own almost every episode of M*A*S*H on DVD. There is practically nothing else worth owning. Certainly nothing in the last 10 years.
Yo. Sucker. You’re going to throw a lot of money down the toilet trying to beat Apple at technology. You’ll lose everything you invest plus everything you could have made selling stuff on iTunes for the duration.
Have a nice day.
You just don’t get it. Jeff Zucker and his ilk don’t CARE what happens after they buy out the little guys, and ruin the entire market. These executives fabricate fantasy-bullshit scenarios about future earnings – and them pay themselves huge bonuses RIGHT NOW in actual money, based on the fantasy future earnings they have ‘predicted’. The same thing is going on in most other industries – where the executhieves get together, and predict outrageous future profits based upon their doing something obviously moronic. They then pay themselves huge bonuses for their ‘genius.’ The ironic part is that they then invest their ill-gotten gains into the stock market – into other empty-shell companies, run by people just like themselves. The crash is going to be very entertaining.
You just don’t get it. Jeff Zucker and his ilk don’t CARE what happens after they buy out the little guys, and ruin the entire market. These executives fabricate fantasy-bullsh*t scenarios about future earnings – and them pay themselves huge bonuses RIGHT NOW in actual money, based on the fantasy future earnings they have ‘predicted’. The same thing is going on in most other industries – where the executhieves get together, and predict outrageous future profits based upon their doing something obviously moronic. They then pay themselves huge bonuses for their ‘genius.’ The ironic part is that they then invest their ill-gotten gains into the stock market – into other empty-shell companies, run by people just like themselves. The crash is going to be very entertaining.
“The characters are about as complex as Eggshell Semi-gloss latex.”
LOL – good one.
My biggest takeaway from this thread is the friendly reminder that there are so many, better alternatives to watching prime-time TV.
The music industry started putting nails into their own coffins when they started copy protection as an ‘experiment’ for Compact Disc Digital Audio thereby, violating the Red Book audio standards. Selling second rate media with second rate music is just not on, so expect a backlash.
I have vowed not to buy anymore popular music CDs, preferring other methods of acquiring them but will continue to buy quality classical and jazz CDs.
How is it destroying the music business to charge $.99 for a song instead of $1.99? or $1.29? I won’t buy music at $1.99 – the uniformity in pricing is one of the things that won me over to iTunes – that and the huge selection!
until NBC goes crawling back to iTunes when they see their sales figures dropping like flies
NBC is already in the toilet as far as I’m concerned, which explains their full of shit attitude. I have more shows and music BECAUSE of Apple’s offerings. It’s not like Apple is making lots of money off their iTunes sales.
If you make the prices reasonable, people will buy, instead of steal. I guess NBC just doesn’t get it do they?
I, for one, will look forward to Zucker getting the ax!
Seeing as Mr. Zucker is so worried about things being destroyed, let’s focus on the record of NBC’s parent company, General Electric.
In 1999, the company agreed to pay a $250 million settlement in connection with claims it polluted the Housatonic River and other sites with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and other hazardous substances. In 2002, after spending millions of dollars on advertisements intended to avert the project, General Electric was ordered to clean up a 40 mile stretch of the Hudson River it had contaminated with PCBs. In 2003, acting on concerns that the plan proposed by GE did not “provide for adequate protection of public health and the environment,” the United States Environmental Protection Agency issued a unilateral administrative order for the company to “address cleanup at the GE site” in Rome, Georgia, also contaminated with PCBs.
Now, whilst I know that there a lot of people here who have a problem with environmental scare stories, I can’t help but feel that – on a scale of 1 to 10 – GE’s record on damaging things is probably a little worse than Apple’s given that, on balance, people developing cancers or other medical conditions due to industrial pollution is more important than whether an entertainment executive gets a bigger bonus that he can blow on Colombian marching dust.