Why iTunes Has Been (And Will Be) So Successful

An article in Rolling Stone#1035 (the one with Kanye and 50 Cent on the cover) talks about the rise of iTunes as one of the largest music-sellers in the country. With over 3 billion songs sold, its the largest digital music outlet, and accounts for 10% of all music sold in America, behind only Best Buy and Wal-Mart. But the story points out that the record labels aren't too fond of some of Apple's habits; for years the major labels have clamored for a change in the pricing models (the labels want $2.50 for recent and popular songs, and less than $.99 for older tracks) and a break from the $.99 per song, $9.99 an album setup that has made iTunes so successful over the last 4 years. Apple CEO Steve Jobs has met the labels' demands with a glorified "Go Fuck Yourself". As a result, NBC-Universal has cut off ties to Apple, with Universal Music holding the right to pull its music at any time, and NBC opting not to renew its contract to have its hit shows available for download. Representatives for the major labels have compared iTunes business habits to those of Wal-Mart.

Here's where I take issue; iTunes is different from Wal-Mart in that iTunes actually gives a crap about the people working for it, and the people buying their products. When I buy music or TV shows from iTunes, I know I'm getting high quality, yet still inexpensive merchandise that I actually want. Yes, iTunes may not be so friendly to the record labels, but take a look around; not many people are friendly toward the major labels these days. It's this fact that helped fuel illegal downloading, and in turn spawned iTunes. The record labels have no one to blame but themselves for this situation.

And a message to Universal Music Group; who the hell are you to try to strongarm iTunes into upping its prices? The reason you had to turn to iTunes is because people stopped buying your CDs. You don't exactly have room to try to force your pricing habits when those habits have proven to fail. You want to try to launch your own downloading service? Go ahead, good luck with that. I'll stick with the people who actually pay attention to what I want.

==TJ==