Steve Jobs, Big Music saviour
p2p news / p2pnet: It’s nasty, but someone has to do it.
What’s that? Save the music industry from itself.
And who’s the savior? Steve Jobs.
At least, that’s what Glenn Gamboa believes.
In a Newsday column, “Lucky for music lovers, both inside and outside the industry, Jobs – the chief executive of Apple Computer, makers of the iPod and keepers of the iTunes Music Store – understands his role,” he says. “With its current deal with iTunes expiring in the spring, the major music companies want to negotiate new licensing agreements that will raise prices on popular songs and lower prices on older, less popular ones.”
But, “Jobs wants to stick with the 99-cent price for all tracks, saying that if music companies ‘want to raise the prices, it just means they’re getting a little greedy’.
“That’s the tough love the industry needs.”
Gee, Steve. Thanks.
Now tell that to the innocent men, women and children people the industry [read the Organised Music family, EMI, Vivendi Universal, Warner Music and Sony BMG] is trying to sue into buying ‘product’.
“It would be easy for Jobs to walk away from the music industry nightmare,” concludes Gamboa. “Like many music lovers, I hope he doesn’t.”
No worries, Glenn. Jobs isn’t going anywhere.
Count on it.
He walks out, empty-handed
And in another fulsome paen to Jobs, ” Imagine the scenario: a billionaire walks into a mobile phone shop,” writes Charles Arthur in The Independent. “The sales assistant says, ‘Can I help you?’ but gets the reply ‘Just looking, thank you.’ The man tries a few phones, lifting his glasses to look at the detail of the display. He presses a couple of buttons. He shakes his head. He could buy any phone in the shop; in fact he could buy the shop, or even buy the chain. But he doesn’t. He walks out, empty-handed.
“It sounds like an urban myth but it could be a day in the life of Steve Jobs, who is chief executive of two technology companies that are admired both inside and outside their respective industries: Apple (which makes the iPod and a range of computers) and Pixar (which made the films Toy Story and The Incredibles). Apple made him a multi-millionaire, Pixar made him a billionaire, and the two mean that at the age of 50 he has cemented a unique position as a force in computing, consumer electronics (through the iPod), the music business (the iPod again) and Hollywood.
“And despite all that, he still can’t choose a mobile phone. (How nice to find you have something in common with such people.) His problem, he says, is that he can’t find things that satisfy him. ‘I end up not buying a lot of things,’ he says, carefully, when I ask how he chooses what to buy from the myriad of gadgets and technologies in the shops. ‘Because I find them ridiculous’.”
Something you think we should know? tips[at]p2pnet.net
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win
- Mohandas Gandhi
Tired of being treated like a criminal? They depend on you, not the other way around. Don’t buy their ‘product’. Do bug your local political representatives. Use emails, snail-mail, phone calls, faxes, IM, stop them in the street, blog. And if you’re into organizing, organize petitions, organize demonstrations and then turn up on your local political rep’s doorstep, making sure you’ve contacted your local tv/radio station/newspaper in advance.
See:-
Newsday – Apple’s Jobs draws the line on download pricing, October 30, 2005
The Independent – Steve Jobs: The guru behind Apple, October 31, 2005
