CNN Money Apple readies online music service

"Music executives who have seen Apple's upcoming service said it is simple to use, offers single songs from a deep catalog and -- unlike Kazaa and the other pirate services that have picked up where the now-defunct Napster left off -- it pays royalties to the troubled record industry."

""It's exactly the system that should have existed five years ago," said one record industry executive."

Mercury News Hollywood role could be right for Jobs

"The next piece of Silicon Valley's knife dance with Hollywood might be choreographed by Steve Jobs, an executive whose unique influence in both spheres gives him rare potential to shape the way the two industries evolve."

"Whatever happens, Jobs has Hollywood's attention."

Business2.0 Could Apple Pull Off the Universal Music Purchase?

"That, dear readers, is at the heart of the gamble Apple faces. Could it persuade enough customers to sign up for its digital music service in a short enough time that the sheer number of users would force the other labels to play ball and adopt Apple's tactics? It's a tantalizing scenario for sure. Even if the purchase doesn't come to pass in this round, the possibilities it portends have people thinking about a radical reshaping of the music world. "In a few years," Sinnreich predicts, "I wouldn't be surprised to see all the major labels owned by other parent companies -- companies like Apple, Yahoo (YHOO), or Microsoft." The music industry seems incapable of capitalizing on digital music. Could Apple do it better?"

redux [03.18.02]
Matt Haughey The future of music

"Everyone with a computer I know uses them, rips them from their CDs, and shares them with others. Napster (and later on, Kazaa) built massive worldwide networks based on the sharing of these files, spreading terabytes of files to millions of users. And yet, you can't walk into a store anywhere in America and buy a physical form of media embedded with mp3s."

"Given the ubiquity of mp3s among consumers, the continued rise in popularity of the format despite anything that's been put in place to stop them, and the millions of dollars being spent on mp3 encoding/decoding software and hardware, I no longer think the RIAA operates solely on fear. At this point, they're simply running on stupidity."

redux [05.02.00]
Infoworld Napster sends a message to music industry: 'Your customers aren't happy'

""The Recording Industry Association of America wants to educate consumers with the message, "Artists deserve to be compensated -- artists won't make music if they can't make money." I can only imagine the public service announcements with multimillionaire artists pleading for their right to a seventh Porsche in the driveway.

There's no rationalization for piracy; it is what it is. However, rampant music piracy online indicates that the music industry's distribution and pricing model is out of whack with what people want. The problem isn't the piracy; the problem is unhappy customers.

And the music industry had better do something about it. This is a dinosaur moment -- with the big rock looming overhead -- where the music industry needs to ask itself how it will adapt."