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November 11, 2006

music

The language of money is Zuniversal

Posted Nov. 11, ’06, 9:52 AM PT by Dan Moren
Category | Music

ZuniversalAdmittedly, my first thought upon reading that Universal was asking Microsoft to give it a dollar for every Zune sold was: oh, those rascally record companies are up to it again. My second thought was: gee, I sure hope Universal doesn’t spend that $13 all in one place. Thought #1 was reinforced by the following comment by Universal CEO Doug Morris:

“These devices are just repositories for stolen music, and they all know it…So it’s time to get paid for it.”
Oh, it’s one of those twists of logic that boggles the mind. I mean, on the one hand, better that Universal is getting Microsoft to shell out for piracy than consumers, but still, it’s like Tiffany’s telling Ford it needs a cut of the profit on every vehicle they sold because they were being used as robbery getaway vehicles.

Fortunately, a whole fifty cents of that dollar will go to the artists who are having their music stolen, while the other fifty cents goes straight into Universal’s pockets. And consumers are the thieves here? But I digress…

As usual, John Gruber’s analysis on this topic is both rocking and rock solid. Microsoft needs Universal to come onboard if they have any chance of succeeding against Apple, which means Universal gets to dictate its terms. While other music labels will probably see this as opportunity to jump on Microsoft, I wouldn’t expect it to translate to iPod sales. As John says:

Apple, though, surely will continue to resist, if not outright laugh off, such deals. Partly out of general principle, but mainly because unlike Microsoft, Apple has leverage over the music labels because they have something the labels need: popularity.


4 Comments

JJO said:

Is this stuff about stolen music really true? I have nearly 60 gigs of music in my library and not a single piece of it is stolen -- granted I had a lot of music to begin with, but a lot of that has actually been purchased via eMusic or actual CDs via Amazon since the digital music revolution began. The advent of iTunes and the iPod has reinvigorated my music buying, which had lapsed somewhat since my college years, rather than undermining it.

Am I just out of touch with what the kids today are doing, or is the whole music stealing thing ridiculously overblown (or perhaps mostly confined to certain areas of music like newly released mainstream pop and hip-hop that I don't really get into, but that make up a large part of the industry's short-term profits)?

November 11, 2006 11:46 AM
CleverNameToBeDecided said:

Yeah, but I think that Zune will be Pepsi to iTunes' Coke. Once it (or some other service) proves competitive, Universal will have more leverage against Apple. It won't happen next year, but Apple might be sharing revenue soon.

Of course, the stolen music argument is interesting to me. If I'm paying for piracy, am I not licensed to engage in the act myself? It's a license to steal music!

Next Microsoft will demand a percentage of Apple's revenue for the sale of Macs because people steal Office (and Windows to run on their Intel-based Macs).

November 11, 2006 12:22 PM
33Nick said:

Good article and to the point, you not only put the light on Universal's dimwit logic and also Microsoft who knows no depth to how low they will sink to grab market share.

This is ugly. First Universal thinks like lawyers who believe the world is filled with gangsters. Second they bully a bully into giving them money so that that bully can bully others!!!

Thirdly, Microsoft knows no end to how low it scoops. First linking up with Novel for royalities on IP in Linux and now courting other distros. And to top it off, liking Universals boots until they stick a dagger in their back as they have done over and over again.

The entertainment iundustry is way behind on it all. It's business model is so rigid and ill-equiped to face modern times.

Two ugly companies... Smells like MS is gearing to replace SCO, no inventions but plenty of patents.

November 11, 2006 3:37 PM
Erin B. said:

In response to JJO: yeah, those crazy kids sure do steal lots of music. My boyfriend's got 100+ GB of music (excessive/obsessive, I know) and I would say that perhaps 5 GB of it is legal. The rest is either ripped from burned CDs or illegally downloaded. And he's not the only one I know, either.

Personally, my library's holding steady at about 20 GB, most of it purchased, but after speaking with my friends on the topic, I seem to be the exception to the rule.

November 13, 2006 11:02 AM

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