"If you dare raise those music prices 9 more cents, well I'll... I'll... I'll shut iTunes down!"
I can just picture Steve Jobs' reaction when the Copyright Royalty Board (the geniuses who brought you today's music prices and pictured on the left) announced that since it had been over ten years since musicians' royalties increased, it would be voted on to increase them by 9 cents. The vote was set to go on the 2nd. After hearing the news, Apple went into a meltdown because a 9 cent rat hike meant a 20% cut into their profits. But why? The money can be made up easily, just increase the iTunes rates by 9 cents. But Jobs refused, insisting on keeping the 99 cent pricing structure of iTunes, but I just think they know that 1.05$ songs just don't sell like 99 cent ones.
Don't get me wrong, I think that musicians should be payed more. It's just that this was a random, seemingly meaningless hike that would cause more trouble than it is worth. Put next to Jobs partly public fit, it seems stupid.
Update:
The motion failed with the board, and everything fizzled, but I suspect if you did some digging, you would find that the committee's close friends suddenly got sick right beforehand..... I'll have to keep you posted.
Update Dos:
A rumor was dispelled today that Steve Jobs had a massive heart attack (acute royalty shock maybe?). The report was on CNN as part of a "citizen journalism" part of the site. Within 30 minutes, the report was removed, but Apple stock still dropped considerable. Original story here.
This is what Steve Jobs looked like when he heard of the music royalties hike.
1 comment:
*smile* very, very humerous. yeah, i definantely wouldn't be buying as many songs from itunes if it was 1.05. it just wouldn't be the same. they could just make their iPods more expensive...or you would have to pay 9 cents for every new itunes download. but, luckily the apple world is still quite the same.
: - )
emileaq
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