Techlines Today

Shocker: Record Labels are Greedy

By Adam Myers ⋅ September 23, 2005 ⋅ Tags: apple, ipod, p2p, piracy, record labels

I’d just like to say that the licensing agreement between Apple and Das Record Labels is set to expire next spring (2006). Surprise, surprise; it’s being reported that the labels are negotiating for a bigger piece o’ pie. It would seem there is interest in introducing a two-tier pricing scheme, likely with the newer tracks being charged a premium over older tunes. Rightly so, Apple wants none of that, with Jobs going as far as calling the labels ‘greedy’.

iTunes+iPod has been widely successful for two main reasons. Yes, marketting is a huge part, but moreso, atleast in my mind, it’s the simplistic nature of the whole process. 99c per tune fits right in line with this idealogy. As an adult, where time is usually worth more than money, piracy makes less sense when I can just as easily use the iTunes Music Store, find the track I want, purchase, download, sync to my player, all in 1 minute and for less than a buck. Should the price rise or the experience becomes painful, suddenly it is worth the time and effort on my part to track down music through “various other sources”. I could even argue that charging more for new songs would be the opposite of logic in my case. Often times, it is much easier to find the Top 40 hits on P2P than the older stuff.

The point is, Jobs is right, this will drive more consumers to alternative means to get their music fix. My prediction, Apple will compromise and give the labels a larger percentage of the profits, in exchange for keeping the 99c/track fee.

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