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Is iTunes Best for
Artists?
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The more I look at the iTunes
Music Store, the more I feel that there could be some
improvements to the system.
Apple has definitely hit the sweet spot for consumers. The songs
cost a reasonable amount, the license is the same for everything you
download, you can burn CDs, and you can share the music among several
computers. I personally think that the model is working for
consumers. The millions of downloaded songs would support this.
So what's the problem? Well, I checked out the Grey Album, which
was heavily publicized via Grey
Tuesday. This led me to Downhill Battle, which has a great
little page called iTunes
iSbogus. This page explains why iTMS, while a great idea,
isn't all it should be.
Reading through the pages of this site brought out a few questions
that have been circulating in the back of my mind since the iTMS
launched. For example, how fair is it, really? Is 99 cents a song
really a good deal? Does iTunes offer a good deal to everyone
involved?
Again, iTMS is great for the consumer. It's convenient,
competitively priced, and lets you feel good about what you buy.
You're not stealing anymore, right?
What I find is that the iTMS can be much like recycling. Recycling
is good for the environment, reasonably easy to do, and makes you
feel good about what you're doing. No problem there, right?
Wrong! Recycling is actually the last thing we should be doing.
Reduce, reuse, recycle, in that order.
The first order of business is to reduce, and if the consumer debt
levels are any indication, consumption isn't declining rapidly. Reuse
is next on the list, and the proliferation of throwaway products like
the Swiffer seem to indicate that reusing is going out of
fashion.
That leaves recycling - the one thing that should come last has
come first. Of course, recycling is a good idea and better than
nothing, but it shouldn't be emphasized as much as it is.
Which bring us back to iTMS. Is it really as good as we all want
it to be? For me, it's looking more and more like starting at the
wrong end. It makes us feel good, and there's nothing really bad
about it (at least the artists get something), but it may be
preventing real change. Music from iTMS has a great feel good factor
like recycling but may be hogging the limelight from something
better.
Downhill Battle also suggests other possibilities that may be a
better way to use Internet technology to put more cash into the
artists' pocket.
I still believe that iTMS is a good idea. Its execution could be
much improved, but at least Apple answered a desperate need for
legitimate music downloads. It would be interesting to see if Apple
could build on this system and create something better. As Downhill
Battle points out, Apple has made some concessions and may be willing
to do more.
In any event, Downhill Battle offers a different way of looking at
the iTMS, which has been widely praised by the Mac and mainstream
press. A different perspective is always good.
Stephen Van
Esch is the founder and president of
the
E-learning Foundry, an online training
resource for Mac users. Steve loves the Mac and is doubly bilingual,
since he's also fluent in Windows and French.
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