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September 17, 2006
iPods: It's OUR music, dammit
We can't help but wonder if the music industry has any clue at all about their customers, or is ever likely to get one. They seem surprised to discover that most people who buy iPods don't immediately fill them up with tracks from the iTunes Music Store. On average, according to a Jupiter Research report on iPods and their contents, only 5 per cent of the music on the average iPod will have been purchased from an online music store. In our case we've bought precisely ONE iTMS track, and that simply to test the procedure.
The report makes the presumption that iPod owners fill them with "free music ripped from CDs someone already owned or acquired from file-sharing sites". We doubt that much of it is "free music". We'd bet most people fill them with music ripped from their own CDs. CDs they've already paid for.
Even in Australia, where the Howard Government actually declared it illegal to do anything but buy your music all over again in order to use an iPod - until, ironically, the US free trade agreement forced them to give us the same rights as American citizens - people didn't line up to tip their dollars into the bloated hands of Music Inc.
What the music industry needs to understand is that they've set the price of online music far too high, and unless they reduce the prices, people will find alternatives, including, in some cases, illegal alternatives.
Posted by cw at September 17, 2006 08:15 PM
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Comments
That's right. Consumers are quite happy to pay for music at the right price. Your referral to allofMP3 proves the point. This site is growing very fast and does charge for music.
Posted by: Tony at September 17, 2006 09:45 PM
Buzzcast fome CNET;[4/8/06] discusses the "iPod monopoly", and the constant shafting of consumers, via DRM. Interesting to hear the reasons one consumer may buy an iPod are the same behind the decision of those who despise the "accessory lure" and choose one that requires neurons to manage, not more money.
The morning commute is beginning to resemble a white ear plugged goose - step.
I reckon the biggest blue made in developing "the store" was to assume music fans need new music. A vast market keen to carry portable audio, feel this way because our favourites - buried away on multiple CD's - could be collated on one device.
No-one expected the popularity of free podcasts, either. Favourite shows on at inconvenient times, health, science, finance, technology, comedy, videocasts [which are still crappy], philosophy, international news summaries, security updates, - you name it - whatever you could never find the time for before, is potentially in ones pocket.
The other blue, was to forget music fans to a person, had an absurd amount of already ripped CD tracks on the PC media player. Why buy another copy? Most of my 3,000 odd tracks are from public library CD's.
And that's my DRM. "Drastically Risky Move" - putting glacially gouged CD's in the drive to begin with.
Posted by: Paul at September 18, 2006 08:20 AM
My own experience says that the large majority of my friends use downloading services. Granted, a lot of my music collection is from CDs I already own, but at the same time if I hear a new song I like, I can get it immediately. You can argue the morals, and I can try to justify it, but the fact is; if I want it, I can get it straight away - without hassle. That's the key point.
The problem for the content owners in providing a commercial alternative to downloading is this - there is no service that aggregates all the media content a person might consume in one place. With all the content owners fighting for their own share of the market, how many services would I have to sign up to for tv shows I've missed, new music, old music, world music, movies, documentaries, podcasts...?
Just one. It's called Limewire.
Posted by: K at September 19, 2006 06:34 PM
It would help iTunes enormously if they got the same selection of music that the rest of the world has.
iTunes Australian store is pathetic. I get my music from stores or online through - dammit - Amazon et al.
WHy? Because iTunes and many commercial stores just don't have a good selection. THey've got the same bog standard crap that your suburban music store has.
Posted by: gotheek at September 20, 2006 12:18 AM
"Most of my 3,000 odd tracks are from public library CD's."
Paul - as you're probably aware this is illegal, but what you may not be aware of is that you have just dealt the cause of the use of copyright material in public libraries a huge blow. Public libraries are permitted to lend CDs, DVDs and videos on the clear understanding that they musn't be copied, and display notices to that effect. The recording industry aren't happy about this lending and you have just demonstrated the reason why!
Posted by: Moyram at September 24, 2006 04:10 PM