Major labels are looking weaker and weaker and Apple is looking more and more like colonialist aggressors of yore. Remember back in 2002 when the majors “negotiated” with Apple over iTunes specifics? You know, little nothing details like, oh I dunno, whether users will only be allowed to download albums in their entirety if the artist so chooses? Those negotiations ended up changing the face of the music industry, and the way we all listen to music.Jakomi Mathews writes that this capitulation led directly “to a decline in album sales revenue for both artists and labels alike over the last 9 years.” But there was another missed opportunity here—it could have been possible for the labels to negotiate royalties on sold iPods. Any of your buddies rock Microsoft Zunes instead of iPods? Even though this MP3 player nosedived like a dead bird, Universal managed to score a dollar per sale. Unbelievable.Mathews goes on to break down Apple’s anti-competitive business practices, citing an email from Apple warning a major label digital head that iTunes promotions would be pulled if the label continued working with Amazon. All this is just disgusting. We end up with the present situation, where Apple owns 70% of the global music market and the labels are colonies in iTunes' immovable world.The only consolation? Most of us lowly serfs still sort of hate iTunes.
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