Jobs tells it like it is - calls music labels "greedy"

I didn't know you could get away with saying stuff like this if it wasn't on your personal blog, but Jobs at the Apple Expo in Paris told the press that greed is the only reason record labels would raise prices. Jobs then goes on to state something I've suspected for a while: "The labels make more money from selling tracks on iTunes than when they sell a CD. There are no marketing costs for them." [emphasis mine]

In a final stab at our music industry overloards, Jobs states yet another fact the labels - even after all this time - still don't get: legitimate music services are competing with piracy. As in: they're trying to sell products and services to people who are used to getting them for free - and as we've seen with iTMS, they're doing a fairly decent job. But if prices go up, customers are simply going to turn back to piracy - especially now that word is getting around that the labels make more money from online sales than traditional CD's.

It amazes me that these companies, with all their wealth and marketing research, still just don't get it. Feel free to discuss in the comments, but since I know these topics remain at the center of a heated debate, we just ask that you keep it civilized. After all, it's just the internets.

[via macnn]
 
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