[Mb-civic] CBC Arts - APPLE CEO WARNS MUSIC LABELS ABOUT GETTING 'GREEDY'

[CBC Arts]

This email has been sent to you by harry.sifton at sympatico.ca
The following is a news item posted on CBC ARTS
at http://www.cbc.ca/arts
____________________________________________________
APPLE CEO WARNS MUSIC LABELS ABOUT GETTING 'GREEDY'
WebPosted Wed Sep 21 05:54:11 2005

---

Apple CEO Steve Jobs is warning music companies not to get greedy. Jobs
said Apple will not budge on the cost of iTunes songs, because any
increase would drive consumers to piracy.

Jobs, speaking before the opening of the Apple Expo in Paris, said some
music majors were pushing for an increase in prices on Apple's online
iTunes Music Store as they renegotiate contracts.

Apple's co-founder said record companies already earn more profit from
songs sold through iTunes -- cutting out costs of manufacturing,
marketing and returns -- than from those sold on CD. "So if they want to
raise the prices it just means they're getting a little greedy," he said.

Songs on the iTunes music store start at 99 cents US per song in the U.S.
and 99 cents Cdn per song in Canada. The price varies depending on which
country the store is in. In August, Apple launched its Japanese store
without songs from Sony BMG as negotiations over price stalled.

Jobs says he plans to stand firm. "We're trying to pull people away from
piracy and say, 'You can buy these songs legally for a fair price,' " he
said. "But if the price goes up a lot, they'll go back to piracy. Then
everybody loses."

Industry analyst Philip Leigh said record companies were upset over their
loss of control as online customers focus on individual hit tracks.

"A full CD might have only three or four popular songs," said Leigh, who
runs U.S. market research firm Inside Digital Media. "Now that the
consumer's able to buy each song individually, they don't have to buy the
whole CD, and the labels are concerned that this will result in lower
revenues."

But as long as Apple controls the market for music players and paid-for
downloads, Leigh said, "it's going to be very difficult for the labels to
avoid dealing with Steve Jobs on his terms."

Apple's iTunes Music Store accounts for 82 per cent of legal downloads in
the United States. The company has sold more than 500 million songs
online and about 22 million iPod digital music players.

Copyright (C) 2005 CBC. All rights reserved.