Rewriting Apple’s History
Posted on February 6, 2010
As Mark Twain put it, “Very few things happen at the right time, and the rest don’t happen at all. The conscientious historian will correct these defects.” Normally the winners write history, but Apple’s success and lofty stock price has given a number of media executives a bad case of P/E envy. They’re distorting the past by accusing Apple of dictating terms of media consumption on the Internet.
For example, when Apple convinced the recorded music industry to sell digital downloads in 2003 it allocated seventy percent of the sales proceeds to the record labels and music publishers. One might suppose a business partner would be happy with a 70% share of incremental revenues, especially when that partner incurs almost no added cost. Perhaps they actually were smugly pleased with the deal originally. Maybe they figured Apple had been suckered into giving them more than twice as much as it kept for itself. Read more…
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Reviving the Record Labels
Posted on September 2, 2009
If you would like to learn one way the record labels might reinvigorate their business, this audio is for you.
Everybody recognizes that the Internet radically transformed the recorded music business. Apple’s iTunes online store sells more music than any retailer having displaced Wal-Mart and Target. As a consequence pre-recorded CD sales are down over 50% from ten years ago when Shawn Fanning’s Napster was set-loose, even though it was later jailed. Read more…
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The Record Label Business
Posted on May 19, 2009

Steve Knopper, Author, Appetitte for Self-Destruction
If you would like to know how the Internet transformed the record label business, this interview is for you.
Our guest today is Steve Knopper who is the author of Appetite for Self-Destruction. Steve’s book is a chronicle and analysis of the spectacular crash of the record industry in the Digital Age. He is a Rolling Stone contributing editor who has covered the business since 2002. Read more…
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Is Napsterization of Video at Hand?
Posted on March 4, 2009
Download to Computer, iPhone, or iPod
If you are curious to know whether the video industry is at the threshold of “Napsterization” much like the record label business was ten years ago, this video is for you.
It is hard to believe that it was fully ten years ago that Shawn Fanning unleashed Napster P2P software that forever changed the record label business. Napster demonstrated beyond any doubt that the Internet was going to become the natural distribution platform for all Digital Media files. In order to prosper, or even survive, the established business models would have to adapt. It was obvious that the record label industry was the “canary in the coal mine” and that ultimately there would be a day of reckoning for the video producer as well.
That day of reckoning has arrived for two reasons. Read more…
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Your Music: Always Available Online
Posted on December 8, 2008
If you would like to learn about how the Internet Cloud can provide you with an “always-on” connection to your music library along with a sharply reduced cost to add to the collection and try-out new music on demand, this interview is for you.
Our guest today is Geoff Ralston who is the CEO of lala.com. His website will let you (1) maintain your music library in the Internet Cloud, (2) add selections to your library at negligible cost, (3) try-out new music on-demand at little cost, and (3) avoid advertising. Read more…
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Future of Recorded Music Business
Posted on September 29, 2008
If you would like to learn how the recorded music business will be generating revenue growth in the future, this interview is for you.
Our guest today is Greg Scholl who is the CEO of The Orchard which is a publicly-owned distributor of music for independent record labels, including one that it owns named TVT. The company also distributes over 3,000 hours of video and TV shows for clients who are the rights holders. Most of the files are distributed digitally to stores like iTunes, Amazon.com, and eMusic. Read more…
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Implications of DRM-Free Distribution by Major Labels
Posted on February 2, 2008
Summary: If you would like to get an industry executive’s perspective about the decision by all four major record labels to abandon DRMs, this interview is for you.
Our guest today is David Pakman who is the CEO of eMusic. His company is the largest seller of online music in the DRM-free MP3 format. However, the eMusic catalogue historically was limited to independent record labels. Now that the majors have decided to sell DRM-free tracks it looks like a good time to catch-up with David to see what the implications are for eMusic and the industry at large. Read more…
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Advertising-Supported Internet Music Distribution
Posted on November 27, 2007
If you would like to learn about an advertising-supported website with free legal MP3 downloads, this interview is for you.
Our guest today is Peter Rojas who is the Founder of Rcrd Lbl which is a website where you can legally get MP3 music downloads of sponsored artists at no charge. Peter is the founder of other successful Internet businesses including Engadget and WebLogs. Read more…
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