Universal-ly Not Cool
Posted on Monday, July 2nd, 2007 at 23:52.
I haven’t purchased a new CD in over four years. I spend about $20 monthly in the iTunes Store. Universal Music Group doesn’t like this.
Sources close to Universal told Billboard Magazine that the oligopoly member would only continue to offer its music catalog in the iTunes Store on a month-to-month basis.
This means that one-third of the iTunes Store music section could disappear and reappear depending on how Universal Music Group feels at any given time. You wouldn’t lose songs that already purchased, but the lack of consistency (in availability or price) would drive me back to illegally downloading music, not to Borders to buy a CD.
iTunes is the third largest music retailer in the world, accounting for 70% of online music purchases. This command allowed Steve Jobs to help EMI became the first major record label to release (most of) its catalog without DRM restrictions. Jobs predicted that half of the music in the iTunes Store would be available without DRM shackles by the end of the year. Universal has not liked being bullied about selling its songs DRM free or under an egalitarian pricing model. A month-to-month contract allows Universal to bully iTunes back.
Should Universal force me back into the evils of piracy, I might use this Google search to find any song I want for free:
-inurl:(htm|html|php) intitle:”index of” + description +size + mp3 “song name here”
(Side note: I have little faith in full albums being good. I like the convenience of being able to immediately buy a song I heard on a commercial or TV show. I like not having a bunch of broken, empty jewel cases collecting in my closet. I like fighting The Man as part of my youthful angst and the RIAA is The Man.)
