the dotmatrix project

(originally uploaded by stublog)

Bob Lefsetz
Apple Buys Universal
April 1, 2008

[...] With the Net ablaze with talk of Jim Griffin’s P2P licensing scheme, Steve Jobs has worked in secret to pull off the staggering, mind-bending, game-changing acquisition of Universal Music.

[...]

And starting April 15th, all Universal tracks at the iTunes Store will be fifteen cents. Steve wanted the price to be lower, rumor has it as low as nine cents, but he couldn’t convince Marty Bandier and the rest of the publishers to lower their share, so fifteen cents it is. [...]

I’m holding on as if this is a huge prank. Not that I disagree with a similar move, though:

Me
Jermaine Dupri’s Shuck ‘N Jive
November 21, 2007

[...] If Universal and Warner both pulled out of iTunes tomorrow, Jobs could shift his focus to the relatively untapped, global long tail market of unsigned and small label acts in the wild. If he made it easier for such acts to upload music to his arena, he could pocket the cut (53%) that once went to labels like Universal and Warner, turn off DRM (the only reason he’s using it is because the big labels insist upon using it) and start a price war that even four gas stations at an intersection haven’t seen before.

You think labels are struggling now? That kind of a move would truly revolutionize the industry. And Jobs wouldn’t have too much to lose as it’s the iPod — not iTunes music sales — that is Apple’s revenue darling.

Who needs whom?

[...]

I’d bet my bank that an indie artist would jump at the opportunity to have their album/tracks available in as prime of a spot as iTunes with a $.29 price point per song. If I have $10 to spend on music, I have $10 to spend on music. Set a market-friendly price and watch sales jump through the roof while illegal downloads decrease, overnight. [...]

If this were true, it’d be game on.

UPDATE: Alas…

UPDATE II: The best April Fool’s Day post in 2008 has to go to Davey D (Myspace blog):

[...] “New York City being the center of the cultural universe is a myth. It’s one big urban legend that in many ways is harmful”, Rochester stated. “One of the biggest falsehoods is that New York City is the birthplace of the music phenomenon called Hip Hop. For almost three decades we have been led to believe that a bunch kids from public housing projects went out and created one of the most vibrant and certainly one of the most popular art forms in the 21st century. It sounds good on TV. It reads well in newspaper. It tugs at our heart strings”, Rochester grimaced, “But the truth of the matter is this cultural expression is rooted in Texas sharecropping and cowboy culture.” [...]

Oh man, his flock of sycophant Hip Hop heads ate that shit up! Bravo, D.