But I hate the idea that Apple might try to take 30% of my free, and can appreciate how artists who rely on paying customers would be going crazy with rage right now:
Up until now, every subscription service has played a strategy game – against Apple and each other – and in a spilt second, Apple has changed the game and reminded them that it owns the board beneath them. Once Apple introduced the ability for app developers to charge for in-app content on a subscription basis and claimed rights over a 30% cut, it restructured the subscription music sector.Mark Alger lays it out:
There is a certain evil genius to The Steve's latest move. Let the Apps use the wisdom of crowds to act as the next Col. Tom Parker to find the new Elvis. And you don't need to pay a real - you know - actual Tom Parker his cut. And you rake in a cool 30% of every shekel, straight off the top. Simples.
For all of my forty years in the music business, I have reminded myself of this central fact: we are all in it for the music. And the music comes from the artist. Any arrangement that does not ultimately benefit the artist hurts the music.
Ask yourself: how does this arrangement benefit the artist?
The only ones getting screwed are the artists trying to get access to an audience via the Subscription Apps.
Evil. While Apple is welcome to price access to its App store the way it likes - hey, free country and all that - I'm equally free to say that I no longer want to spend money on products from a company that disgusts me. Free country.
My next phone will be an Android, and good riddance. I'm pretty tired of not being able to sync the iPhone with my Linux computer, simply because The Steve didn't want me to. And it looks like by the time Apple gets a new version of iPhone out the door, there will be three generations of Android phones shipping. But the deciding factor is that I've come to the conclusion that Apple are a bunch of exploitive jerks, and I'm not interesting in giving them any more money.
I guess it's time for me to Think Different.
good work! too many people are so infatuated with the baubles that they'll never stand up to the man.
ReplyDeleteI like the way you think. It is not ethical to "do business" this way. Jobs is doing it because he can; just like all idiots who think it's alright to screw people over if you can get away with it.
ReplyDeleteYou'll like the Android.
I've got a Samsung Galaxy S, and I take no end of glee showing iPhone fanboys how I can take the battery, the sim card, and the external SD card out. I haven't tried it on Ubuntu, but putting music on it is a matter of copying files to a folder.
ReplyDeleteI reckon these are the droids you're looking for.
Jim
I'm lovin' on my Droid X. I hear the X2 is going to have a front camera so you can use it for video calls using skype or something.
ReplyDeleteEverytime one of my IPhone techie co-workers sees my phone he wants to trade (after we discussed options and the market and such).
Good point and a GREAT poster :-)
ReplyDeleteDroid X all the way. I've never owned an apple product, and I never will. Too much "SHINY" and not enough "FFRREEEEEEEEEEEEEDDOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMEEE!!"
ReplyDeleteHeh. Love the illo.
ReplyDeleteEvery time I have to deal with one of The Steve's little madnesses -- and, from the perspective of a part-time system administrator on a heterogeneous network, they are legion -- I am reminded that the marketing tag, "Insanely great" is far more accurate than Jobs might be willing to admit.
M
I must admit, I did buy an iPod Touch (my only Apple product purchase over 30 years) so I could test my web sites for iPhone compatibility via the iPod's Safari browser. Sometimes business intrudes on personal preference.
ReplyDeleteApple will once again be a bit player in the market -- the Droids will displace Apple, until they inhabit only an insignificant portion of the petri dish. Google's doing to Apple what Microsoft did to them in the early days, only better, since Google's open-sourcing all the good stuff.
We should rejoice in Apple's blatant arrogance, as it will be their undoing.
I reckon these are the droids you're looking for.
ReplyDeleteJim, heh. Double heh.
I'm with you on dumping the phone. I'm 2/3 through plan, so it has crossed my mind what I'll do in a little while. I don't think AT&T will offer the "all you can eat" plans, from what I hear.
ReplyDeleteWhat's the Google/Android link? I'm not sure Google is a company I want my money going to, either.
(before you ask, yes I do watch Glenn Beck, but Google has been skeeving me out for much longer than he's been on them)
Just got my first spiffy phone - I went with an Android Evo. I like it so far.
ReplyDeleteSteve's an Upper-Class elite and lives in a house on Waverly Street in Palo Alto that could best be described as castle-like - far from his low and humble Sunnyvale ranch-style origins. As Whittaker Chambers once observed and the demographics of Palo Also assures, "The working class are Democrats, the middle class are Republicans, and the upper class are Communists.” What's yours and mine is his.
ReplyDeleteGiven the overwhelming Socialist nature of Google I'm not sure an Android is an improvement.
Capitalism evil. Heh, who would have thunk.
ReplyDelete