'Sony artists', others defect to Apple's iTunes
updated 07:15 am EDT, Wed August 10, 2005
Sony vs. Apple battle
Some Japanese musicians say that they , despite being under contract with Sony and other labels, who have failed to reach a deal with Apple. The Associated Press reports that "at least one artist has already gone against his label to offer his songs on iTunes," while another major agency that manages Japanese musicians said it was interested in a possible deal with Apple, regardless of the recording companies' positions. The move by musicians to place their music on iTunes may escalate the online music battle on Sony's home turf. Rock musician Motoharu Sano, who has a recording contract with Sony--although no longer considered a 'Sony artist' by the company--is making some of his songs available on iTunes, according to his official Web page. 'It is an individual's freedom where that person chooses to listen to music. I want to deliver my music wherever my listeners are," Sano told The Nihon Keizai Shimbun.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Aug 2001
So it Begins
And thus is fired the opening shots in what is shaping up to be a war to redefine who has control over music.
I, for one, am rooting very, very hard for online music stores--Apple first and foremost, but everybody else, too.
If and when online stores reach the saturation level where a popular artist can safely opt to avoid the traditional (and now perverted to the point of dysfunction) recording industry and just "go indie digital", then we will have reached a point at which the companies that sell music return to what they should've been all along--a conduit between the artists and the listeners.
We buy, profits go directly to the artists, and the conduit gets a small cut for their trouble--everybody wins. It's a pleasant dream compared to today's big company buys, takes as large a cut as they possibly can, then sells whatever they choose to the listner at generally inflated prices--everybody but record execs and stockholders loses.