iTunes Outselling Tower Records; Does It Matter?
from the what's-it-all-mean dept
For those of you still wondering why the traditional record store needs to be reinvented, it appears that a new report today has some clues. Apple's iTunes has now surpassed Tower Records and Borders Group for music sold, making it the seventh largest music retailer. However, it's likely that a lot of folks are going to misinterpret this news. Already, the news report notes that it's a "meaningful sign in digital music's steady progress." That's wrong. It's a meaningful sign in Apple's progress. Remember, Apple still views iTunes as something of a loss leader to help them sell more iPods. No other online music store has anything like that -- and that allows Apple to be more aggressive in some ways. Note that the top three retailers on the list of sales (Wal-Mart, Best Buy and Target) all are in a similar position. They sell music as a loss leader to get people to buy other products with higher margins. The recording industry hates to admit this, but their products are best served being promotional goods for other offerings. Recognizing that fact certainly would open up plenty of new business models -- but the industry can't seem to let go of the idea that they can get a premium for music alone.
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Somehow that doesn't seem right ...
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Re: Somehow that doesn't seem right ...
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Re: Somehow that doesn't seem right ...
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Re: Somehow that doesn't seem right ...
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Record companies know the end is near?
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Re: Record companies know the end is near?
On the talent side, who's going to stick around with four other guys they're pretty much fed up with for the 3-4 years it takes to create a really worthwhile band, only to see their work swapped online for free and sliced and diced w/o credit as portions of the "creations" of thousands of "composers"?
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Re: Record companies know the end is near?
Well, the only artists I'd want to bother listening to. The ones who do it because they love it. The ones who really deserve my money.
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Re: Record companies know the end is near?
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right.
Maybe we should look past our fears of the conglomerates of the industries actions and see thier hearts, and we will realize how warm and cudly they realy are.
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not right.
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Loss leader
And Kelly, in what world does it cost .25 to produce (presumably) a CD? OR were you talking about manufacturing....??
Re: iTunes, i'd be curious to see the data on the sales themselves, specifically, if the "long tail" theory is holding. In other words, it's one thing if iTunes is outselling Amazon et al on Top 40 alone, or if it's a combination of recent releases and reissues, or if it's mostly indie artists...get my drift?
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