Its not too hard in the world of music and music piracy to say: "yes, stealing is bad." What is more difficult to say is: here is a solution to avert piracy while at the same time not averting the creation of new technology. And yet, it is fair to say that iTunes has found a route to those goals.
As of today -- where piracy is still a major force in the music market -- iTunes is a new success story for both the music industry and the tech field. So why tinker with one of the minority of successful ventures? Apparently for some of the leading music content providers, it is the old and very basic reason: we aren't making enough money.
Reuters attributes to Sony BMG CEO Andrew Lack the following explanation for why iTunes 99 cent (US$) pricing scheme should be changed, with reference to Apple's two revenue streams, the sale of iPods and music downloads: "I've got one revenue stream that a proctologist would have a hard time analyzing. It's not pretty."
While one cannot generally besmirch a CEO wanting more income for his corporation, the risk of averting people from not simply stealing the music should be avoided, especially from the music industry's perspective. It seems unbelievably short-sighted for an industry whose demise at the hands of unexploited technology has been predicted for years , to fix what ain't broke -- especially to engage in an unproven, risky, and potentially destructive reconstruction. [Interscope Records' Jimmy Iovine makes a similar point in the previously-referenced article ]. Let's wait before anyone calls the good doctor.