According to Jon Bon Jovi, Steve Jobs is responsible for killing the music business. Never mind that you can buy dozens of Bon Jovi songs on iTunes. Jon believes that his royal Steveness has killed the experience of buying music. He told The Sunday Times Magazine (via MSN):
Kids today have missed the whole experience of putting the headphones on, turning it up to 10, holding the jacket, closing their eyes and getting lost in an album; and the beauty of taking your allowance money and making a decision based on the jacket, not knowing what the record sounded like, and looking at a couple of still pictures and imagining it.
God, it was a magical, magical time. I hate to sound like an old man now, but I am, and you mark my words, in a generation from now people are going to say: ‘What happened?’ Steve Jobs is personally responsible for killing the music business.
I’m a big Bon Jovi fan, but I have to dismiss Jon’s remarks as stupid and out of touch. Digital music, which Apple helped make popular, has definitely changed the way people buy and consume albums and songs. That’s not necessarily a bad thing — just different. Apple, Amazon, and others seem to be selling tons of MP3s, so I’m not sure what Steve Jobs has “killed”. Altered would have been a better word.
Any thoughts on Jon Bon Jovi’s comments? Do they cement the fact that Richie Sambora was always the cool one in the group?
Read "I'm not able to fleece ppl for a $20 album full of crap. I can only sell the one good song"
John Melloncamp blames the whole internet
I'm not certain that's what he meant since recording artists make far more money touring and selling merchandise than selling songs/albums. I get the sense that he's more crotchety and out of touch. After all, he refers to record jackets.
Great pic btw. In fact this thread should be about boobs now
The decision based on a jacket is what stood out like that pic
I can completely see where he is coming from. iTunes is regarded as the big change in how music is distributed, which Steve Jobs is sort of in charge of. With the change in distribution methods, an old way of distributing the same material is dead and gone. We will not digress back to physical media like what Bon Jovi mentions he has memories of, further completing the argument that the old form of distribution has been killed. I think other artists feel the same way he does, he just happens to be the one who is voicing his opinion about everything.
Killing a method of distribution is hardly the same as killing the business.
The is dependent on the variable of how much of the business requires the old distribution model. I'm not saying he is necessarily right in everything, but I think that with the change in distribution models at least part of the business is not producing the same amount of revenue as it was before. By that interpretation one could argue that since that portion is ceasing to exist anymore it is in fact, dead. Obviously that is not the case for the entire industry, but that does not mean he is so easily dismissed.
It's not dead at all. The business is changed. Revenue comes from different sources that replaced old ones.
I didn't call the industry dead though, I actually completely acknowledged that it was still alive when I said "Obviously that is not the case for the entire industry."
What I am saying is that the section of the industry that thrived on "holding the jacket, closing [your] eyes and getting lost in an album; and the beauty of taking your allowance money and making a decision based on the jacket, not knowing what the record sounded like, and looking at a couple of still pictures and imagining it" is the section of the industry that has more than likely been killed by the change in distribution models.
Revenue does come from different sources that replaced old ones, but that does not mean the same exact participants in that section of the industry are still profiting from any of the revenue. I would tend to think the revenue which is coming from the new sources is profiting a different group of people rather than the old. It is adaptation to the new distribution model, and I am not arguing over any implications about a change in the ecology here; rather I am supporting my original statement that "an old way of distributing the same material is dead and gone. We will not digress back to physical media like what Bon Jovi mentions he has memories of, further completing the argument that the old form of distribution has been killed."
the ones who complain most about the industry being dead or damaged are the ones who aren't making obscene bails of cash anymore. I never thought being a musician entitled you to being super rich anyway.
Besides…him complaining about iTunes is sorta off. FYE allowed sampling of tracks in store. So you could see beyond the jacket. Then Napster
In most cases I would say that is true. I have been under the impression that Bon Jovi has still been selling pretty well though, as was Metallica during the Napster debacle. Being a musician doesn't entitle you to anything other than a creative outlet for whatever inspires you, but I feel that the 80's rock scene especially set a precedent of getting into the music for the money, girls, drugs, etc. Not that those things didn't exist beforehand, but the 80's has a reputation that spawned from somewhere…
And that is a valid point about FYE as well, but no one talks about how FYE revolutionized music distribution, they talk about how iTunes did that.
Read the quote again. I'm not even sure why you're arguing.
As an unsuccessful musician that really hasn't tried to get noticed, I understand what he is saying about the album experience because it is true. His thoughts on Mr. Jobs are unfair but he choose Steve because who doesn't know who he is? Label a big fish not a guppy .
On the contrary, the biz has been raping peoples pockets and creativity for years and no one likes change, so he can suck it, he is rich.