It's perverse, but true. If the last ten years have taught us anything, it's that proper licensing carries serious disadvantages, and oftentimes, invites failure. Doing the right thing just hasn't paid.
It's why Spotify is begging to get into the US, why Pandora still can't cross into the black, and why hundreds of startups have perished trying to satisfy inane label demands. They've either been saddled with ridiculous cost structures, unbearable and uncompetitive usage limitations, or unimaginable negotiation delays. Or, pursued illegal or gray routes, in the hopes of securing licenses later (ie, Grooveshark).
Which is why it's great to see a huge, multi-billion dollar company - Apple - secure label licenses and actually come out on top. Amazon and Google went the middle-finger route, for various reasons, though their products are clearly inferior to the iCloud as a result. Apple waited, they paid the $150 million (or whatever the ransom), they're launching a high-quality file 'Match' with 18 million songs, and they managed NOT to piss major content owners off!
What a concept!
But there are other reasons why Apple won, including patience. Because who really cares whether Amazon beat Google, or who was there first? Yeah, it's a hype-fueled news cycle, it's a blowup on TechCrunch, but it carries no importance outside of the tech-bubble. It means little to the typical music fan, especially in beta phases.
And make no mistake, the race for first came at an enormous cost. By moving forward without licenses - legally justified or not - Google and Amazon essentially issued a giant f-you to major labels and the content community. They reinforced an insidious tendency among technology giants to devalue content, while masking theft in the name of free speech, open platforms, or technological progress. And that unfairly piggybacks off of artists, labels, and anyone else involved in the creative process.
But it's funny how the game is playing out. Can Amazon and Google now go back to the labels, trumped by Apple, and seek licensing? Can they work something out, even though their ultra-aggressive strategy didn't really work? It turns out that interminable upload times matter, we want our music now! And labels suddenly have some newfound power, and even more reason to be difficult - and expensive.
Check out the entire Apple presentation stream here:
http://events.apple.com.edgesuite.ne...iqubf06/event/