Free culture!
Apple has been in the news quite a bit the week.
Price cuts, new products, apology store credits.
Making far less headlines, but just as interesting, is the company's very public disagreement with NBC over iTunes pricing for the network's television shows.
Apple claimed NBC wanted to increase the price of each episode. NBC countered that it wanted flexibility in wholesale pricing.
In other words, NBC wanted to increase the price of each episode.
In case anybody had any sympathy for NBC's position, the network also launched a preemptive assault on its consumers arguing that the "typical iPod contains a significant amount of illegally downloaded material."
Let me translate once again: our customers are thieves.
NBC is making the same fatal mistake that crippled the RIAA.
Instead of selling their content at a price that attracts the most consumers and fosters a culture that respects intellectual copyrights (at some market value), they seemed to be myopically focused on short-term profits.
Perhaps I can only speak to my own consumer impulses, but I would easily pay Steve Job's proposed price of $.99 an episode for HD level content and the ability to transfer it to my portable media devices.
The last issue is crucial because I hate paying multiple times for the ability to access the same content over different formats.
NBC could learn a lesson from Matador Records: with every LP, Matador includes a link to high-quality digital versions of the songs to download. Ideally, with every season subscription through iTunes, NBC would provide a voucher for a free (or, more realistically, heavily discounted) DVD season set (or vice versa).
NBC may feel like they have one this battle, but they are losing the war.
Price cuts, new products, apology store credits.
Making far less headlines, but just as interesting, is the company's very public disagreement with NBC over iTunes pricing for the network's television shows.
Apple claimed NBC wanted to increase the price of each episode. NBC countered that it wanted flexibility in wholesale pricing.
In other words, NBC wanted to increase the price of each episode.
In case anybody had any sympathy for NBC's position, the network also launched a preemptive assault on its consumers arguing that the "typical iPod contains a significant amount of illegally downloaded material."
Let me translate once again: our customers are thieves.
NBC is making the same fatal mistake that crippled the RIAA.
Instead of selling their content at a price that attracts the most consumers and fosters a culture that respects intellectual copyrights (at some market value), they seemed to be myopically focused on short-term profits.
Perhaps I can only speak to my own consumer impulses, but I would easily pay Steve Job's proposed price of $.99 an episode for HD level content and the ability to transfer it to my portable media devices.
The last issue is crucial because I hate paying multiple times for the ability to access the same content over different formats.
NBC could learn a lesson from Matador Records: with every LP, Matador includes a link to high-quality digital versions of the songs to download. Ideally, with every season subscription through iTunes, NBC would provide a voucher for a free (or, more realistically, heavily discounted) DVD season set (or vice versa).
NBC may feel like they have one this battle, but they are losing the war.
posted by d l wright at 9/07/2007 04:23:00 PM
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