Prince doesn't need to worry about selling his music anyway. He's sucked for the last decade or so.
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Bon Jovi Blames Steve Jobs For Ruining Music Industry
- Thread starter S.B.G
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Prince doesn't need to worry about selling his music anyway. He's sucked for the last decade or so.
Much like steve jobs personally does everything at apple. The rest of the staff is just for show
I can't entirely disagree with him, although I wouldn't take it as far as he did.
Jobs (and indeed, the entire digital distribution machine) didn't make the system we have today in order to change how we would buy our music; it happened because people no longer wanted to go to a store and blindly buy a whole CD. Downloads such as iTunes and others allow people to pick and choose which songs they want, rather than the whole album.
I do remember (very fondly) waiting for a new album to be released by one of my favorite bands so that I could go to the record store and buy it, without having heard a single note of it. I still do that today, although there are far fewer bands I'm willing to purchase blindly.
This is why the market shifted to downloads, I think - labels got comfortable with the idea of producing 2 or 3 hits, adding a bunch of filler, and selling it, knowing that people would buy it because there was no alternative. Downloads gave us that alternative. Ten years ago I supposed that this would be a Good Thing, since it would force artists, producers, and labels to actually produce entire albums full of good music; sadly, I was wrong, for the most part.
Jobs (and indeed, the entire digital distribution machine) didn't make the system we have today in order to change how we would buy our music; it happened because people no longer wanted to go to a store and blindly buy a whole CD. Downloads such as iTunes and others allow people to pick and choose which songs they want, rather than the whole album.
I do remember (very fondly) waiting for a new album to be released by one of my favorite bands so that I could go to the record store and buy it, without having heard a single note of it. I still do that today, although there are far fewer bands I'm willing to purchase blindly.
This is why the market shifted to downloads, I think - labels got comfortable with the idea of producing 2 or 3 hits, adding a bunch of filler, and selling it, knowing that people would buy it because there was no alternative. Downloads gave us that alternative. Ten years ago I supposed that this would be a Good Thing, since it would force artists, producers, and labels to actually produce entire albums full of good music; sadly, I was wrong, for the most part.
Capitalism and commoditization always causes changes. The market is in amazing thing, add to it the fast changing technology side of things and its big change and change is bewildering to people in general.
100-110 years ago if you wanted good music and you were in the middle class you could maybe afford an early victrola or edison machine if you saved up for it. Maybe a cheap piano if you really saved up for it. Then you had to invest in sheet music or records and those were not cheap.
The majority of the masses had to buy something like a violin and learn how to play it and sit in their parlor and play it along with vocals. Then mass production brought the cost of phonographs down and the many musicians started to actually make money recording things.
Then came radio and that upset the record industry...music for practically free played over the airwaves? They tried to fight it but no to no avail.
The Sony Walkman came along and cassette recorders and the radio people were mad as heck. what do you mean people can record their own music? over our dead bodies....
as someone said...the beat goes on
100-110 years ago if you wanted good music and you were in the middle class you could maybe afford an early victrola or edison machine if you saved up for it. Maybe a cheap piano if you really saved up for it. Then you had to invest in sheet music or records and those were not cheap.
The majority of the masses had to buy something like a violin and learn how to play it and sit in their parlor and play it along with vocals. Then mass production brought the cost of phonographs down and the many musicians started to actually make money recording things.
Then came radio and that upset the record industry...music for practically free played over the airwaves? They tried to fight it but no to no avail.
The Sony Walkman came along and cassette recorders and the radio people were mad as heck. what do you mean people can record their own music? over our dead bodies....
as someone said...the beat goes on
Wow--and here I thought Bon Jovi was my age but I have him by 10 years--although I was never much of a Bon Jovi fan. I too enjoyed going to record stores--had one in town I loved visiting on my way home from school in the 60s. Certainly a fun way to hear new music--but this is the 21st century and you either have to understand and embrace new technologies or be left behind--and it looks like Bon Jovi is in the latter category. To me, I am much happier seeing someone older than me--Steven Tyler--not afraid to try something new with his Idol gig--at least he is not living in the past. Move on or move out--that's just the way it is. 
I understand that he'd want to be nostalgic about the "old days", but to go so far as to say Steve Jobs killed the music industry seems a little much even for Bon Jovi. As others have noted, the greed of the record labels and the lack of original material is what killed the music industry, not iTunes.
I still remember the days he describes, and I certainly don't miss the disappointment of buying a cool-looking album based on the one good song released and then finding half of the album stunk. I much prefer choosing song-by-song what I want to have in my collection and subsequently expanding my horizons. Instead of one album I can get 7 or 8 songs from different artists.
Beautiful.
I still remember the days he describes, and I certainly don't miss the disappointment of buying a cool-looking album based on the one good song released and then finding half of the album stunk. I much prefer choosing song-by-song what I want to have in my collection and subsequently expanding my horizons. Instead of one album I can get 7 or 8 songs from different artists.
Beautiful.
If is wasn't for online digital music stores like iTunes, we'd all be pirating MP3s illegally. At least to a much higher degree than now.
So JBJ, it wasn't Steve Jobs who ruined the music industry, it was Steve Wozniak - for building the first personal computer.
So JBJ, it wasn't Steve Jobs who ruined the music industry, it was Steve Wozniak - for building the first personal computer.
The experience that Bon Jovi is describing was already a smoldering corpse by the time Big Shiny Tunes 1 was released. I don't think Apple had put an "i" in front of anything yet, least of all a tune.
Please... the record business constantly tries to trick us into buying into their shiny, auto-tuned, prettied-up talent and the last thing they want us to do is to discover what they are up to before we gave them our $20 for the CD. This has nothing to do with itunes and everything to do with an industry that has long ago squeezed artistic integrity out of the "process" of making music.
There was and is a unique quality that listening to an entire album offers over a song here and there or a playlist.
Maybe pricing needs to be adjusted to encourage paying for a full album or maybe artists simply need to make better albums. I'm still willing to pay for a full disc that is quality start to finish; kanye west cd's are a fine demonstration of this.
Maybe pricing needs to be adjusted to encourage paying for a full album or maybe artists simply need to make better albums. I'm still willing to pay for a full disc that is quality start to finish; kanye west cd's are a fine demonstration of this.
Albums have never been cheaper thanks to iTunes. Before it existed it was nigh impossible to find a $10 album. Most were at least $15 in the states.
In response to JBJ, Derek Webb (a favorite artist of mine) responded on Twitter with, "Henry Ford is personally responsible for killing the horse business." Pretty much sums it up.
The digital download didn't really take off until Metallica made a huge stink about Napster, once the cat got out that you can get music for free everyone started to do it. It was just college kids and then Lars opened his mouth and the whole world got into it. That is why iTunes took off once Napster was killed.
Of course the reason people downloaded was because they didn't want to pay for over priced crap. And lets face it, in the years of Napster the music was horrid.
As for Bon Jovi his big problem is that his looks went to **** and the girls stopped caring about him. Maybe he needs to duet with Beiber to kick start his career.
Of course the reason people downloaded was because they didn't want to pay for over priced crap. And lets face it, in the years of Napster the music was horrid.
As for Bon Jovi his big problem is that his looks went to **** and the girls stopped caring about him. Maybe he needs to duet with Beiber to kick start his career.
+1 The music industry needs to credit itself with "ruining" the music industry. I never mind paying for music, but I will do it on iTunes so I can buy what I want and not pay for songs I do not like or that are simply there for filler.
Not to mention there are songs I would have never given a chance had it not been for previews such as Adele's "Set Fire To The Rain" or Awolnation's "Sail". Both songs whos genre I rarely follow but because of previews I know own both songs.
I can still enjoy an album even with buying it off iTunes. As long as the artists still put out good songs then people will buy them, not really a conspiracy or anything major like that. Bon jovi still sells his songs on iTunes so it can't be that bad
His label sells them on iTunes, not sure if he has a choice.I can still enjoy an album even with buying it off iTunes. As long as the artists still put out good songs then people will buy them, not really a conspiracy or anything major like that. Bon jovi still sells his songs on iTunes so it can't be that bad
Really? So how did he have the top grossing touring act 2 years out of the past 3?
I'm a HUGE Bon Jovi fan so this thread kills me. He likes to be over dramatic. I feel him in a way even though I am half his age. I too miss the days of running to the store and buying something tangible with pictures and lyrics. It's just not the same to me - buying some digital copy. I'll also miss books when they're no longer produced. Who do I blame for that, Amazon?
Give me a break.. fans downloaded for free *because* of how easy it was.. not because cds were expensive. I guarantee that even if a cd was $5 and someone could get it for free online.. they would go the free route. My stupid brother in law will download spiderman from limewire or whatever when the dvd costs around $7 - he makes $5k a month but he still gets music/movies for free.
When I was relatively broke and I would buy a cd - I would listen to the entire thing multiple times because I paid for it, and in the process discovered some fantastic music which was never chart topping material.
People have *no* clue how much an album costs (studio costs, mixing, mastering, engineering, etc) Yes, record labels are there to make a profit but isn't every business there to make a profit? You know how much the electricity bill is for a well equipped studio?!
Bon Jovi is an idiot - napster pretty much killed the music industry.
I do agree with him a bit. Actually there was a guy with a signature on these boards "Apple has forever cheapened the act of listening to music". And that I agreed with. When I was younger (bear in mind I'm only 25 now) I used to love getting a CD and doing exactly what Mr Jovi said. Whether or not it's Apple's fault for making MP3 players so wildly popular but music just feels more like disposable background noise now. It's so cheap to produce and listen to.
But I guess it also falls on the listener. The option is still there to go out and buy music in physical form, to put it on, sit back and get lost in the music. But we don't do that anymore because it's disposable background noise.
The last music player I had that still made me appreciate music was my Minidisc player. But would I trade my iPod classic or iPod touch for a new Minidisc player? Hell no.
I fully believe the music industry ruined itself too.
But I guess it also falls on the listener. The option is still there to go out and buy music in physical form, to put it on, sit back and get lost in the music. But we don't do that anymore because it's disposable background noise.
The last music player I had that still made me appreciate music was my Minidisc player. But would I trade my iPod classic or iPod touch for a new Minidisc player? Hell no
.I fully believe the music industry ruined itself too.
To paraphrase Bon Jovi, "Those dagnabbed kids and their fancy newfangled ideas!"
This.
I spend more on music now than I did before iTunes, because I can buy what I want, and pay just for that. I decided long ago I would no longer lay out $15 for one or two decent tracks and 6-8 tracks of suckage that the artist put out just to fill the space so they could sell it as album for $15! (And I'm looking directly at you, ACDC!)
This.
I spend more on music now than I did before iTunes, because I can buy what I want, and pay just for that. I decided long ago I would no longer lay out $15 for one or two decent tracks and 6-8 tracks of suckage that the artist put out just to fill the space so they could sell it as album for $15! (And I'm looking directly at you, ACDC!)
Yes people would rather have free every time. But when you are sold an album that is either 6 songs or 12 and the price is the same and most of the songs suck why should I pay so much for it?
Being the same age as Mr. Jovi, I too have fond memories of buying albums with at least 7 or 8 good songs and 2 or 3 throwaways. Sadly, around the time of the CD, all we got were 2 or 3 good songs and 7-8 throwaways, much like Mr. Jovi's back catalog.
I do give him credit for tying it to Steve Jobs as it guarantees him press coverage.
Bravo!
I too do NOT miss buying albums and having crap content. yet I DO miss walking into a music store - specifically a DJ store ... humming a tune like a silly nut and watching the DJ or store employee laugh hysterically at me and then quickly recoil only to serve me with the album or 12" that has the song I'm looking for. Yes this was before Shazam and I'd wager more accurate by a knowledgeable DJ/store rep. Once I had the DJ stumpped for 1min before he had a correct answer - first answer too - but I made him piss himself laughing ... and the entire store too. (imagine a kid jumping up & down while humming a dance track).
iTunes STILL needs to get a larger library of genres still only available by Beatport or offered for free by SoundCloud.
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