Musicians Work to Join ITunes in Japan
In just four days, customers downloaded 1 million songs -- the fastest pace for the service's launch in any of the 20 nations it's become available, including the U.S. Most songs cost 150 yen (US$1.35; euro1) to download, and only 10 percent cost 200 yen (US$1.80; euro1.40).But Sony Corp.'s music division has not signed up to join Apple's service.
Sony Music Japan's foot-dragging on licensing music to the Japanese iTunes Music Store clearly puts paid to the lie that the Big Content hydra cares one bit for the artists and customers that keep its carcass on life support.
It's not about piracy, it's not about techology, it's not about competing with free. When the opportunity presents itself for a company to offer music where customers are willing to pay for it (even if it's crippled with DRM), then it's clear that it's all about making decisions that screw musicians and customers in the name of corporate synergies.
