Warner Music chief has epiphany, praises Apple

[AppleInsider]

Warner Music boss Edgar Bronfman this week conceded that the music industry is partly to blame for the proliferation of illegal music sharing and -- in an apparent change of heart -- suggested that his peers in the mobile industry could learn a lot from Apple.

Speaking at the GSMA Mobile Asia Congress in Macau this week, Bronfman warned mobile operators against making the same mistake that the music industry made.

"We used to fool ourselves," he said. "We used to think our content was perfect just exactly as it was. We expected our business would remain blissfully unaffected even as the world of interactivity, constant connection and file sharing was exploding. And of course we were wrong. How were we wrong? By standing still or moving at a glacial pace, we inadvertently went to war with consumers by denying them what they wanted and could otherwise find and as a result of course, consumers won."

MacUser, which reported on Bronfman's comments, said the executive told mobile operators they presently face the same risk, as fewer than 10 percent of cell phone owners buy music on their phones, and the majority of those who do are only buying ringtones.

"The sad truth is that most of what consumers are being offered today on the mobile platform is boring, banal and basic," he said. "People want a more interesting form of mobile music content. They want it to be easy to buy with a single click - yes, a single click, not a dozen. And they want access to it, quickly and easily, wherever they are. 24/7. Any player in the mobile value chain who thinks they can provide less than a great experience for consumers and remain competitive is fooling themselves."

Bronfman, who had criticized Apple in the past over its iTunes pricing model and revenue share demands, even went as far as to suggest that operators follow the Cupertino-based company's lead in simplicity and catering to the demands of consumers.

"For years now, Warner Music has been offering a choice to consumers at Apple's iTunes Store the option to purchase something more than just single tracks, which constitute the mainstay of that store's sales," he continued. "By packaging a full album into a bundle of music with ringtones, videos and other combinations and variation we found products that consumers demonstrably valued and were willing to purchase at premium prices. And guess what? We've sold tons of them. And with Apple's co-operation to make discovering, accessing and purchasing these products even more seamless and intuitive, we'll be offering many, many more of these products going forward."

The Warner Music chief went on to praise Apple for its "beautifully designed" iPhone which includes "brilliantly written software." It has a "spectacular user interface" that "throws all the accepted notions about pricing, billing platforms and brand loyalty right out the window," he said.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[josephwinters]

hmmm... interesting.

I didnt realize apple did the whole "bundle" thing... is that what constitutes the "album only" stuff you see sometimes?

[SpamSandwich]

ROTFLMAO... Bronfman. Hooboy! Best laugh all day.

[lgsweeney]

Will the real Edgar Bronfman please stand up!

[Marvin]

"How were we wrong? By standing still or moving at a glacial pace, we inadvertently went to war with consumers by denying them what they wanted"

If only all companies had that same epiphany including Apple.

These people can't be completely stupid if they've managed to get to the positions they are in and yet when it takes them this long to realise such obvious things it makes you wonder.

Better late than never I suppose.

[lgsweeney]

Wow! Bundle songs and things into albums. To bad Apple didn't think of that with iTunes!

[Cleverboy]

Wow. [INSERT "not in Kansas anymore", "hell freezes over", "flying pigs" quip here]

Yeah... WWWWOOOOOWWWW. I'm going to take another look at what Warner is offering on iTunes. I'd love to see some of what they're talking about. Good attitude. MORE!

~ CB

[stompy]

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

"People want a more interesting form of mobile music content. They want it to be easy to buy with a single click - yes, a single click, not a dozen. And they want access to it, quickly and easily, wherever they are. 24/7. Any player in the mobile value chain who thinks they can provide less than a great experience for consumers and remain competitive is fooling themselves."

My take on this is simply that Bronfman realizes the cell phone music market is just beginning; he'll give a nod to Apple if he can persuade the cell industry to work extra hard at selling his content.

[coolfactor]

This undoubtably illustrates just how forward-thinking Apple is under the leadership of Steve Jobs. It takes but one man to say how things are going to be. A man with values and principles. A man with vision. Four years ago, Steve stood on stage and unveiled the iTunes Music Store, saying that it is designed to compete with the most lucrative competitor of all... peer-to-peer file sharing. They were relentless in their pursuit of keeping that easy-to-use model at the forefront of the venture, and continued to infiltrate the expanding market without compromising on that model one bit. And they are now the model to follow. Gee, brilliant, Brofman. Glad you finally woke up.

[pmoeser]

... but did he think no-one there spoke english!?!

Perhaps Universal/NBC attempt to scuttle a working, profitable, user friendly, patronised system that ensures everyone (artist, record company, apple and the consumer) gets something is about to fail?

I hope so.

It has some limitations (most of which have been forced on it by the content providers) but iTunes is clearly the model for the way forward

[thomasfxlt]

It's kind of bright in here.....did someone turn on the lights??

[logic368]

Originally Posted by Marvin

"How were we wrong? By standing still or moving at a glacial pace, we inadvertently went to war with consumers by denying them what they wanted"

If only all companies had that same epiphany including Apple.

These people can't be completely stupid if they've managed to get to the positions they are in and yet when it takes them this long to realise such obvious things it makes you wonder.

Better late than never I suppose.

well, there IS one company that isn't stupid. Google.

[satchmo]

An epiphany or did Warner just renew a sweet deal with Apple?

[quinney]

Originally Posted by Marvin

These people can't be completely stupid if they've managed to get to the positions they are in ...

Intelligence is not what got Bronfman Jr. to positions of prominence in
business. He inherited his position from his dad, who was a big owner
of Seagrams.

Even in cases where there is no nepotism, there are skills for climbing
the corporate ladder which are totally separate from the ability to judge
a market (or even to run a company). Clueless ceo's are quite common.

[floccus]

Wait, its November right.. not April 1??

[Wally]

Originally Posted by Marvin

These people can't be completely stupid if they've managed to get to the positions they are in and yet when it takes them this long to realise such obvious things it makes you wonder.

Makes me think of Bill Gates' line in Pirates of Silcon Valley: "Success is a nemesis, it fools smart people into thinking they can do no wrong"

Wonder if he really said that, and if he really believes it...

[ak1808]

I want Warner Music in iTunes Plus!

Go Bronfman go!

[-hh]

Originally Posted by floccus

Wait, its November right.. not April 1??

I was thinking more along the lines of the following headline:

"Exec sez - 'Making money is GOOD!' Film at 11":



Does AppleInsider have a "Thank you, Captain Obvious" award yet?



-hh

[elroth]

Originally Posted by ak1808

I want Warner Music in iTunes Plus!

My thoughts exactly - Bronfman can show he's serious by adding Warners content to iTunes Plus. If he doesn't, he's just blowing smoke to cover his backside.

[shamino]

Originally Posted by Wally

Makes me think of Bill Gates' line in Pirates of Silcon Valley: "Success is a nemesis, it fools smart people into thinking they can do no wrong"

Wonder if he really said that, and if he really believes it...

I doubt Gates actually said that. According to what I've read over the years, Pirates... is not even close to that level of accuracy in its recounting of history. It captures the personalities pretty well, but does not accurately depict the actual events.

WRT the quote, I agree completely. The world is full of corporations that started out greatly innovative, that became successful, then complacent, and then they lost their dominance (and often went out of business or got bought). Lotus, Ashton-Tate, Digital Research, IBM's personal computer division, Atari, Sega, Coleco, Tandy, and countless others. There are plenty more that have become complacent but have not yet failed, like Adobe, Sun, Microsoft, every major record label, every major movie studio, and most of the big TV networks.

If Gates said that line, then it's quite prophetic, because it describes today's Microsoft. While MS hasn't collapsed, they are most definitely resting on their laurels. Windows and Office have become so successful that there has been very little innovation in the past 10 years. New versions look different, have different UIs, different file formats, and have much greater hardware requirements, but they really have not changed very much in terms of basic functionality.

In contrast, the non-dominant companies (like Apple, Be, and countless small companies) are developing great products that really do change and improve the way we work.

Of course, many (like Be) have failed, and the successes (like today's Apple) must be very careful to not become complacent. And when this happens, others will step up and take over that role.

[bdkennedy1]

Glad to see the light bulb go off over someone's head. It made my day that someone finally gets it.

[mdriftmeyer]

When your revenue drops over 50% I guess it's time to rethink your business model.

This better be a sign for reasonable business from Time Warner or expect that stock to tank even more.

[Rot'nApple]

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

The Warner Music chief went on to praise Apple for its "beautifully designed" iPhone which includes "brilliantly written software." It has a "spectacular user interface" that "throws all the accepted notions about pricing, billing platforms and brand loyalty right out the window," he said.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

You got that right!

[mkill]

I don't think he believes a word he said.

He just said it to get a free iPod from Jobs.

[Denton]

His comment should be taken with a grain of salt. I'm sure that he sees the success of iTunes and may even (begrudgingly) admire it, but I bet he's trying to encourage the wireless providers to "copy" Apple so that he will have another productive stream of revenue. In this way, he would rid himself of the need to acquiesce to Jobs just because there's no other game in town. Until other retailers create some real competition to iTunes, Apple has control. When there is competition, the record-labels will return to their position of power over the distributors. This, I'm sure, is the real motivation of his comment.

[mactoid1]

Originally Posted by Denton

When there is competition, the record-labels will return to their position of power over the distributors. This, I'm sure, is the real motivation of his comment.

It occurs to me that the record-labels fear that their "position of power" over distributors may be going the way of vinyl LP's. They no longer have a lock on the recording technology, or, with the interenet, the distribution channels. While it may not come soon enough, I believe the sun is setting on the major record labels as we have known them.

[stompy]

Originally Posted by Denton

His comment should be taken with a grain of salt. I'm sure that he sees the success of iTunes and may even (begrudgingly) admire it, but I bet he's trying to encourage the wireless providers to "copy" Apple so that he will have another productive stream of revenue. In this way, he would rid himself of the need to acquiesce to Jobs just because there's no other game in town. Until other retailers create some real competition to iTunes, Apple has control. When there is competition, the record-labels will return to their position of power over the distributors. This, I'm sure, is the real motivation of his comment.

Spot on. Initially, his comments seem flattering, but then you ask yourself, "When a businessman praises another company like this, what's he really after?"

[randomthot]

although the content of music and video is used differently, music for quick snippets of listening, or when doing other activities, and video (TV & movies) for extended viewing,
If the wall between Audio & video could also be cross-marketed at a slight discount, I think people would love that. I guess the trick would be tailoring the bundles...like "The Wedding Singer @ discount with the purchase of any album of artist on the movie, and bundled with ringtones and music videos"
Does this sound crazy?