Jon Bon Jovi VS Steve Jobs

[That 70s Guy]

melodicrock.com

JBJ: STEVE JOBS IS PERSONALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR KILLING THE MUSIC BUSINESS:
Jon Bon Jovi accuses Steve Jobs of putting a shot through the heart of music, stating "Steve Jobs is Personally Responsible for Killing the Music Business..." - bit.ly/f4ZAZI.

Coverage from: www.digitalmusicnews.com/stories/031411jovi:
"Not so long ago, Steve Jobs was hailed as a savior of the music industry. But that was before digital didn't pan out, and before everyone realized that Apple was really making billions off of devices - while piggybacking music. Now, Jobs is just another bogeyman.
And even music's elite - and very rich - are harboring ill will. "Steve Jobs is personally responsible for killing the music business," Jon Bon Jovi ranted to the Sunday Times Magazine. "I hate to sound like an old man now, but I am, and you mark my words, in a generation from now people are going to say: 'What happened?'"
Well, a lot of things happened, and Jobs is just one part of that disruption. But it's still unclear whether digital distribution has really hurt Bon Jovi in the end. After all, the wheels of discovery are more lubricated than ever, and Bon Jovi mints hundreds of millions in touring income annually. In fact, Pollstar ranked the band first among all touring acts last year, with receipts of nearly $150 million in North America alone. Of course, many of those attendees were born long after "Livin' on a Prayer," and have discovered Bon Jovi through digital channels. Still, Bon Jovi feels that an essential part of the experience is now missing. "Kids today have missed the whole experience of putting the headphones on, turning it up to 10, holding the jacket, closing their eyes and getting lost in an album; and the beauty of taking your allowance money and making a decision based on the jacket, not knowing what the record sounded like, and looking at a couple of still pictures and imagining it."

 

[That 70s Guy]

JBJ vs STEVE JOBS PART 2:
Industry commentator Moses Avalon has weighed in on the Jon Bon Jovi vs Steve Jobs debate. His view is somewhat different to that most others seem to have taken. So from his newsletter and website comes this:

"Jon Bon Jovi has learned a lesson of the Internet age the hard way. The lesson he learned is that the techies, who wave the freedom-of-speech flag when it comes to music being free and net neutrality, are not so cool about free-speech when it criticizes one of their gods, like Steve Jobs. Indeed they respond rather childishly to just about anyone, no mater how famous, if even the slightest opinion about internet-related services is anything less than 10000000% positive. (Read what Bon Jovi said here.)
Now, in the before-time no one cared what geeks thought. They were in the back room. But blogs have given them the big stick in the public debate. And they want respect. They are getting it and proving the old adage that power corrupts; using their new tools to silence and intimidate those that are a threat. If they agree with you, you are launched to the top of a mountain, if you disagree with their position, they can out SEO you, out blog you and make you look ridiculous in a mater of seconds across the entire globe.
Now, most politicians and other public-people have learned this lesson years ago. Even I got a taste recently of how infantile some of these cats can get if you throw the slightest criticism at them. (I noticed an error in a Techdirt blog wherein they called IPS licensing fees, a “tax” for music. The guy freaked out on me and called me a “liar” all over Twitter.)
These techies can not take it when you disagree with them. It shatters their entire foundation and they get nasty. But poor Jon Bon Jovi, must have missed this memo. He committed the most heinous crime that a person can commit in today's blog/news world; he committed the offense of being obvious; of saying what everyone in the know, knows but is afraid to say:

iTunes is bad for music in the long run. Why, be afraid to say it? Well, you've no doubt seen the posts; because legions of keyboard jockeys will come after you in their blogs and virally disseminate a twisted version just to increase their Google rankings. They'll even Skype to each other while doing it and have a virtual party, with virtual booze and virtual girls.
Now, what did Bon Jovi say that was so terrible? Well, he spoke the truth for one thing. iTunes has helped devalue the business model that made music an industry. It may not have started the fire, but it poured gasoline on it in gallons.

Let's look at some iFacts:
1) iTunes has not, as some have suggested “saved the record business.” iTunes has made up less than 10% of sales over the years since launch.
2) Nor did Steve Jobs “invent” a way for artists to get paid from the internet, (I think Al Gore did that.)
3) Finally, I believe it was Lawrence Lessig or some fool like him who promised—“If you give people a legal way to buy music they won't steel it.” Remember that one? Not true: P2P file sharing did not decrease since iTunes went on-line — it actually increased.
What iTunes did that sucks most for music is it destabilized the “album model.” Yeah, yeah, I know, many of you think that that is good for the consumer, but it's really not in the long run. Not if you're a true music fan. Why?

Point 1) Economics: It costs more to make less, which means less risks will be taken on new acts.
If you remove the 80 cents or so that songwriters used to receive for each album sale and replace is with the 9 cents they get for a single, you don't have to be a math genius to see that you need to sell about seven times more units to break even on a promotion that costs $1,000,000 whether you release an album or a single; or, a production costing about $10,000/song to produce if you do an album, but $25,000/song is you go single-for-single.
Yes, it costs majors the same money to promote a single as it does to promote an album and three times as much to record the equivalent amount of singles that an album composes.
Add to that, that without the album economics you lose the 1:14 chance of one of the cuts becoming a hit and reduce those odds to 1:1. To duplicate the effect of an “album promotion” with singles, labels would have to spend more than ten times as much to have the same shot-gun effect that an album delivers.

WHO CARES
Why should indie artists care about majors and their costs? Well, now that it costs more to make less, these costs trickle down to everyone in the music food chain.
To sell a single for 99 cents on iTunes the indie artist ends up netting about 64%. With a CD album sold at a local store for $14 the Artist/label took almost $10 home—almost 75%. Sold off the side of the stage for $10, the same indie artist took home almost all of it, save a $1, for manufacturing—90%. Big winner here— Apple.

Point 2: Art. For those interested in music as an art, the devaluation of an album as an art form has neutered the musical experience. Deep cuts are dead for the future. This decreases the value of music as an experience and as a communication method. This disembowels artists from helping do what they are supposed to do— make the world a better place. They have been relieved of that job thanks to iTunes and P2P. Now they are just “content providers” and all we want from them are "hits" that are nice, radio safe singles. Great.
When musicians were in charge of music they helped end wars and elevate social consciousness. Now it's in the hands of the techies. I can only pray they do not abuse this power. So far, I'm not impressed. How can anyone be, with a culture that does not value one of America's greatest cultural contributions-- pop music.
This is what Jon Bon Jovi was really trying to say. What he probably meant with his comments was that the glory days of music are over. They are. It's true. And iTunes did accelerate the legitimacy of that decline more so than any other vehicle. But was it Steve's fault? No. Someone else would have done it eventually anyway.
Jon, I feel ya brotha. I feel your pain. I kid you not when I say some of these guys are so cult-like in their Apple fanaticism that it would not surprise me if I read that an Apple fan threw a rock at your window. Get an extra body guard for a week or two and hire a great defamation lawyer. I have.
~ Mo out."
Full Article & Comments at: Bon Voyage Bon Jovi: Rock Star Blames Steve Jobs For Music Biz Erosion | Moses Supposes:

 

[METALPRIEST]

the whole experience of putting the headphones on, turning it up to 10, holding the jacket, closing their eyes and getting lost in an album

 

[Lynch]

Why would ANYONE listen to Jon Bon Jovi talk about anything? Seriously. The guy hasn't had a good album in at least 12+ years. Not that they need any new albums, because concert ticket sales at this point in their career is based more on what they used to do, as opposed to anything new. On top of it, he likes to pretend to be an "actor" and is kind of a politically charged, whiney douchenozzle.

I hate Apple products, I really do. I don't care for Steve Jobs. But to blame him for the predicament that the music industry is in, is ridiculous and to have the media's ear because you are such a darling and give such opinions publically is wreckless as far as I'm concerned. "well, Jon Bon Jovi said this, it has to be true. He's in the music business, surely he knows wtf he's talking about" x2


Now, if you want to talk about itunes being a piece of crap software bundle, that's another story entirely. Apple putting less than lossless files on their "store" would be equivalent to the record industry putting out CDs that sounded worse than cassettes or vinyl. Digital downloads are the best thing that has happened for the consumer. How the ignant-ass record company execs (and apparently over-the-hill ignant-ass rock stars) react and adapt to it is like watching a train wreck.


*sigh*


Gotta run, so I can't rant anymore (lucky you)

 

[joe]

I agree somewhat with Bon Jovi. IMO, it doesn't matter if he has put out a good album or not. I don't know as I haven't listened to any BJ albums except for Slippery When Wet which was 20 years ago at least.

With that being said, I respect Jon Bon Jovi's opinions as I've seen him on numerous interviews and the man is very intelligent IMO on many different subjects.

 

[LG]

I have been saying the same thing about i-tunes for years now...I agree with Bon Jovi and reiterate my opinion that if the record companies knew how disastrous the change from analog to digital was going to be after the first Billions were made selling the old catalog we already bought, and the technology continued to evolve they would never have gone digital and we would still be buying vinyl and cassettes.

I have never liked Apple, overpriced, over-hyped, and they exist in a closed microverse that they created.

 

[opera races]

the whole experience of putting the headphones on, turning it up to 10, holding the jacket, closing their eyes and getting lost in an album

Oh man, I haven’t ever been much for Bon Jovi (band or the person) but that quote nearly had me bawling – and I’m not one to cry about stuff!

Wow, funny I’ve been thinking about a lot of the things mentioned in the first two posts lately. I think that’s part of the reason why I decided to try out this forum ... so I can be as all old school as I want talking records and albums and not feel like a total idiot for being like that lol

I got into the CD format pretty much kicking and screaming. I don’t download much of anything except the odd rarity/demo/*cough*bootleg*cough*. I don’t have a mp3 player or ipod or any of that stuff. About the only use I’ve had for digital is checking out newer/indie bands/musicians I’m unfamiliar with and going to myspace or some such place to get an idea what they sound like.

The second post with the comments by Moses Avalon IMO was very spot on. That speaks a lot of my thoughts on the subject.

You can get all cold and clinical and say that the “album” is merely an old school marketing tool for music ... but emotionally it’s so much more. If you’re my age or a little older or a little younger and can remember buying records/albums and the whole experience that went along with it ... well I don’t need to explain any further ...

 

[LXA]

I agree with him about iTunes and about the internet ****ing up the music industry completely, but I disagree that it was ALL just Steve Jobs fault. Something this catastrophic like the state of the music industry today can't be one mans doing. There are a lot of factors that have lead the music industry to where it is today.

If you don't think there is anything wrong with the music industry then look at what they are selling on the iTunes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CD2LRROpph0
What brilliant and inspired lyrics. Tackling such social issues like "which seat should she take?" and "fun fun fun fun fun"


Do you think this girl could possibly get signed and popular back in any other decade that didn't have the internet and was easy to make recordings? NO.

Technology gets better and content gets worse.
Thanks, Steve Jobs.

 

[Cosmic Harmony]

the whole experience of putting the headphones on, turning it up to 10, holding the jacket, closing their eyes and getting lost in an album

I'm doing my part by making some of my younger friends listen to albums like this. I tell them it's about listening to music and not just playing it in the background while you're doing other things like playing Angry Birds or some other nonsense.

 

[Hardnecker]

I think file sharing sites that allow people to upload copywritten material are more responsible for ruining the music business than anything else. Why buy it when you can steal it. I think people that do it are petty thief scumbags, but that's my opinion.