Apple is Bobbing for Blame

I'm sure you've read it by now. Faced with criticism, Apple guru Steve Jobs weighs in on music, piracy and (don't kid yourself) the Apple Brand in general with an open letter. Before I go any further, I want to let you know that I am a devoted Mac owner at home and a worshiper of the Apple Brand at work. But after reading Jobs's comments, I have a few thoughts. Ahem. Here I go:

While Jobs's comments are commendably forthright, he does commit two rhetorical "sins of omission."

First, No DRM was ever developed to protect CD's because by the time electronic piracy became a problem, it was too late. In Jobs's word: "The music companies sell the vast majority of their music DRM-free, and show no signs of changing this behavior, since the overwhelming majority of their revenues depend on selling CDs which must play in CD players that support no DRM system." Non-DRM-supporting CD players are simply too widespread -- the big four would be shooting themselves in the foot if they tried to protect CD's this late in the game. However, CD's will soon be obsolete as the Internet becomes the most popular place to acquire music. As the landscape of the music industry changes, so must the ways the big four protect themselves and their artists.

This brings me to the second omission: it is not only the interests of four giant music companies at stake here, but also the interests of the musicians these companies represent. The big four certainly benefit HUGELY from protecting their music. They are big, bad corporations. I agree. But they are big, bad corporations that help artists make a living by being artists. Musicians are already at the very end of the long profit-making food chain. They are the last to get paid and will be the first to suffer from rampant piracy.

Does this mean that I think the big four should continue to get their way? Certainly not. The Internet is changing the world in profound ways, and companies need to find solutions to the resulting issues that benefit consumers and enrich the marketplace. These solutions won't result from pushing blame around (I mean you, Steve), but by working together to "think outside the jewel case." At the risk of going all purple prose on your ass, human potential has never been so vast. Our children will inherit a world that is unimaginably different from the world my generation inherited. So...let's think big, people. Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose.

Here endith the lesson.