The Universal
Alright, well, I suppose I couldn’t legitimately call this a Mac-related weblog unless I commented on the rumored acquisition of Universal Music Group by Apple. The feeling across the Mac blogosphere seems to be mixed: Erik Barzeski mentions having goosebumps, while Steven Frank isn’t sure what to think (but leans toward it being a good strategic move). Gizmodo officially thinks it’s a bad move.
As an avid Mac user who is also a huge music fan, not to mention the developer of an application that could potentially benefit a lot from an Apple-branded online music service, my first instinct is to say that I love the idea. After all, in this post-Digital Millennium Copyright Act era, when record companies and other “big copyright” interests are fighting to destroy fair use, who wouldn’t want to see a CEO as hip and enlightened as Jobs at the head of a major label? In the same way that the iPod has put other, DRM-laden music players to shame, Apple could help the music labels help themselves by confronting their inevitable, digital future. Apple could, quite literally, save the music industry!
All of which is a lovely thought, of course, until you consider that something like this has been attempted before—with less than salutary results. After the novelty of the rumor wore off, my second thought was of an article that ran in the February 2003 issue of Wired, entitled “The Civil War Inside Sony.” The thrust of it is essentially that Sony’s forward-thinking attempt to marry content and consumer electronics has bogged down in irreconcilable differences. The article even uses the fact that Apple (not Sony) produced the iPod as an example of Sony’s failure to compete in the emerging digital music game—a symptom of the dysfunctional relationship between the company’s conservative, DRM-minded content side and its visionary hardware side. The implication: Apple was able to create something as wonderful as the iPod only because they weren’t beholden to large intellectual property owners.
And then there’s the price tag: $5 to $6 billion! Anyone who has followed Apple since the “dark days” before and immediately following the return of Steve Jobs has probably become accustomed to thinking of Apple’s relatively large cash reserves as the company’s “ace in the hole”—the lifeline that could keep Apple afloat even through tough times ahead. I personally have silenced predictions of Apple’s demise numerous times by invoking the company’s rather prodigious bank account. I realize that Apple is a much healtier, more stable company today than it was 4 or 5 years ago, but to make such a huge acquisition (particularly one as experimental as this one) would still represent an enormous risk.
Still, Jobs & Co. have proven themselves extremely shrewd where strategy is concerned, and it is clear that they are maneuvering Apple toward a commanding role in the post-PC era. While Sony’s experience certainly gives cause for concern, I do believe that if anyone could succeed in making peace between geeks and record moguls it is Apple. And, though the financial risk is high, maybe this is just the bold move that Apple needs to catapult the company to the next level. I just hope that whatever action the management takes is carefully considered—it would be a shame to see Apple falter, AOL Time Warner-style, over a $5 billion experiment!
(Update: Apparently this
to happen, although, to make things even more interesting,
now Microsoft is