Saw this story on the news tonight (yes I was actually watching ABC news on tv), and I knew I had to post it for you guys.
How interesting that I was just referring to the relationship between amount of music downloaded and age, and then the man who buys the 10 BILLIONTH song from iTunes is in his 60's. Louie Sulcer, who downloaded a Johnny Cash song titled "Guess Things Happen That Way". OH the irony!
Apple rewarded him with $10,000 to their iTunes music store (so the money goes back to them anyway).
With each song now priced at $1.29, Louie can buy... 7,751 songs. Crazy!)
But how much of a prize is this when free downloading and streaming is happening all around?
Your thoughts?
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
That is funny that the man who bought the 10 Billionth song was in his 60s. It definitely is ironic, and it probably very good publicity for iTunes in trying to reach the older demographic, because it hit the news and it proves that older people ARE using iTunes as well.
ReplyDeleteTo answer your question about how much of a prize is this award when free downloading and streaming is happening all around, I think it still is a reward. I think free downloading and streaming is great for some people, but free downloading is against the law, and streaming doesn't last forever, like downloading iTunes music would. I stream music from Grooveshark.com actually if I want to hear a song before I decide to download it, because if I really like a song, I want to have it in my iTunes Library and on my iPod forever. I want to be able to listen to music years from now that I downloaded today, and with streaming it isn't permanently yours. I also don't want to break the law. But I guess if people don't care, iTunes music may not be a prize.
Yeah I think iTunes definitely has a very loyal and very large population of users, including this man. For these people who pay for all of their music this gift card is fantastic. And even for people who don't pay, I'm sure if they got a gift card to iTunes they would still be thrilled because they aren't using their money on those songs either.
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't hurt that Louie isn't the typical iPod user- this story ultimately shows apple can appeal to any music lover, no matter how old, young or tech-savvy you may be, which is great for their business.
Thanks for sharing :)
My parents are avid itunes buyers while I don't remember the last time I paid for a piece of multimedia. I think itunes has a market now, but as the baby boomers fade out and our generation becomes dominant, they'll have to come up with a new marketing system. Buying music is a dying activity.
ReplyDeleteWell, a lot of people still use itunes for music. I think itunes is great for the adults and older adults. People that didn't grow up in our generations do not have the understand in pirating files.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy itunes. I think there music player is great. I like how they convert all my .wav or misc music files into .mp3's. (especially for shared content)
I would like to congratulate the person who got the price.
Cool story-
ReplyDeleteWith the ease of file sharing, I think iTunes will stay afloat for a couple of reasons.
First off, file sharing through Limewire or a similar program opens the doors to viruses, adware, spyware, etc. Anti-virus programs for P.Cs aren't perfect, so I think the chance of a malicious computer attack is enough incentive for some to stay away from the illegal game...
The second reason is support. This is probably a bit more focused on smaller artists/labels, but important nonetheless. Any true music fan understands that there is an economic transaction, however convoluted, in which the artist is surviving at least partially, on revenue from album/song sales. Will a $1.29 song decide whether or not Jay-Z can pay his bills? Probably not. But when it comes to smaller artists, if you like them, support them!