Chapter 45 Section 4 Musical Legends

On October 23, 2001, the iPod was officially released. Despite winning acclaim for its good looks and impressive capacity, sales of the first iPod were relatively mediocre.One of the main reasons is that users simply cannot fill the incredible capacity of an iPod with more than 1,000 songs just by ripping MP3s from genuine CDs without spending a lot of time. Jobs realized that the hardware revolution alone would not be enough to turn the digital music industry upside down.Apple must bring about an unprecedented revolution in the business model of genuine music sharing. God knows why Jobs believed that Apple could create a future business model in the music field.His idea sounds simple—using Apple's software and hardware platforms, users download genuine songs through the Internet, and pay Apple according to the number of downloaded singles.Most songs are priced at $0.99.Then, Apple splits the bill with the record company.

Thinking about it carefully, this model has one of the biggest difficulties: Why do those record companies who made their fortunes by selling genuine CDs split the bill with Apple?Why do record companies believe that you, Apple, can change netizens' habit of downloading free MP3s and take money out of their wallets?If you can sell albums one by one, why should record companies charge for single downloads, and the price of each single is still so cheap? Gang Leader Qiao is convinced that with just one word of his own, it is enough to persuade the largest record company to cooperate with Apple.If other people say that, everyone must say he is crazy.But Gang Leader Qiao really said it, and he really got things done.

The secret to Jobs' success in negotiating lies in the order of the negotiations. Jobs understood that in order to get so many rich and powerful record companies to cooperate obediently, he must first break through the two or three largest ones one by one, and then the dominoes will naturally collapse.Jobs decided to start talking about the largest record companies Warner, Universal and EMI. At that time, record company executives often flew to Apple headquarters in Cupertino to find Jobs, as if Jobs was a hot new debut singer that major companies were vying for.Of course, Jobs is really good at fooling record companies.For example, there are not many users of iTunes and iPod. Jobs said that such a small user scale is conducive to trying new things, and it is impossible to bring down the traditional record industry.For another example, when the record company was hesitant about the prospect of this cooperation, Jobs released rumors through various channels that Apple was considering acquiring Universal.This rumor made other record companies uneasy, unable to guess what the future trend of the record industry will be.At other times, when the bosses of the record companies indulge in the glory of CD records, Jobs will tell these bosses like a prophet that technological changes will come sooner or later, and companies that are not ready will be eliminated.

Anyway, at the negotiating table, Jobs flicked the bosses of the record company around, both gentle and intimidating. Within a few months, dominoes fell one after another, and even the domineering Sony Records was tricked into it.Apple has successfully won the support of almost all major record labels. In April 2003, the Apple iTunes music store was officially launched. iTunes users can purchase songs directly from the online store.The music store was a huge success, driving not only Apple's own sales but also opening up entirely new sales channels for record labels.In less than 3 years, the iTunes music store has more than 2 million genuine music.Today, almost all major record companies in Europe and the United States have made the iTunes music store the first choice for new album releases, and CD records are fading out of people's sight.

The iTunes music store is a successful attempt by Apple to change the world from the business model.It is no exaggeration to say that without Apple's music store, the revolution of music carriers from physical records to online music would have been delayed by at least 10 years.In the history of human technological development, this is comparable to the transformation of movies from film to digital, or the transformation of books from paper to e-books such as Kindle. The launch of the iTunes music store even shocked Jobs' old rival and old friend Bill Gates.In an internal email titled "Apple's Jobs Again," Gates enviously told Microsoft executives: "Jobs has embarrassed us again." Gates lamented in the email that Jobs was able to convince the record company Licensing Apple to operate a cheap single download service is nothing short of a miracle. No one except Jobs can get a similar cooperation agreement.

Music stores drove iPod sales growth. In April 2007, Apple announced a figure that almost made Apple fans crazy: the iPod, which has only been on the market for 5 and a half years, has sold 100 million units worldwide! In June 2011, an even more staggering number was born-iTunes music store has sold a total of 15 billion songs in the past 8 years! iPod has become a music trend all over the world. Whether it is ordinary people or celebrities, they all regard iPod as a part of their music life.David Thewlis, who played the role of the werewolf professor Lupine in the movie "Harry Potter", said: "I am as crazy about music now as I was when I was 16 years old. I will spend the whole afternoon listening to the songs in the iPod. The feeling of listening to the iPod is amazing. This is the greatest invention of the 21st century." In July 2004, the twin daughters of US President Bush gave their father a gift, which is also a iPod.

However, the revolutionary business model revived the lawsuit between Apple and the Beatles. In September 2003, the Beatles' Apple sued Jobs' Apple again, arguing that the iTunes Music Store violated a 1991 agreement between the two parties.The lawsuit went on and on, and there was no result in three or four years.By 2007, there was a sudden turning point.Jobs accidentally quoted the Beatles song "Two of Us" on the podium to unveil the iPhone, which seemed to suggest that the impasse between Apple and the Beatles was showing signs of loosening.Sure enough, in February 2007, the two Apple companies announced that they had reached a settlement agreement.

Jobs commented on the companies' settlement this way: "We love The Beatles, and the disagreement over trademark rights with The Beatles is a pain in the ass. Now, it's nice to be able to resolve this in a positive way." problems, and this solution completely avoids possible future disagreements.” On November 15, 2010, a puzzling advertisement picture was published on Apple's website.The ad on the image reads: "Tomorrow is another day, a day you will never forget." What exactly is Apple teasing?Fruit fans started a fun quiz.Some speculated it was an important update to iTunes, others speculated it was a browser-based version of iTunes.It was not until the early morning of November 16 that the answer to the mystery was finally revealed: the complete works of The Beatles consisted of 17 albums, all of which were simultaneously available on the iTunes music store.

From the on-and-off naming lawsuits, to the popularity of the iPod player and a new model of music sharing, to the grand launch of the complete works of The Beatles in the iTunes music store, the 30-year grievances between Apple and The Beatles finally came to an end. With a happy ending.