iTunes Staffers Becomes Music's New Gatekeepers

WSJdpatton writes to mention The Wall Street Journal has a look at how Apple is shaking up the world of music retailing. "Apple -- now one of the largest sellers of music in the U.S. -- offers home-page placement in exchange for things such as exclusive access to new songs, special discount pricing or additional material such as interviews with stars. Most other big retailers, digital and physical, also seek exclusive offerings, but Apple is especially aggressive and has outsize clout when it comes to the slightly out-of-mainstream music it often emphasizes."

Comments

Decline of the Apple experience

[Zhe Mappel]

Gatekeeping mass taste may make the big bucks for Apple, but it has changed (for me, anyway) one part of the experience of using an Apple machine.

Opening the iTunes store now means being shopped and pitched, advertised and shlepped loudly for mediocre TV, movies and music. What started in low-key mode a couple of years ago is now a major exercise in bad taste, a Wal-Martified borough of bad.

No, thanks: if I wanted the latest Disney or Top 40 stuff, there are SUVs and McDonalds and box stores and TV remote controls just waiting to stuff me full of it. Shoot up some botox, find a still-functioning credit card, weaponize the McMansion security system and off to the Wal-Mart!

Goodbye iTMS. Hello, emusic.com.