Apple turntable?

You probably read that Steve Jobs of Apple listened mostly to vinyl instead of his fabled iPod creation. He was a real music lover and preferred the sound of vinyl to that of digital. What you may not know, however, is what he accomplished when he launched iTunes. He set the stage for musicians getting paid a larger percentage than they did in the past. In yesterday's post I mentioned how the old and dying model of the label getting the lion's share of the revenue - the musician getting only a fraction of the money - was always doomed to failure and rightfully so. Why? Because when the merchant gets far more than the creator there's a natural imbalance that somehow must be corrected to survive. The new era has started and we have Jobs to thank for part of it. With iTunes, when you buy music, the typical split is 30 to 35% for Apple (the merchant) and 65 to 70% for the artist (the creator). This is a much better split IF you're an independent artist without a label and a much worse split IF you are an artist with a label. I can see the fireworks starting now - but please just take a deep breath and ask yourself if this isn't a step in the right direction. I would ask myself why I need a label if I have iTunes to distributer it for me? Could be the start of something good.