Posted on by glennm

Saturday’s New York Times detailed the rising battle between Apple Computer and the recording industry over pricing of digital music downloads. Apple, Digital Music’s Angel, Earns Record Industry’s Scorn [New York Times]. Apparently, the music industry dislikes the $0.99 fixed per-song price pioneered by Apple as part of its iTunes Music Store.

Andrew Lack, the chief executive of Sony BMG, discussed the state of the overall digital market at a media and technology conference three months ago and said that Mr. Jobs “has got two revenue streams: one from our music and one from the sale of his iPods.” “I’ve got one revenue stream,” Mr. Lack said, joking that it would require a medical professional to locate. “It’s not pretty.”

Now that’s quite a metaphor. Seems that Lack is saying that his revenue stream is someplace where the sun doesn’t shine. Perhaps the record labels need a proctologist? I represent these guys (at the FCC), but I still can’t understand their business strategy. Before iTunes, they were nowehere in the digital domain. But I guess for content in today’s information economy, it’s acceptable behavior to look a gift horse in the mouth. Or even some other part of the anatomy.