Bon Jovi attacks Jobs for allegedly killing music

Jon Bon Jovi in an interview with The Times' Sunday magazine pinned an alleged devolution of music on Apple's Steve Jobs. A move to digital music spearheaded by iTunes has all but ended the "magical" music experience the rocker grew up with, including the surprise of discovering unknown music at a physical store and listening to a full album without distractions. He implied that the lack of mystery and the option of buying by the track had taken the romanticism out of music.

"Kids today have missed the whole experience of putting the headphones on, turning it up to 10, holding the jacket, closing their eyes and getting lost in an album," he said. "And the beauty of taking your allowance money and making a decision based on the jacket, not knowing what the record sounded like, and looking at a couple of still pictures and imagining it... I hate to sound like an old man now, but I am, and you mark my words, in a generation from now people are going to say: 'What happened?' Steve Jobs is personally responsible for killing the music business."

Labels and Apple have occasionally tried to revive some of the experience through features like iTunes LP, which gives listeners a full-screen app meant to encourage end-to-end listening and exploring album art, but the frequently higher prices and lack of pre-listening discovery has left it relatively unpopular. CD sales have kept dropping, but digital music hasn't been growing quickly enough to make up the difference.

Critics have usually rejected claims of digital hurting music through the history of music before iTunes as well as current trends. Even a decade ago, music labels had been chastised for rising CD prices and a business model that was steadily favoring albums with just one or two single-worthy songs. Most digital music services predating iTunes, such as PressPlay, were dictated by the labels and ended up failing since they insisted on subscription-only services and only a limited catalog.

Demand has also skewed in Apple's direction, since it now represents the largest music reseller in the US of any kind where retail music sources such as Walmart and Best Buy have shrunk in influence. Apple's flexibility in pay-per-track songs and the appeals of both iPod and the iPhone have been credited for the company's success. [image via Nina Matthews]

by MacNN Staff