Jeff Zucker: 'Apple Has Destroyed The Music Business'

Jeff Zucker

"APPLE has destroyed the music business," said NBC UNIVERSAL Pres./CEO JEFF ZUCKER at an event organized by the NEWHOUSE SCHOOL OF PUBLIC COMMUNICATIONS. DAVID SCHATSKY writes on JUPITER RESEARCH's weblog that ZUCKER made the comment in response to a question by moderator KEN AULETTA of the NEW YORKER.

ZUCKER put in context the highly publicized conflict between NBC UNIVERSAL and APPLE over pricing on the ITUNES store. NBC sought to introduce flexible pricing; APPLE refused, SCHATSKY reports.

...if we donâ??t take control, theyâ??ll do the same thing on the video side.

THE FINANCIAL TIMES also has a report on ZUCKER's comments, "We know that APPLE has destroyed the music business in terms of pricing, and if we don’t take control, they’ll do the same thing on the video side."

As part of NBC’s push for more flexible online pricing, ZUCKER said he urged APPLE for months to price one program at $2.99 per download, as opposed to the current $1.99, as an "experiment," but was rebuffed by APPLE CEO STEVE JOBS. ZUCKER also suggested APPLE had rejected requests to share revenue from its sales of iPOD devices, which are far more profitable than the digital media store.

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