Every week I read of another video or music industry bigwig complaining about iTunes and its business model. There are constant rumblings of unhappy companies deciding against renewing contracts or deciding to terminate partnerships with Apple. Universal didn't renew their contract. Warner and Sony are rumored to do the same. The chief executive of NBC, another company not renewing an iTunes contract, recently flamed Apple saying "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."
iTunes, the supreme source for digital video and music, is losing industry support. The business model that was so successful the past 5 years is becoming unattractive to some and Apple has shown it is unwilling to budge. Companies are transitioning from offering paid downloads to ad funded online videos. Just this week one such download service backed by NBC, Universal and Fox was launched and is gaining praise. Apple is unwilling to change so the media guys are looking to cut out the middleman. Apple really needs to be careful. If they keep driving their content creators away, their library will dwindle and customers will look elsewhere. Online and on demand video is poised to do what digital music downloads have done in the past decade. Apple better figure it out or watch the market shift to the next guy.
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