It was an example of Steve being Steve: he wanted their back catalog but he also wanted to extract a pound of flesh for their perceived slight more. He had abs

It was an example of Steve being Steve: he wanted their back catalog but he also wanted to extract a pound of flesh for their perceived slight more. He had absolutely no problem doing or saying things that put partners (such as the Motorola Rokr presentation a couple years later) or even employees (the time he indirectly joked about getting rid of Tony Fadell on stage) in a bad light/spot. Not saying he didn't often have a point, but he did it in a way that often came off as petty and vindictive. In this case, he probably knew exactly where Apple was heading re: the music business and also probably viewed CD Baby as a competitor to be taken out, so there was that aspect to it as well. While I don't think they've been (as) vindictive at a corporate level since Steve, Apple as a company has been yanking 'partners' around like this whenever they had the power to for at least the last 15-20 years, depending on the industry.