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Did Apple disrupt the music industry in any meaningful way? Digital music could be bought before Apple, including without DRM, so I would say no. That they're a
by huggyface 15y ago
Did Apple disrupt the music industry in any meaningful way? Digital music could be bought before Apple, including without DRM, so I would say no. That they're a retailer is like saying 7-11 disrupted the candy bar industry.
Everyone wants to get in the content chain business because you can try to essentially monetize other people's content. Only in the television arena the creators are very aware of such mechanisms, they already have an avenue to the consumer, so they vigorously fight against "disruptions". Google quickly discovered that with Google TV.
- Turing_Machine 15y ago"Digital music could be bought before Apple, including without DRM, so I would say no." I would say yes. Apple owns over 70% of the music download market. Before iTunes, download sales were a minuscule fraction of physical CDs sales. They're now larger. Basically, around 35% of all music sales now go through Apple. Retailers with that kind of market share have serious clout.
- LokiSnake 15y agoI think you're definitely stretching it a little. It's like saying "Did Apple disrupt the smartphone industry in any meaningful way? You could email and run apps on smartphones before." Maybe they didn't change the industry as much, but purchasing content and getting it onto devices definitely was not as accessible before for the general public.