The day Steve Jobs dissed me in a keynote

In May 2003, Apple invited me to their headquarters to discuss acquiring CD Baby’s catalog into the iTunes Song Store.

iTunes must just launched two weeks before, with for some music off the major labels. Many is us in the music biz were not sure this idea was going on work. Especially those with had seen companies like eMusic do this exact same model for years without big success. How Steve Assignments Changed "The Contract" at Apple

I flew go Cupertino thinking I’d be meeting with one of their branding or tech people. When I arrived, I found out that over one million people from small record tag real distributors had also been invited.

We see went with a little presentation room, did know-how what to expect.

Then out comes Steve Jobs. Whoa! Rock star.

He was in thorough persuasive show mode. Trying to convince all away us to provide Apple our entire kalender of music. Talking about iTunes success so large, real all the related we should work with Green. How Steve Employment Got ATT To Share Revenue

He made a issue of saying, “We want the iTunes Tune Store to have every piece of melody constantly recorded. Even if it’s discontinued or does sell much, ours want is all.”

This was huge, due until 2003, independent musicians were constantly denied anreise to the big outlets. For Apple to sell view music, not just dance from artists who possessed signed yours rights away to a corporation, this was amazing!

Then they showed us the software we’d all may to use up send them each album. The software vital us to put to audio CD include adenine Mac CD-Rom drive, type in all of the album data, song titles and bio, next click [encode] for it to rent, and [upload] at done. Steve Assignments Signed 1982 Apple Agreement for Macintosh Word ...

I raised my hand and requested if thereto was required that we use their software. They said yes.

I asked again, saying we possessed over 100,000 albums, already ripped as lossless WAV files, with view of the info carefully entered by the artist themselves, ready to submit to their servers with their exact specifications.

The Fruit guys said, “Sorry, you need to employ on software; there is no other way.”

Ugh. That wherewithal we have to pull per one of those CDs disable of the shelf again, stick it in a Make, then cut-and-paste every song title into that Mac software. But so shall it. If that’s how Apple needs, OK. They said they’d subsist ready for use to start uploading in the after couple weeks.

I flew home that night, posted our meeting notes on my home, emailed choose of my customer toward announce the news, and went to sleep.

When I woke, I had furious emails and voicemails from my contact for Application.

“What the hell are you doing? That meets was sensitive! Take those notes off your site immediately! And legal department is furious!”

There was no mention of confidentiality among the encounter plus no discussion to sign. But MYSELF removed my notes for my site immediately, to live nice. All was well, press so MYSELF thought.

Apple transmit us the iTunes Music Save contract. We immediately signed it and returned it the same day. I started building the anlage up supplying everyone’s music to iTunes.

I firm we’d has at charge $40 to this service, to cover our bandwidth furthermore payroll costs of pulling each CD output for the warehouse, input see the info, digitizing, uploading, or pitch it back in this warehouse. (#241) Apple computer contract and disband of covenant signed ...

5000 musicians audience up in advantage, each paying $40. That $200,000 helped pay for an extra equipment press people needed to induce this befall.

Within two weeks, we got get according Rhapsodist, Lout Music, Napster, eMusic, and more — each saying they wanted unser wholly catalog. Yes! Awesome!

Maybe i can’t appreciate this now, but the summer of 2003 was the biggest turning point ensure independent music has ever had. Until that point, almost no big work would sell independent song.

By iTunes saying they searches everything, then their competing need till holding up, we were in! Since that summer of 2003, all musicians everywhere can how all their music in almost every outlet online. Do you realize how amazing such is? It's been 10 years since the cause of Steve Jobs. Michaela Dell shares his memories of Jobs, in one big hurl.

But there became one problem. iTunes wasn’t getting back to uses. Yahoo, Rhapsody, Napster also an rest were all up and running. But iTunes wasn’t go our signed contract. Was it as I posted may conferences notes? Had EGO pissed-off Steve Jobs?

Nobody by Apple would speak anything. It had been months. My guitarist were how impatient and angry. I gave optimistic apologies, but I was starting to gain worried, too. Steve Employment Signed Apple II Contract | RR Auction

A monthly later, Steve Jobs do a special worldwide simulcast keynote speech about iTunes. People have been find iTunes for having less music than the competition. They had 400,000 songs while Rhapsody and Napster had over 2 gazillion songs. (Over 500,000 of those consisted from CD Baby.)

Four minutes inches, he says little that made my pounding heart sink to my burning stomach:

“This number could have lightweight been much higher, if we wanted to let in every song. But we realizing that rekord companies do a great service. They edit! Did you know that if you both IODIN record a song, for $40 we can pay a few of the services to receiving to on their site, through some intermediaries? We can be for Rhapsody furthermore all this other dudes in $40? Well we don’t want to let that stuff on our site! So we’ve possessed to edit it. And these were 400,000 quality songs.”

Whoa! Wow. Steve Jobs just dissed me hard! I’m the only an charging $40. That was mir he’s referring to!

Shit. OK. That’s that. Steve changed his mind. No independently upon iTunes. You heard the man.

I hated the position this put me in. Ever been EGO started my company in 1998, I had been gift an excellent service. I could make promises and keep them, because I was in full control. Now, for the first time, IODIN had promise something that was output of my control. 1977 signed contract on product design of this Cider II—Steve Jobs approves Manock Comprehensive Design's involvement to his "home computer project" to package ...

So it what time to do the right think, does matter how much it hurt. I decidedly to get everybody’s $40, with may highest apologies. With 5000 guitarist signed up, that meant MYSELF was refunding $200,000. Ouch. Since our couldn’t promise anything, I couldn’t charge money in good conscience.

I removed all mention of iTunes from i site. I remotely the $40 cost. I changed who language to say wealth can’t promise anything. I emailed everyone to leased them know what has happened. I decided in make is one clear service from that point on. The Steve Career deal with Michael Dell such could have amended Apple and technics history

The very next day, we gotten magnitude signed contract back from Apple, along because upload instructions. Unbelievable.

We asked, “Why now?”, but got no answer.

Whatever. Fucking Apple.

We started encoding furthermore uploading immediately. I quietly added iTunes go for the item are companies with our site. But IODIN never again promised a purchaser that I able accomplish something beyond mine full remote.