Jon Bon Jovi Blames the Steve

In an interview with The Sunday Times Magazine, Jon Bon Jovi blamed Steve Jobs personally for the problems of the music industry (via @gruber, of course):

I hate to sound like an old man now, but I am, and you mark my words, in a generation from now people are going to say: ‘What happened?’ Steve Jobs is personally responsible for killing the music business.

Well, I hate to say I told you so, but… I told you so. Jon, if you really want to know who was responsible for “killing the music industry” look no further than the mirror and your “bosses” at the RIAA.

Let’s say it again: The digital music transition was coming no matter what. Even if Apple never opened the iTunes music store, someone else would have done it. The alternative was continuing to allow the P2P networks to be the primary distributors of digital music. Honestly, with most of the others who were likely to win that battle, the terms would have ended up worse for the RIAA, not better (just look at what Amazon paid publishers on the Kindle platform until Apple released iBooks, basically a 70/30 split the other way). At least the iTunes store gave them a closed environment for a while and a single monolithic entity with which to negotiate.

If you’re standing in the middle of the freeway and a semi is barreling at you at 70mph, your choices are to move or die. If you choose suicide and stand firm, you don’t blame the rescue workers who come to clean up the wreckage.