Co-Author: Hayes @ qPlog
Ahhh, corporate GREED! It’s what makes America thrive. It’s also what stymies progress! In an article in today’s New York Post, it is revealed that Wal-Mart is putting pressure on the Movie Studios to steer clear of iTunes. They are rumored to have told execs that if they choose to put their movies on the new iTunes Store with movie downloads, that they will retaliate by pulling their DVDs from the shelves of Wal-Mart stores like a little spoiled child.
Would it not be great to see Wal-Mart execs poutingly pulling all the DVD’s off shelves and scrambling to fill it with Sheryl Crow’s self-titled album. Oh, wait, they pulled that, too, because she puts Wal-Mart in a bad light and yet, somehow against all of Wal-Mart’s efforts, she is still recording and making a good living at it. Maybe that’s why the liberal Crow and the conservative Lance Armstrong broke-up? Naw.
This isn’t the first time that Wal-Mart has gotten upset over iTunes. Last year Disney announced they were going to be adding some of their catalog of TV shows to iTunes. Wal-Mart allegedly returned many of the Disney DVDs in their warehouses to Disney because they felt that their sales would be threatened by selling the shows digitally. I believe Wal-Mart was reported as saying, "Waaaa! They are poo-poo heads!" but I could have misread that.
Well, now Disney has started selling movies on iTunes, and they stand alone. None of the other studios have signed on. This is rumored to be because of similar threats from Wal-Mart again. With Wal-Mart contributing to $5 billion in DVD sales during the holidays, studios are obviously going to be cautious about losing out on these sales. Could this be the contributing factor to the Studio holdouts on the iTunes Store? Or is it simply a matter of the fact that Apple wants to sell the movies for less than the studios are willing to go? Wal-Mart has since disputed the claims in comments to Reuters. Stating that these claims are false and taken from previous printed claims.
Here’s the rub — America’s economy is based on capitalism. An idea, in theory, that is energized by healthy competition. This competition in turns drives people and companies to newer ideas of how and what to sell. Strong-arm tactics are not capitalistic. Well, in an ideal world anyway. Large and complacent (read: lazy) companies capitalize on their power to control. Much like the Mob. An idea, needless to say, not unlike Wal-Mart’s other motive operandi which are not very christian by definition.
We may never really know what is going on, but Wal-Mart’s tactics and history of putting the little guy out of business lead me to believe that some of this pressure may be going on. If it is, it is a sad state that their greed would be allowed to get in the way of technological progress! I would hate to see Apple’s efforts to take this convenience to the next level like many other forward thinking ideas that have been pushed under the rug by big business, ie: the electric car. It does seem that we are not alone. There is a documentary out about Wal-Mart’s tactics and the cost to the consumer. I have yet to see it as I only just discovered it while researching this blog, but do plan on checking it out.
Listening to: King For A Day - Thompson Twins
UPDATE (9/29/06 12:46 MST): This story appeared on Variety.It looks like Apple offered a "peace pipe" and is offering to cut Wal-Mart in on some of its money.
