I knew the day would come—the day when the iTunes Music Store zeroed out its track odometer by selling its billionth track. And I knew, that on that day, I’d be tasked with offering some pithy observations about what this means for listeners, artists, and the music industry. So far I’ve come up with exactly one such observation.
Wow.
Not the kind of statement that wins Pulitzers, I grant you, but “Wow” pretty well sums it up, as in:
“Wow, Apple and its Store have changed the way music is sold and distributed.”
“Wow, Apple and its Store have pretty well redefined the musical unit. In the old days, it was the album. Today it’s the playlist.”
“Wow, today’s music isn’t so bad after all.”
“Wow, the Store is so successful that its competitors’ financial statements talk of small increases in subscriber base, content partnership deals that may one day generate significant income, and mention nary word one about the amount of music actually sold by the service.”
“Wow, it won’t be long before my daughter asks, ‘Dad, what’s a CD?’”
“Wow, who knew the podcast aggregator business could collapse so quickly?”
“Wow, maybe I’ll hold off on purchasing that DVD collection of The Larry Sanders Show .”
“Wow, I had no idea people were so hostile toward The Wiggles .”
In short, Wow .