http://tags.gawker.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/gawker.com.png http://gawker.com/tag/valleywag/edgarbronfman http://gawker.com/tag/valleywag/edgarbronfman Warner Music CEO Edgar Bronfman, in a startling change of heart, proclaimed that the music industry is, at least partly, to blame for its current woes, mentioning something about a misplaced war with consumers. With that off his chest, Bronfman launched into a full-fledged groveling routine, proclaiming Apple's iTunes store a paragon of digital music. He went on and on, praising the genius of selling individual tracks, the user interface, and billing platform. Bronfman even threw unnecessary praise towards the iPhone — like we need to hear from a music guy what makes for a good cell phone. Why all the posterior-smooching? Bronfman is realizing that tough talk isn't helping it get out of "indecent" pricing schemes when it comes time to renew Warner's contract with Apple.

]]> http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=323321&view=rss&microfeed=true Warner Music CEO and antipiracy crusader Edgar Bronfman has admitted that the recording industry shares some of the blame for the proliferation of file sharing. "We expected our business would remain blissfully unaffected even as the world of interactivity, constant connection and file sharing was exploding," he said at a mobile conference in Asia. "We were wrong." No, really? Bronfman relayed how the music business's "glacial" adoption of the digital era inadvertently started a war by denying consumers what they wanted. One would think Bronfman, an entrepreneur, would have realized all this a little sooner. But then again, the music business has never actually been about pleasing the customer.

]]> http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=322822&view=rss&microfeed=true