Eliot Spitzer to Sony BMG: “Unacceptable”
Also in Business Week Online today: New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer is following up on reports that the XCP-infected discs are still widely available in retailers, and is sending a message to Sony BMG and to retailers that the discs need to be removed from shelves immediately. The article also suggests that Sony BMG is even fumbling the recall:
…when Sony BMG started pulling CDs, it didn’t haveenough replacements lined up, says Ross Schilling, of Van Zant’sNashville-based manager, Vector Management. Sony BMG hadpromised the CD would be swapped out with non-rootkit CDs. Instead, therootkit CDs simply were pulled, Schilling says. “It’s obviously verybothersome,” he says.
That means Van Zant’s CD and others were not on the shelves for thebusiest shopping weekend of the year. Sony BMG has told Van Zant toexpect a 50% to 80% decrease in sales when the new numbers come out onNov. 30. That’s in a week that should have seen a 50% to 80% increasein sales. The week of Nov. 9 to 16, Van Zant’s sales actually jumped apoint, a spurt Schilling attributes to exposure from the Country MusicAwards.
So, for all those counting along at home: Sony BMG has proved its utter incompetence at software product management, subcontractor management, customer relationship management, public relations management, and now manufacturing and supply chain management. Is there anything they are doing right?
November 29th, 2005 at 3:12 pm
If ever ther was a movie script to be had then this is it!…’The downfall of an empire’ perhaps?…We’ll see I suppose..One thing in my mind is certain though & that’s the certain fact that I’ll check my pc fully after each time I put a new whatever in it, but one thing that’s certain is, IT WON’T BE A SONY PRODUCT!!! & if the day comes when Sony are the only supplier of certain goods, then I’ll just go back to nature & marvel at the growing fauna…lol.
November 29th, 2005 at 3:19 pm
Someone remind me again why musicians and music lovers even need these record companies. I’m sure Van Zant is really happy about the negative press and lost sales thanks to their label’s malevolence/incompetence.
November 29th, 2005 at 4:43 pm
Sony BMG is telling the *artists* to expect lower sales? They’d better not mean lower revenues! —
Excuse me, Sony, but you did the dirty deed of injecting the rootkit on the CD - it’s on *your* dime, not the artists! —
To be fair to the artists, Sony must adjust all royalties for the effect this screwup will have on sales. From what I’ve read, artists have no input on DRM technology, so it’s not their fault and they should not suffer because of it. This whole thing is on Sony BMG. —
Nothing manufactured by Sony BMG is entering this house from now on! Not even crap licensed by them, like memory sticks.
November 29th, 2005 at 8:07 pm
Sony are still leading the music business on the road to oblivion. When are these companies going to realise that their product is an optional purchase for most people. If music CDs can potentially lead to individuals having to spend hours patching their home computer then many of us are simply going to decide that buying them is simply not worth the hassle. The money will get spent on less complicated products that offer more immediate gratification and fewer headaches. Sony has no divine right to receive our cash.