iTunes Imposters
Source: Wired 01.08 “Cover Story: On iTunes, a careless click may buy you an imposter”
The Red Sauce recording group specializes in “re-records” of popular music downloads. This group re-records music from a wide variety of genres, and many songs sound incredibly similar to the original recordings. As a result, many consumers are accidentally downloading their recordings with the intention of getting the original artist’s work. This is making Apple and Red Sauce very happy (Apple is reporting double purchases and Red Sauce is selling “their” work).
This problem could be eliminated if the original recordings were listed as originals. This change could be implemented in their database by adding a new attribute (original recording?), however, this would cost time and money. I understand Apple’s reluctance to spend resources on this change, because they are, after all, making money on people’s confusion. The cost of a “Red Sauce mistake” is $1.00 per song. This amount is too small for most consumers to argue about, but until they do, Apple will have no motivation to change.
When setting up this database, one may assume that sorting duplicate titles by artist would be enough. Many situations are unpredictable, and only come to light after extensive use. This is a good example of how thinking ahead can prevent problems with your database. It is also a great example of how many companies work… just because a problem arises, it doesn’t mean a company will be interesed in fixing it. A Company must decide how a problem is affecting them, their users, and their FinanceS. A problem will only be fixed if the price is right; at least that’s my humble opinion.
