July 24, 2026
Apple’s Sour Note
The day Steve Jobs dissed me in a keynote (2010)
Steve’s big music pitch turned into a brutal power move, and commenters are not over it
TLDR: Derek Sivers says Apple invited indie music in, then Steve Jobs publicly undercut CD Baby in a keynote after it helped build momentum. Commenters are split between calling it a genius power play and blasting it as ruthless, petty, and classic corporate control.
This story has the internet doing the classic "wow, that escalated fast". Derek Sivers recalls being invited to Apple in 2003, where Steve Jobs personally pitched small music labels on joining the brand-new iTunes store. At first, it sounded like a fairy tale for independent musicians: Apple wanted every song ever recorded, even the obscure stuff big stores usually ignored. For artists shut out of the system, that was huge. But then came the headache: Apple’s upload process sounded painfully manual, even though CD Baby already had a massive catalog ready to go. Sivers adapted, musicians paid in, and it looked like indie music was finally getting its big break.
Then the mood in the comments turns from nostalgic to straight-up savage. One reaction summed it up in a single word: "Ruthless." Another called it a "Classic Steve Jobs move", saying he operated right on the edge of ethics if it benefited Apple. The hottest debate is whether this was evil or just elite-level business chess. Some commenters argue Apple’s move makes cold business sense: don’t let a middleman get too powerful, keep control for yourself. Others are much less forgiving, saying this is yet another reminder that Jobs could be brilliant and petty at the same time.
And yes, people are absolutely treating the keynote moment like a public drag. The vibe is basically: rock-star founder meets corporate betrayal arc, with the comments cast as a jury that is not exactly feeling merciful.
Key Points
- •In May 2003, Apple invited Derek Sivers and other small labels and distributors to its headquarters to discuss supplying music to the newly launched iTunes Music Store.
- •Steve Jobs told attendees that Apple wanted the iTunes Music Store to include every piece of music ever recorded, including discontinued and low-selling titles.
- •Apple required music providers to use its own Mac-based software to rip each audio CD, enter metadata manually, encode the files, and upload them.
- •After Sivers posted meeting notes online, Apple objected and said the meeting had been confidential, and he removed the notes from his site.
- •CD Baby signed Apple’s contract, created a delivery system, charged musicians $40 for the service, collected about $200,000 from 5,000 advance signups, and was then contacted by multiple other digital music services seeking its catalog.