IBM Corp seems to have whipped up as much of a storm around its head with its plunge into digital delivery of music to record stores as Alan Sugar has attracted with his bizarre sacking of Terry Venables as chief executive of Tottenham Hotspur Plc: IBM’s joint venture with Blockbuster Entertainment Corp has triggered swift, fierce and almost entirely negative reaction from the music industry, the Wall Street Journal reports – IBM and Blockbuster made a major gaffe by issuing announcements without contacting the record companies, said Michael Schulhof, chairman of Sony Corp’s Sony USA; Warner Music Group talked of arrogance, MCA Music Group said it had begun working on its own electronic distribution system, and even Polygram, 80% owned by Philips Electronics NV, which also has 6% of Blockbuster, described the announcement as premature.
