When people think of Apple (AAPL) these days, most will immediately conjure up images of the iPhone and all of the apps they can download for the device. However, the iTunes Festival shows that music still matters to the company.

    I attended the opening of the iTunes Festival in London, England, last night with headlining artist Lady Gaga. It was a splendid show complete with stage props, dancers and choreography that you would expect from one of the world's most popular acts.

    The acts Apple books for the iTunes Festival are world class—Elton John, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Justin Timberlake, John Legend—all top notch performers. The concerts are completely free for concertgoers and Apple streams the shows free for anyone that has an iPhone, iPad or Apple TV.

    So what is Apple getting out of running iTunes Festival? As subtle as the message is, I think Apple is telling the world that music still matters to them. The iTunes Store is what helped Apple become the company it is today—the iPods and selling music online transformed Apple into a household name that made consumer products, not just Macs.

    When the iPhone and iPad started to take over the consciousness of consumers, apps became the main focus for everyone. That doesn't mean we stopped buying music—in fact, we probably buy more music now than ever before. Music just became one of the things we expected to be able to download and listen to with our devices.

    Apple has more than 500 million active iTunes user accounts and users have downloaded more than 25 billion songs from iTunes. That's an incredible number of songs legally downloaded and paid for by Apple customers.

    Apple could make a fortune by charging even a little bit for each concert at the iTunes Festival, but they don't. Tickets are free for every show. They could hold the show in a huge venue, but they chose The Roundhouse, a venue that holds about 3,000 people. The Roundhouse is an intimate setting for the artist and fan—it's a shared experience that you can't get from a giant concert hall.

    To me, iTunes Festival is Apple's way of giving something back to the community. It's Apple's way of saying that music still matters to them as much as it matters to us.

    BIO: Jim Dalrymple is the founder of The Loop and has been reporting on Apple for nearly 20 years.

    如今，一提到苹果公司（Apple），大多数人马上会想到iPhone和无数应用程序。然而，日前举行的 iTunes狂欢节表明，苹果对音乐业务仍然非常重视。

    日前，我参加了在英国伦敦举行的iTunes狂欢节开幕式，人气歌手Lady Gaga也亲临现场。这是一场盛大的演出，舞台道具、舞者以及编舞的水平可谓达到了世界一流水准。

    苹果公司为iTunes狂欢节邀请的表演嘉宾也都是国际巨星——艾尔顿•约翰、Lady Gaga、凯蒂•佩里、贾斯汀•汀布莱克以及约翰•传奇，各个声名显赫。这场音乐会对常去听音乐会的人完全免费，而且苹果向所有iPhone、iPad以及苹果电视用户免费播放该演出。

    那么，苹果举办iTunes狂欢节的意义究竟何在？我认为苹果此举意在表明，音乐仍对它来说依然十分重要。iTunes商店的成功成就了苹果的今天，要知道，苹果依靠的不仅仅是Mac，正是iPod和无数付费在线音乐让它成为如今家喻户晓的电子消费品牌。

    自从iPhone和iPad成功上位后，应用程序成为了如今的热点。但这并不意味着我们会停止购买音乐——相反，我们很可能会购买更多的音乐。音乐不过地位有所下降，成为我们下载并聆听的对象之一。

    苹果iTunes有超过5亿活跃用户，下载的音乐总量已突破250亿首。苹果用户合法下载且付费的歌曲数量之巨简直令人难以置信。

    iTunes狂欢节将举办多场音乐会，苹果即便收点小钱也能发笔横财，但它不为所动。所有门票都是免费的。苹果本可以选择一个大场馆、但它最后选择了Roundhouse，一家只能容纳3000人的小型会场。不过Roundhouse是为艺术家及其粉丝专门设计的，它们可以进行亲密的心灵接触，绝非空洞的大型演唱会能比。

    在我看来，iTunes狂欢节是苹果回馈社会的一种方式。苹果借此举表明，同我们一样，它也仍然十分看重音乐。（财富中文网）

    作者简介：本文作者吉姆•达尔林普是The Loop网站创始人，近20年来一直跟踪报道苹果公司

    译者：项航