In the in-flight magazine, there is an invitation to send feedback to "
[email protected]". They were far more responsive than customer service. The entertainment team (who maybe don't hear from customers all that often) responded within 48 hours, as opposed to customer service, who responded 4 weeks later with the usual boiler-plate nonsense (completely missing the point of my message, as usual). FWIW, the reply from the entertainment team stated "we simply cannot compete with the amount of music now available for free via online services". Hmmm. I guess that gets some of prize for a "nice try".
Anyway, the entertainment people assured me music would remain on international, but was indeed gone from domestic. I guess on those A330's that service both markets, you could get lucky domestically, unless they have this down to a very fine art, and the music vanishes on the basis of the origin/destination airports! I responded with 7 bullet points explaining why I thought removing music was regrettable, and they replied to that promptly as well, saying that all of my points were valid, but ... only indicating they will continue to "evaluate our entertainment options, and consider the feedback we receive". I know this is a first-world problem, but for some reason I remain seriously worked up over this. I can only think the
real reason, given that the music (including radio channels, I was assured) remain on international flights, is that Qantas need to pay APRA AMCOS royalties on the basis of the music's availability or actual "plays". In other words, that this comes down, as usual, to a cost-cutting measure. On the other hand, one of the emails from the entertainment team also stated: "In total, we’re investing more in entertainment and wi-fi for our passengers now than at any point in the past."