“Bob Seger turned the page, and Metallica finally found justice for online fans. Now, only a few remaining big-name musical acts refuse to make their songs available on Apple Computer’s popular iTunes Music Store,” Brian Charlton reports for The Associated Press.
Charlton reports, “Analysts say the online holdouts – including the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Radiohead and Kid Rock – probably can’t avoid iTunes forever as fans flock to the Internet to buy music.”
“But the artists argue that online distribution leaves them with too small a profit. And they say iTunes wrecks the artistic integrity of an album by allowing songs to be purchased individually for 99 cents. Some bands, such as AC/DC have released albums on other, more flexible sites, but not iTunes,” Charlton reports. “‘We’ve always thought certain artists put out albums that aren’t meant to be compilations with 50 other artists,’ said Ed ‘Punch’ Andrews, manager for both Seger and Kid Rock. ‘We’re hoping at some point albums become important again like they were in the past 30 years.'”
Charlton reports, “Seger, the Michigan rocker who entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004, is considering releasing his classic 1976 album Night Moves but wants it downloaded only as an album, Andrews said. ‘It’s amazing how many people go there,’ Andrews said of iTunes. “We’re hoping albums work there.” Andrews said he wasn’t sure if Apple eventually would allow the album to be kept intact.”
Full article here.
If we want your whole album, we will buy it that way. If you want to try to force us to buy your whole album in the name of “art,” then you are highly confused and, frankly, you can keep your album. The album, which for decades have been simply a way to force customers to buy filler in order to get one or a couple of good songs is DEAD, thanks to iTunes. You want us to buy your whole album? Then write an entire album consisting of good songs, for once. What we hope Steve Jobs says to the online holdouts desperately clinging to the outmoded album concept: When you figure out what “art” and “freedom” and “customer choice” really mean and when you decide to treat your fans as people capable of making intelligent choices all by themselves instead of treating them as a revenue stream, then you can put your songs on iTunes for sale individually. Until then, twist in the wind.
Related articles:
Apple’s iTunes Music Store will change the album concept; artists should embrace change – July 29, 2003
New York Times: iTunes Music Store ‘working against the survival of the album’ – July 19, 2003
Motley Fool writer calls Jobs a ‘smug punk’ and worries about demise of music in album form – May 14, 2003