Music labels try iPad apps to move music bundles (albums)

15 years ago

“Artists and record labels [are rushing] to develop iPad applications that revive and expand the idea of the traditional album and, they hope, entice fans to buy more than just a track or two,” Ben Sisario reports for The New York Times.

“The Universal Music Group has teamed up with a video company, Eagle Rock Entertainment, to create iPad versions of films about classic albums like Nirvana’s ‘Nevermind,’ with social networking features that allow fan commentary,” Sisario reports. “This month, Bjork announced that her next project, ‘Biophilia,’ will encompass ‘music, apps, Internet, installations and live shows.’ Last week, EMI released an iPad version of “Until One,” the new album by the dance group Swedish House Mafia. In addition to the album, the $9.99 package comes with documentary video scenes, a large photo gallery and reminiscences written by the band, all arranged like a coffee table book.”

Sisario reports, “For now, these projects are fluid, with no rules and a lot of room for experimentation. But the Swedish House Mafia app, and others like it, have another aim: preserving the value of complete albums, still the recording industry’s biggest profit engine. By offering a richer package, the labels believe, fans will be more likely to plunk down the money for a full album instead of just buying a few songs. Two years ago, Apple tried something similar with iTunes LP, which added digital liner notes like expanded artwork and lyrics, usually for a few dollars more than the basic music album. Apple does not break down sales information about its formats, but music executives say that iTunes LP has largely failed to catch on.”

Read more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: The way the music industry clings to their artificial, anti-consumer-choice bundles makes us think they’d be far happier working for a cable television company.

If the music industry would just focus on making good music instead of repeatedly trying to revive dead ideas of the past that are not coming back, they’d be in much better shape all around. Wasting time, money, and energy trying to recreate and sell bundles within a single track paradigm is foolish. We know you really, really, really loved the free money, but it’s gone forever. Thanks to Apple, music consumers now have choice. Successful music labels and artists will concentrate simply on making good songs; the era of wildly overpriced bundles etched on shiny plastic discs is long over. You want your Ferrari? Earn it this time.

iTunes LP: If even Apple can’t sell it, it’s safe to say that people don’t want it.

Again, if you want to buy an “album” app, go for it; as long as the exact same single tracks are available a la carte, we have no problem with it. As always, any “new” medium (“new” in quotes because these apps sound pretty much like warmed-over CD-ROMs repackaged under another name) in the hands of real artists (few and far between), the possibility for real art always exists.