“Noel Gallagher has waded back into the streaming debate, accusing Apple Music of being ‘arrogant’ and ‘Orwellian,'” The Guardian reports.
The Guardian reports, “The former Oasis man, who has been critical of streaming services such as Tidal in the past, told the Varvet International podcast: ‘Apple Music, world radio: is that some sort of George Orwell shit going on? How can you be so arrogant that you can say, ‘We now fucking own world radio.””
MacDailyNews Take: Apple calls Beats 1 “The world’s local station.” Nowhere on their website or in any of their marketing materials does Apple make the claim, “We now fucking own world radio.”
The Guardian reports, “Gallagher went on to express dismay at the way music is consumed today, with fans streaming individual tracks rather than investing in full albums.”
MacDailyNews Take: Another has-been lamenting the passing of the forced bundle (“album”), an artificial construct that the music industry foisted on people as “art,” but was really a scheme to get paid 10X more per each decent track. The music industry began with singles, not forced bundles deceptively called “albums,” and it’ll end that way, too, thanks to Steve Jobs*.
*Standard disclaimer: Yes, some music albums are art. The vast majority are not. Apple continues to sell music in album form for those who desire to buy full albums.
The Guardian reports, “Of this sea change in consumer behaviour, he said: ‘If you tell me now that the record-buying era is over, that makes me sad. That the culture of buying and believing in a record, that era is over, and the belief is that music is for hire and for rent, the money that you pay lets you access everybody’s music but own none of it: I think that’s a sad day.'”
MacDailyNews Take: We bet you do. $1.29 for every hit song you write – in Noel’s case, make that wrote – as opposed to $15+ for plastic discs laden with filler. No, people don’t “believe” in forced bundling anymore, Noel. The free ride is over. No wonder you’re sad.
The Guardian reports, “Talking about Apple Music’s ‘Connect’ feature, which aims to allow users more access to artists and their schedules, Gallagher said: ‘Who cares what fucking Thom Yorke is up to? Seriously, who gives a shit? I’d find it creepy if everyone wanted to know what I was up to.'”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Now there’s a guy who understands marketing through and through. No wonder Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds couldn’t fill the first row at Wembley much less fill it up like Ed Sheeran can today or like Oasis could back when Noel had others who understood things like basic music promotion helping him along.
No wonder Noel’s last album sold a massive 115,000 copies total (or about as many copies of 1989 that Taylor Swift just sold while you read this).
No wonder Noel now toils in near-total obscurity and the only press he can get is for sputtering clueless expletives.
Perhaps if Noel wasn’t a bitter, confused, loudmouth asshole, people would know that he can still create compelling and gorgeous music? After all, we should know, we own every single song he’s ever offered up for sale, including being one of those rare 115,000 owners of his latest “album,” Chasing Yesterday (ironically-titled, given his rant over the demise of forced bundles).
A$$ Hole.😡
How original of Noel the plagiarist Gallagher.
My kind advice to him is to settle down and enjoy the wealth he has amassed over the years like Cilla Black OBE did. If the media want you back, they will provide you the vehicle just as they did for Cilla and just as they have done for Sir Tom Jones.
My advice is kind because I take into account the booze and drug filled lifestyle he led in his early pop success days culminating in the purchase of cars he couldn’t drive and a swimming pool when he couldn’t swim!
If he hasn’t done it by now, he should learn how to drive and swim and then how to chill.
Good job it wasn’t Liam mouthing off, one daren’t imagine the bile he would spew if he were Compos mentis.
Tom Jones is still great. He once performed in like 100 degree Fahrenheit heat at the Hollywood Bowl and still put on a helluva show, albeit a sweaty one. I’ll never forgive Tim Burton though for putting him in MARS ATTACKS though.
Arrogant? Pot, meet kettle.
Hear! Hear!
If you can’t beaqt up your brother, and you can’t be as cool as the bands you shamelessly rip off… well then, you’re Noel Gallagher.
Wonderwall this, bud.
Noel Gallagher who?
We are supposed to know this guy?
Just another clueless wonder. I was wondering why the Guardian gave him space. But then I thought, well, it’s the Guardian so never mind.
It is hard for an artist when he comes to the realization that world DOESN’T revolve around him. Sometimes, he will lash out at others; sometimes, not. Either way, he eventually fades into insignificance.
It is even more difficult for Apple fannies to realize the technology world does not revolve around Apple!!!!
When it comes to the high-tech industry, it is most appropriate to ask “Apple who, Apple what?”.
Is Apple even relevant?
🙂 🙂 🙂
by Gerry the Merry Berry
Joking… right?
Well, I’m not really joking but I do find Apple fannies hilarious when the talk about how great Apple products are.
Apple is not a high-tech company, it’s a phone company , no more, no less.
Apple consumer products are overpriced average to low-quality products.
When it comes to the consumer market, Apple can get away with such an abusive pricing strategy.
To be successful in the corporate world, Apple will have to offer more competitive pricing and much higher quality products than they do for the consumer market.
Keep in mind that iOS is more of a pocket OS (called a mobile) than a real full-fledged OS.
It stands no chance whatsoever to compete with Microsoft Windows which is the most sophisticated and secure OS on the planet today.
That’s just my opinion. I hope I’m not offending anyone here!
🙂 🙂 🙂
Wrong on several counts. Apple is a design company whose most popular hardware product happens to phone functionality built in.
Apple doesn’t make phones or sell access to cell networks or build networks.
Apple is also a large retail and online sales enterprise. Again, NOT a phone company.
Apple also attempts to sell consumer-level, cloud-based services a business at which they are only marginally acceptable at. But still not a phone company.
Also iOS is the same Unix underneath as their laptop and desktop computer lines. So it is fully fledged minus the cruft not needed like drivers for parallel ports and dot matrix printer profiles.
mmm… I smell acid here.. Are we jealous because we don’t like apple ? Get a life, my dear, get a life.
who is Noel Gallagher?
I think he’s that guy who smashes watermelons.
Good one!
“rather than investing in full albums.”
“Investing?” Usually implies at least the potential of increased value.
“That the culture of buying and believing in a record, that era is over”
And yet other musicians are still earning money doing music, amazing, isn’t it? That’s like saying the days of playing the viola de gamba or sackbut are over and it makes me sad.
The Album/CD format is an artificial, technological construct for music. Much music was made, played, enjoyed long before these constructs were invented and will continue long after they have died.
Agreed. But some albums truly are more than the sum of their individual songs – Pink Floyd The Wall is a great example. The album tells a story, and it will always be one of my favorites.
But to extrapolate from that to the Gallagher griping that it is wrong for people to consume individual tracks is ridiculous. Has Gallagher been on a crusade against broadcast radio for decades? If not, then why not? Because broadcast radio almost exclusively plays individual tracks.
I don’t like people telling me how I should consume media. You make it and offer it for sale and I will decide if, when, and how I want to listen/watch. If you don’t like that, Gallagher, then learn to live with it, because that is the way it is going to be.
Can’t artists just have say over how they want their music sold, and consumers deciding if that suits them? What should Apple have to do with that?
That his way of letting know he can’t sell a record to save his life. On the other hand Blur still seems to be doing well.
MDN just applied a cricket bat to the side of Noel’s head. Well done, MDN!
What Noel really needs is an amp that goes to 11.
MDN is overly harsh on the album format. It may have started as a marketing construct, but many artists have used it to great effect.
Noel Gallagher’s balls smell Orwellian.
I’m assuming Oasis was a band of some sort?
I bet he thinks Orwell is a boy band.
I don’t think that word means what he thinks it means.
I always thought oasis and spinal tap have a lot in common. But at least spinal tap admits their phoniness.
The Gallaghers, true to their nature as moles in whack-a-mole; popping up with nothing to say just waiting to be sent back.
Of course this baloney about albums being an “artificial construct” comes from the shallow, childish minds of MDN and its ilk. The first generation of recorded music was made on 78s that could only fit songs of a few minutes at most. By the late 40s the great artists were dying for a longer form so they could try new things.
Now musicians go into the studio for weeks or months to create ALBUMS, the best 10 or 12 or 14 songs they can make at that moment in time. Then they take it on the road and play their new stuff to their audience.
How boring and shitty would it be if artists only made a song or two at a time? How SHALLOW and VAPID are you, MDN, that you only listen to the “good songs” on an album and never bother to try to hear what other gems may be on there as well? Why not try seeing what else the artist has made?
Uhm, you do know that artists always have a reperitore but may only record a song or two at a time. The EP exists for a reason. The single exists for a reason. A lot of underground bands, DJs, hip-hop artists, doom metal bands, and so on, have released singles. A lot of the time this single is used to gauge interest, the way it was done in the 50’s and before, due to economic factors. Why is that so bad? Why do you want to demand that every band make albums when maybe a string of EPs or singles is all they can do? Why are you trying to force everyone into a one-sized-fits-all box?
Son, I think everyone listens to only the “good songs” on an album – that is, they like some songs and they listen to them. Then they skip over the rest.
You want people to sit around and listen to stuff they don’t like? What are you, Big Brother?
Whatever you might think of Noel Gallagher, he has a point. It’s not just about the hit single, the catchy little tune that might hook people in to begin with. Music is an art form, and albums allow the listener to dig a little deeper into what the musician is trying to say as an artist. The trouble with streaming is that stops at the catchy single, then onto the next catchy single. It’s not the same experience, and IMO it’s a lesser experience as a consequence.
Do you really want to live in the Lego world where an “Everything is Awesome” is permanently top of the charts? That’s what streaming is in danger of doing.
As for the album itself, MDN mentions Ed Sheeran. His album sales have been hugely successful, and for good reason. There are plenty of musicians out there that can fill the 14 or so tracks with gems. Don’t kill that off, that’s what Noel is saying.
Exactly. Said better than I could say it.
Why do you assume that you can stream only singles or only hit songs and not stream a whole album of a band? LOL. It’s like you haven’t streamed anything before. You also think that only popular music is streamed. Not at all true, if you’ve ever used Spotify or Amazon music.
Oh Noel Gallagher! With all the bad human behavior going on in the world that qualifies as both ‘arrogant’ and ‘Orwellian’, you had to pick on the single best company on the planet.
You have VERY poor taste and perception. There’s nothing perfect about Apple. But they’re consistently better than any of the alternatives. Meanwhile, how about taking a stab at some REAL ‘arrogant’ and ‘Orwellian’ behavior? Like this:
Ripping CDs in iTunes, backing up your computer now illegal in the UK
Or how about the diabolically corporatocraticTTIP (TAFTA) treaty the USA (my country!) is trying to shove down Europe’s throat? Doesn’t that seem just a teensy bit more tangible, important and indefensible than the behavior of Apple? Just a minute, miniscule bit??