Thursday, September 25th, 2008...5:38 PM
iTunes Under Threat By Music Labels and Artists
It seems like the music labels and artists are getting upset that iTunes.Com “sells” singles and not “albums.” If you look back five years ago these same groups were upset that fans were using the Internet to steal and pirate their music. This blog to give some historical perspective on this matter and some market research for the music industry.
The “music album” is a packaging of music that dates back to the days of “long playing (LP) recording” which was carried forward to the “cassette” and the “8-track tape.” This packing convention has been brought to our recent modern day “DVD” as well. The Album is simply a collection of music from one artist or band onto one recording format.
The “single” recording has been around for a long time as well and were distributed to radio stations to feature songs. The juke boxes of old utilized singes as their record of choice as well. Singles were surely promoted on TV and radio shows and through music publications like Billboard.
The music industry has been in turmoil for the last decade as it has tried to grapple with the Internet as a distribution method. A generation of people has come to “share” music that is purchased by one, then recorded on the Internet and shared with many. This phenomena has really put a dent into the sale of music. iTunes.Com has emerged as the market leading platform for the purchase and storage of music, movies and television shows. Interestingly it has sold “singles” and also sold the conventional “albums” as well. iTunes has also innovated the packaging of music with the sale of “mixes” that combine musical selections from multiple artists.
It looked like sense was being made in the up and down music world. Except now the music labels and selected artists are getting upset that it is very hard to sell an album on iTunes.Com as the consumer clamors for the singles. This position is something else. Sharing music is not legal and of course the music labels had every right to want this clamped down. But forcing consumers to buy an album if all that they want is a single or two is just crazy. Especially in this day and age.
What do the music labels and artists want the fans to do…go back to buying one album…then sharing it with many again?
I say wake up music industry… we DONT WANT albums… we want great music…we will pay for it. Along with this we want choice to buy singles or several singles or a mix. Some heavy duty music listeners might want to opt for an “all you can listen” subscription. We might even buy an album as well but if you force the consumer to this packaging we can always stop buying in the first place.
Check out this article from Digg.Com to give you additional information: “Big name rock acts are now rethinking their presence on iTunes.Com because the singles vs albums sales equation simply isn’t working for them.”
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September 28th, 2008 at 9:33 PM
Whenever a new medium is born, it frees the old one to reinvent itself. When the printing press arrived, theater had to find a new raison d’etre. When TV arose, radio had to change form to survive.
The same is true for the LP.
Musicians may think fondly of LPs as an “art form.” But that’s mostly a crock of shit. Before downloading, the LP/CD was simply an efficient way to sell/buy music. Ten songs for the price of two 45’s! OK, there was a LOT of filler. But the LP still made more sense than 45’s (AND 33 1/3 rpm LPs offered significantly higher fidelity than 45 rpm singles.)
Post-downloading, the LP doesn’t make sense as an economic proposition. As you point out, why buy shit you don’t want? What’s THAT all about?
Anyone who thinks the music industry can (or will) EVER go back to the LP is nuts. But artists are now free to redefine the LP. Musicians will have to bundle their work in a more compelling way. Either all hits or, perhaps, a return to the “concept” album.
[Of course, symphonic music has no such problem. Form follows form.]
Otherwise and in any case, the LP as such is dead. And artists should celebrate, not moan. The pressure of delivering a large number of commercial songs by a certain date is gone. They can now focuys on quality, rather than quantity.
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