Standing in the path of a flood
The customer is always right, so its said. But if you're Madonna, the Beastie Boys, the Red Hot Chili Peppers or Metallica, this is a point completely lost on them. What all three of these big name acts have in common is their abject refusal to allow their music to be sold on the Apple iTunes Music Store. The reason: Apple allows music to be sold as individual songs, not just as whole albums.
That's what gets their collective shorts in a knot. Each of these acts insists that their music can only be sold as a complete album or CD. To sell individual songs, they feel, destroys the whole concept of an album. In a very well written article in the New York Times, What Albums Join Together, Everyone Tears Asunder, by John Pareles, the author takes apart their argument with historical perspective. There was once a time when 45 RPM vinyl singles ruled the day. More recently, CD singles have been very popular. And for years, before the advent of MP3 ripping, people have mixed their own tapes from their favorite songs. To rock stars like Lars Ulrich of metallic, that's an insult. In his article, Pareles focused Ulrich's dislike for what consumers are doing with this quote:
"We like to see our work released in that collective form that we've created it in and have always created our work in and grew up in," said Lars Ulrich, Metallica's drummer and songwriter. "It's about an experience that's 40 or 50 or 60 minutes long. It was always about how those songs fit together: the fast song next to the slow song next to the crunchy one next to the ballad next to the instrumental. There was a balance, and you had all these dynamics within the experience. I like the relentlessness of it, to really pummel and torture people with it as long as possible."
His words, not mine. Considering how crappy their music is, torture is exactly how I think of it.
But did it ever dawn on Mr. Ulrich that consumers can buy an entire album on the iTunes Music Store (and on other download services) if they feel it's worth it? For that matter, does Mr. Ulrich not realize that almost half the music sold on the iTunes Music Store is as whole albums? In short, consumers have a choice. And to Apple, I say kudos for giving us that.
If there is an album whose quality merits buying it as the complete package of great music, count me in. I have a lot of music in my collection that meets that standard. But why should I have to pay $18 for the privilege of getting one song, when everything else on the album is, if you'll pardon me, junk? Give me the ability to buy one song for just $.99 any day. As it is, I've been buying more music than I have in years. I'm willing to bet there are many artists thankful for the uptick in music sales, even if it is by the song. Better to have a lot of something than nothing at all.
Let me put it another way. The Anaheim Angels baseball team won the World Series last fall by playing littleball, or by getting a string of singles, instead of a few big homers. Instead of trying to swing for the fences and striking out a lot, the Angels saw singles as a way to win.
Are you listening, Lars? You're obviously not listening to your customers.
The success of the iTunes Music Store (over 6.5 million songs sold in just a few months) shows that legal downloading of music is viable. There's money to be made. And by giving customers a choice, they'll come in droves. The Madonnas and Lars Ulrichs of the world are standing in the path of a flood. Isn't it time they joined the party?
The customer is always right, so its said. But if you're Madonna, the Beastie Boys, the Red Hot Chili Peppers or Metallica, this is a point completely lost on them. What all three of these big name acts have in common is their abject refusal to allow their music to be sold on the Apple iTunes Music Store. The reason: Apple allows music to be sold as individual songs, not just as whole albums.
That's what gets their collective shorts in a knot. Each of these acts insists that their music can only be sold as a complete album or CD. To sell individual songs, they feel, destroys the whole concept of an album. In a very well written article in the New York Times, What Albums Join Together, Everyone Tears Asunder, by John Pareles, the author takes apart their argument with historical perspective. There was once a time when 45 RPM vinyl singles ruled the day. More recently, CD singles have been very popular. And for years, before the advent of MP3 ripping, people have mixed their own tapes from their favorite songs. To rock stars like Lars Ulrich of metallic, that's an insult. In his article, Pareles focused Ulrich's dislike for what consumers are doing with this quote:
"We like to see our work released in that collective form that we've created it in and have always created our work in and grew up in," said Lars Ulrich, Metallica's drummer and songwriter. "It's about an experience that's 40 or 50 or 60 minutes long. It was always about how those songs fit together: the fast song next to the slow song next to the crunchy one next to the ballad next to the instrumental. There was a balance, and you had all these dynamics within the experience. I like the relentlessness of it, to really pummel and torture people with it as long as possible."
His words, not mine. Considering how crappy their music is, torture is exactly how I think of it.
But did it ever dawn on Mr. Ulrich that consumers can buy an entire album on the iTunes Music Store (and on other download services) if they feel it's worth it? For that matter, does Mr. Ulrich not realize that almost half the music sold on the iTunes Music Store is as whole albums? In short, consumers have a choice. And to Apple, I say kudos for giving us that.
If there is an album whose quality merits buying it as the complete package of great music, count me in. I have a lot of music in my collection that meets that standard. But why should I have to pay $18 for the privilege of getting one song, when everything else on the album is, if you'll pardon me, junk? Give me the ability to buy one song for just $.99 any day. As it is, I've been buying more music than I have in years. I'm willing to bet there are many artists thankful for the uptick in music sales, even if it is by the song. Better to have a lot of something than nothing at all.
Let me put it another way. The Anaheim Angels baseball team won the World Series last fall by playing littleball, or by getting a string of singles, instead of a few big homers. Instead of trying to swing for the fences and striking out a lot, the Angels saw singles as a way to win.
Are you listening, Lars? You're obviously not listening to your customers.
The success of the iTunes Music Store (over 6.5 million songs sold in just a few months) shows that legal downloading of music is viable. There's money to be made. And by giving customers a choice, they'll come in droves. The Madonnas and Lars Ulrichs of the world are standing in the path of a flood. Isn't it time they joined the party?
posted by Brian at
8:07 PM
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