Artists are forced to pump out a product every year. In order to do that they have to put 2nd and 3rd rate tracks on the "Album". Like Doug said previously, business is trying to force creativeness. Before, we had to buy the crappy songs along with the ones we wanted. That is no longer the case.
As they have indicated repeatedly since the internet took off, the music labels have absolutely no idea of what they are doing. While Apple's iTunes should have proved that the vast majority of people will pay for music if the option is made reasonable and cost-effective, the labels still assume that we are criminals.
It's fairly obvious that Steve Jobs and Apple wanted a simple 99c per song option with no DRM. It took them 6 years to convince them that the DRM wasn't necessary, and the only way they could get the labels to drop that was by scaling the price of songs, and making the price of an album more attractive relative to the price of its component songs.
I don't know how well this worked in the US, but in Australia this has meant that it's often cheaper for me to go to a record store if I want a whole album than it is to buy it on iTunes. This is absurd. It seems to me that the labels would prefer it if iTunes would just disappear and leave them to charge whatever they like. Of course, then people stop buying it and start pirating again, but the labels are just too stupid to understand the laws of cause and effect.
As for the LP format, who cares? It's like Special Edition versions of DVD's. I've been suckered into buying 100's of these, until finally I realised that I only watch the specials once, and I've probably paid $10 extra for them. I'm much better off buying more movies than falling for the marketing. Especially when you then have the Special Special Edition come out a couple of months later, followed by the Extra Special Edition, the Super-Duper Special Edition, the Definitive Edition, the Ultimate Edition and on and on and on and on, all designed by marketeers who just want to milk the public for everything they can get away with.
It was particularly interesting to note that online music sales growth decreased after the introduction of variable pricing in iTunes. Of course, I don't expect the labels to understand that either... :-(
All we can do now is wait for Steve Jobs (the only person in the world who seems to have the power and the inclination to fight these idiots) to, somehow, convince the labels that they're just plain wrong, and that treating consumers like bottomless wallets is counter-productive.
Artists are forced to pump out a product every year.
Metallica last released a new album in 2008. No new studio content since then and no plans until late 2011 to start writing a new one. Before Death Magnetic, St. Anger was released in 2003. So I guess this particular band isn't on the list of artists forced to pump out a product every year. However I would like to know what you consider a product...
Metallica last released a new album in 2008. No new studio content since then and no plans until late 2011 to start writing a new one. Before Death Magnetic, St. Anger was released in 2003. So I guess this particular band isn't on the list of artists forced to pump out a product every year. However I would like to know what you consider a product...
Maybe we'll catch a real break and Metallica will decide to stop recording permanently...
"CD-quality" audio (aka RedBook/CD-DA) is not the apogee of audio.
I, too am an SACD fan. If I could get SACD quality from iTunes, I would be buying a LOT of music...
Like SACD, the ideal downloadable format would have lossless compressed DSD-like multi-channel and stereo versions, plus a smaller compressed version for use on an iPod.
iTunes LP is a great concept. But it went hand-in-hand with the price increases that are actually driving sales down. The price on those "special edition" albums are just too high.
Why is the industry so clueless?? LP isn't a way to grab more $$ from an album, it's a way to drive sales of the album. But they can't seem to think in terms of volume vs. up-front profit.
If iTunes LPs are going to cost more than $9.99, then yes, they should definitely come with a higher res 'audiophile' version option (e.g. 256kbs AAC), and a much more portable experience.
But the mistake has been to increase single track and album prices, and to jack the LP price into "it's special" territory, which always limits sales to a niche group... they could bust open the floodgates pricing them for $9.99... then they'd pay for themselves quite nicely.
Especially with the iPad in the mix. You could really enjoy the whole 'multimedia' experience of LP on those....
They need to stop driving their model on the fuel of greed, and just deliver good quality and a fair value. That's how you win, keep and increase business......
The music industry need to take a look at both the Publishing and Movie Industries. They've both found a way to market the same merchandise in a great variety of ways and at different price points and it seems to work quite well.
Books:
- Higher Margin Hardcover Edition Books (often release well before cheaper paperbacks)
- Lower Margin Paperbacks to cater to value buyers
Movies:
- Special Edition Movies With Commentary etc.
- Regular Edition Movies (value priced)
The Music Industry seems to have forgotten how to provided substance that buyers are interested in. The LP artwork was a okay first attempt, however what about things like. In my opinion music 'fans' are not unlike movie fans or author/book fans. Some of them can and will buy anything and everything associated with their particular interest. Look at The Beatles Anthology... In short a collection of 'crap off the cutting room floor' that was somehow spared from the dumpster. The FANS however ate it up... it was good fun listening to the band mess around and try out different takes on the same song. Are The Beatles fans so different from any other band / singer? I for one don't think so. Someone REALLY into Black Sabbath would jump at the chance to hear Ozzy and the band screwing around in the studio... Same for Sting or Queen etc etc etc. I'm quite certain if they made the effort they could find lots of content right in their own tape archives.
Music:
Singles:
- Regular Edition Tracks
- Special Edition Tracks @ 320kbs (perhaps holding back a track that would only be available on the SE Album, see below)
- Normal Album Incentives LP Artwork (this should be low priced)
- Special Edition Albums, LP Artwork, All Tracks @ 320kbs, Perhaps a bonus 'Live' track, 30 mins or so of studio mic recordings, ??? (this would come with a premium price)
What would happen if 'catalog albums' sold for $5.99 or 6.99 each, new releases at 8.99 or 9.99 for the basic album w/LP artwork and 192kbs and the SE edition LP with LP Artwork and better quality on all the tracks + Live Bonus Track + Open Mic audio + ??? for $13.99 - $14.99.
Now you've got 'catalog albums' at a really aggressive price perhaps to the point where many would pop for the whole album even if they only really like 2 or maybe 3 songs since the cost of 3 individual tracks would come to more than the album cost and once people get into the habit of buying albums again (like the good old days) and once people get accustom to buying Albums theres a chance they will continue. Digital music was initially marketed as a 'track' product so people simply aren't used to buying albums.
I dunno but it doesn't seem like music industry isn't* (edit) putting very much effort in REINVENTING ITSELF and ITS PRODUCTS!
You guys realize that if Apple were to make iTunes LP ALAC, the labels would just release more loudness-adjusted music that didn't use the dynamic range.
Yeah that is too bad about them not being able to support the format to the degree that it becomes available to all artists. Sure you could hire your own developer and make your LP. Maybe it would be easier to submit if it was already composed. As far as the app is concerned it would be a compromise. Nearly everyone has a computer with iTunes in comparison to a few million with iPhones. Plus the screen is much larger on a computer. The iPad would be nice but again you still have a rather limited audience.
Yeah well, anyone can do their own LP. It's just HTML, and with pretty good documentation too. I think anyone can do it. They just don't have any submission details available, other than to their own selected artists and labels at this point. It's a mess with HTML cuz you can easily make things work even though full of potential bugs. I guess Apple must approve the code manually at this point, to make sure there's nothing funny going on behind the scenes.
But the thing is: to sell a "portable band homepage" as something premium... I don't know... It's neat, but I just don't feel it's premium enough to charge for... and the question is: will it work any place other than on your computer? There is potential the day it's portable.
But it's hard coded 1280 x 720, so there's gotta be zooming involved on devices with smaller screens. Hard to read on an iPhone, if it's designed for a computer screen etc.
But get the thing out already so we can start using it!!
Record labels are such fools. They need to learn to think like a music listener.
What is the benefit of buying an iTunes LP for someone who is buying the music to listen to the music? Including extra crap isn't an incentive for me to buy an iTunes LP when what I want is the songs. Include a lossless version of the songs and I have incentive to buy the iTunes LP. Anything else is just waste.
I'm not more likely to buy a pizza if it comes in a designer box or if it comes with extra artwork. I just want to eat pizza. I don't care what kind of bogus extras the record label attaches to an album in hopes of getting me to pay extra. I want to listen to the music.
Thank you. QFT and that's all that needs to be said on the matter.
1. Designed around album sales (which are dirt poor on iTunes).
2. Limited publicity/availability.
3. The words "LP" are meaningless to 75% of iTunes customers.
4. Despicably low audio quality cannot support the concept of a digital LP. Actual LPs sounded better 30 years ago.
*5. No end-user tools for iTunes LP creation. It would be nice to have a Simple-Create in iTunes to automatically create an iTunes LP for a selection of songs using a few presets AND a custom designed iTunes LP built into iDVD or some other aspect of iLife.
As Gomer would have said, surprise! surprise! surprise!
They thought if they just threw out this fluff, that people would feel ok with spending more money. The labels are just too damn greedy and can't stop wishing things would go back to the old business model where they raped the artist and jammed the public as they reaped the profits.
Kids today are not the youth of the 60's and 70's that enjoyed the album art and liner notes. Back then it was an art form in itself. Not now.
The consumer is too savvy to be forced into buying the whole CD which is filled with crap and one or two commercial tunes. They want to choose only the songs they like and not pay more than $0.99. If they don't get that, they will steal it instead. And, sales will drop.
I am still old-fashioned and luddite. When I want a whole album, I buy the CD.
How can you be a luddite if you're posting on an internet forum and using CDs? Aren't Luddites supposed to be wholly against all technology bar basics?
That being said if they offered more LP content than just a few bands people might be more interested. I got Muse's latest album because I was going to buy it anyway. Same with Pearl Jam's. But Muse's LP offering was awesome whereas Pearl Jam's was just the book that is a PDF download anyway.
People are either going to buy full albums or they are not and LP isn't going to change that. If the industry wants to sell more albums how about making albums filled with awesome songs instead of two or three and the rest junk?
So why not update LP format to include support for a iPhone app. This way for the artists who like to do an iPhone app to promote themselves they might be encouraged to also still use the LP feature if it gives quick access to their application.
Record labels are such fools. They need to learn to think like a music listener.
What is the benefit of buying an iTunes LP for someone who is buying the music to listen to the music? Including extra crap isn't an incentive for me to buy an iTunes LP when what I want is the songs. Include a lossless version of the songs and I have incentive to buy the iTunes LP. Anything else is just waste.
I'm not more likely to buy a pizza if it comes in a designer box or if it comes with extra artwork. I just want to eat pizza. I don't care what kind of bogus extras the record label attaches to an album in hopes of getting me to pay extra. I want to listen to the music.
Yeah it seems like the record companies are still desperately trying to hold on to the idea of an "album", so they can sell it to you for 15 bucks, rather than just getting 99 cents for the song you want.
People just don't care enough about liner notes and song lyrics and the 8 other filler songs on the "album" to pay extra. They want to buy the songs they like for the most part, and if they want some pictures and song lyrics and such, they can easily find that on the web.
The labels have a product that nobody wants anymore and they refuse to let it go.
Comments
It's fairly obvious that Steve Jobs and Apple wanted a simple 99c per song option with no DRM. It took them 6 years to convince them that the DRM wasn't necessary, and the only way they could get the labels to drop that was by scaling the price of songs, and making the price of an album more attractive relative to the price of its component songs.
I don't know how well this worked in the US, but in Australia this has meant that it's often cheaper for me to go to a record store if I want a whole album than it is to buy it on iTunes. This is absurd. It seems to me that the labels would prefer it if iTunes would just disappear and leave them to charge whatever they like. Of course, then people stop buying it and start pirating again, but the labels are just too stupid to understand the laws of cause and effect.
As for the LP format, who cares? It's like Special Edition versions of DVD's. I've been suckered into buying 100's of these, until finally I realised that I only watch the specials once, and I've probably paid $10 extra for them. I'm much better off buying more movies than falling for the marketing. Especially when you then have the Special Special Edition come out a couple of months later, followed by the Extra Special Edition, the Super-Duper Special Edition, the Definitive Edition, the Ultimate Edition and on and on and on and on, all designed by marketeers who just want to milk the public for everything they can get away with.
It was particularly interesting to note that online music sales growth decreased after the introduction of variable pricing in iTunes. Of course, I don't expect the labels to understand that either... :-(
All we can do now is wait for Steve Jobs (the only person in the world who seems to have the power and the inclination to fight these idiots) to, somehow, convince the labels that they're just plain wrong, and that treating consumers like bottomless wallets is counter-productive.
Artists are forced to pump out a product every year.
Metallica last released a new album in 2008. No new studio content since then and no plans until late 2011 to start writing a new one. Before Death Magnetic, St. Anger was released in 2003. So I guess this particular band isn't on the list of artists forced to pump out a product every year. However I would like to know what you consider a product...
You can buy the whole album on iTunes for less!
Sometimes.
Artists are forced to pump out a product every year.
Kate Bush took a break of 13 years between Aerial and the The Red Shoes.
I think the word some should be at the beginning of that sentence, and perhaps "due to the contract they signed" should be added at the end.
Metallica last released a new album in 2008. No new studio content since then and no plans until late 2011 to start writing a new one. Before Death Magnetic, St. Anger was released in 2003. So I guess this particular band isn't on the list of artists forced to pump out a product every year. However I would like to know what you consider a product...
Maybe we'll catch a real break and Metallica will decide to stop recording permanently...
"CD-quality" audio (aka RedBook/CD-DA) is not the apogee of audio.
I, too am an SACD fan. If I could get SACD quality from iTunes, I would be buying a LOT of music...
Like SACD, the ideal downloadable format would have lossless compressed DSD-like multi-channel and stereo versions, plus a smaller compressed version for use on an iPod.
iTunes LP is a great concept. But it went hand-in-hand with the price increases that are actually driving sales down. The price on those "special edition" albums are just too high.
Why is the industry so clueless?? LP isn't a way to grab more $$ from an album, it's a way to drive sales of the album. But they can't seem to think in terms of volume vs. up-front profit.
If iTunes LPs are going to cost more than $9.99, then yes, they should definitely come with a higher res 'audiophile' version option (e.g. 256kbs AAC), and a much more portable experience.
But the mistake has been to increase single track and album prices, and to jack the LP price into "it's special" territory, which always limits sales to a niche group... they could bust open the floodgates pricing them for $9.99... then they'd pay for themselves quite nicely.
Especially with the iPad in the mix. You could really enjoy the whole 'multimedia' experience of LP on those....
They need to stop driving their model on the fuel of greed, and just deliver good quality and a fair value. That's how you win, keep and increase business......
Books:
- Higher Margin Hardcover Edition Books (often release well before cheaper paperbacks)
- Lower Margin Paperbacks to cater to value buyers
Movies:
- Special Edition Movies With Commentary etc.
- Regular Edition Movies (value priced)
The Music Industry seems to have forgotten how to provided substance that buyers are interested in. The LP artwork was a okay first attempt, however what about things like. In my opinion music 'fans' are not unlike movie fans or author/book fans. Some of them can and will buy anything and everything associated with their particular interest. Look at The Beatles Anthology... In short a collection of 'crap off the cutting room floor' that was somehow spared from the dumpster. The FANS however ate it up... it was good fun listening to the band mess around and try out different takes on the same song. Are The Beatles fans so different from any other band / singer? I for one don't think so. Someone REALLY into Black Sabbath would jump at the chance to hear Ozzy and the band screwing around in the studio... Same for Sting or Queen etc etc etc. I'm quite certain if they made the effort they could find lots of content right in their own tape archives.
Music:
Singles:
- Regular Edition Tracks
- Special Edition Tracks @ 320kbs (perhaps holding back a track that would only be available on the SE Album, see below)
- Normal Album Incentives LP Artwork (this should be low priced)
- Special Edition Albums, LP Artwork, All Tracks @ 320kbs, Perhaps a bonus 'Live' track, 30 mins or so of studio mic recordings, ??? (this would come with a premium price)
What would happen if 'catalog albums' sold for $5.99 or 6.99 each, new releases at 8.99 or 9.99 for the basic album w/LP artwork and 192kbs and the SE edition LP with LP Artwork and better quality on all the tracks + Live Bonus Track + Open Mic audio + ??? for $13.99 - $14.99.
Now you've got 'catalog albums' at a really aggressive price perhaps to the point where many would pop for the whole album even if they only really like 2 or maybe 3 songs since the cost of 3 individual tracks would come to more than the album cost and once people get into the habit of buying albums again (like the good old days) and once people get accustom to buying Albums theres a chance they will continue. Digital music was initially marketed as a 'track' product so people simply aren't used to buying albums.
I dunno but it doesn't seem like music industry isn't* (edit) putting very much effort in REINVENTING ITSELF and ITS PRODUCTS!
If some people wanted more then offer it to them, but don't count on the high rollers being the core business model.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudness_war
It's like the labels are trying to destroy the listening experience.
Yeah that is too bad about them not being able to support the format to the degree that it becomes available to all artists. Sure you could hire your own developer and make your LP. Maybe it would be easier to submit if it was already composed. As far as the app is concerned it would be a compromise. Nearly everyone has a computer with iTunes in comparison to a few million with iPhones. Plus the screen is much larger on a computer. The iPad would be nice but again you still have a rather limited audience.
Yeah well, anyone can do their own LP. It's just HTML, and with pretty good documentation too. I think anyone can do it. They just don't have any submission details available, other than to their own selected artists and labels at this point. It's a mess with HTML cuz you can easily make things work even though full of potential bugs. I guess Apple must approve the code manually at this point, to make sure there's nothing funny going on behind the scenes.
But the thing is: to sell a "portable band homepage" as something premium... I don't know... It's neat, but I just don't feel it's premium enough to charge for... and the question is: will it work any place other than on your computer? There is potential the day it's portable.
But it's hard coded 1280 x 720, so there's gotta be zooming involved on devices with smaller screens. Hard to read on an iPhone, if it's designed for a computer screen etc.
But get the thing out already so we can start using it!!
Record labels are such fools. They need to learn to think like a music listener.
What is the benefit of buying an iTunes LP for someone who is buying the music to listen to the music? Including extra crap isn't an incentive for me to buy an iTunes LP when what I want is the songs. Include a lossless version of the songs and I have incentive to buy the iTunes LP. Anything else is just waste.
I'm not more likely to buy a pizza if it comes in a designer box or if it comes with extra artwork. I just want to eat pizza. I don't care what kind of bogus extras the record label attaches to an album in hopes of getting me to pay extra. I want to listen to the music.
Thank you. QFT and that's all that needs to be said on the matter.
1. Designed around album sales (which are dirt poor on iTunes).
2. Limited publicity/availability.
3. The words "LP" are meaningless to 75% of iTunes customers.
4. Despicably low audio quality cannot support the concept of a digital LP. Actual LPs sounded better 30 years ago.
*5. No end-user tools for iTunes LP creation. It would be nice to have a Simple-Create in iTunes to automatically create an iTunes LP for a selection of songs using a few presets AND a custom designed iTunes LP built into iDVD or some other aspect of iLife.
They thought if they just threw out this fluff, that people would feel ok with spending more money. The labels are just too damn greedy and can't stop wishing things would go back to the old business model where they raped the artist and jammed the public as they reaped the profits.
Kids today are not the youth of the 60's and 70's that enjoyed the album art and liner notes. Back then it was an art form in itself. Not now.
The consumer is too savvy to be forced into buying the whole CD which is filled with crap and one or two commercial tunes. They want to choose only the songs they like and not pay more than $0.99. If they don't get that, they will steal it instead. And, sales will drop.
I am still old-fashioned and luddite. When I want a whole album, I buy the CD.
How can you be a luddite if you're posting on an internet forum and using CDs? Aren't Luddites supposed to be wholly against all technology bar basics?
That being said if they offered more LP content than just a few bands people might be more interested. I got Muse's latest album because I was going to buy it anyway. Same with Pearl Jam's. But Muse's LP offering was awesome whereas Pearl Jam's was just the book that is a PDF download anyway.
People are either going to buy full albums or they are not and LP isn't going to change that. If the industry wants to sell more albums how about making albums filled with awesome songs instead of two or three and the rest junk?
Record labels are such fools. They need to learn to think like a music listener.
What is the benefit of buying an iTunes LP for someone who is buying the music to listen to the music? Including extra crap isn't an incentive for me to buy an iTunes LP when what I want is the songs. Include a lossless version of the songs and I have incentive to buy the iTunes LP. Anything else is just waste.
I'm not more likely to buy a pizza if it comes in a designer box or if it comes with extra artwork. I just want to eat pizza. I don't care what kind of bogus extras the record label attaches to an album in hopes of getting me to pay extra. I want to listen to the music.
Yeah it seems like the record companies are still desperately trying to hold on to the idea of an "album", so they can sell it to you for 15 bucks, rather than just getting 99 cents for the song you want.
People just don't care enough about liner notes and song lyrics and the 8 other filler songs on the "album" to pay extra. They want to buy the songs they like for the most part, and if they want some pictures and song lyrics and such, they can easily find that on the web.
The labels have a product that nobody wants anymore and they refuse to let it go.