Will iTunes Kill Music?
from the say-what?? dept
Salon has found an economist who is fascinated with the concept of “bundling” and is using that hammer to bang away at non-nails in the online music world. She’s written an article bashing Apple’s iTunes for daring to unbundle music. She claims that she’s found so much good music by buying an album because of a single catchy radio hit – and discovering the non-hits are much better songs. Yet, she doesn’t seem to consider the reverse situation: the number of times consumers have shelled out $20 for a radio hit, only to find another ten or twelve terrible songs that they never want to listen to. She then suggests that artists won’t be encouraged to experiment in a world where “unbundled” music rules, and points to the age of the vinyl single as evidence. This might make sense on first reading – except that there’s a huge difference in the digital world. The ease of both the creation and distribution of music means that it’s even easier for musicians to experiment. They can just throw whatever they want online, and see how people react. They don’t have to wait until they have a complete collection of songs to release as an album. While (despite the title) the article really has little to do with Apple’s iTunes, I would say the bigger problem with iTunes is that it actually takes away the biggest benefit to the internet (which would encourage musicians to take chances) – which is the ability for people to really sample music and share it with friends. The wonderful world that Napster opened up (albeit illegally under current laws) was a situation where people could recommend songs to others, such that people were able to experiment and discover new (and often experimental) music all the time. Ms. Akhtar also misses the point that the online world has infinite shelving – and so her arguments that only popular mass-market hits will get made, doesn’t fly either. The ability to offer a wider variety, and have reasonably successful niche hits is a much stronger possibility online than offline. I won’t argue with her economic analysis of bundling, but it appears she’s so focused on that one aspect, that she’s missed the larger world around online music.
Comments on “Will iTunes Kill Music?”
No Subject Given
Wouldn’t most of this problem be solved if bands and record companies start releasing albums that are actually filled with good music? Imagine buying a $20 CD and actually enjoying every (or atleast a good majority) track on it, and maybe it would actually be worth spending $20.
Hip Hop
My girlfriend’s son is big into “West Coast Gangsta'” style hip-hop ‘music’.
I have routinely downloaded entire albums of this kind of ‘music’ for him and it amazes me when you look at the track listings and see:
Track 1 – Intro – 0:27
Track 2 – Song 1 – 4:00
Track 3 – Song 2 – 4:00
Track 4 – Skit – 0:33
Track 5 – Song 1 Remix – 4:33
Track 6 – Skit 2 – 0:54
Track 7 – Song 4 Redubbed Mix
Track 8 – Song 3 – 3:35
Track 9 – Outro
There are usually no more than 5 songs out of 10-11 tracks that are actual original songs (not including the fact that many are just overdubbed remixes of someone else’s song). You drag all the tracks to an 80 min CD-R and see that there is still 40-50 minutes of usable space on the disc.
Someone is supposed to pay $16 – $20 for that? I don’t think so.
I forgot to add...
Ever been to the music store to pick up an album that has that “one song you want” only to see a sticker on the shrink wrap proclaiming:
“Contains the hits ‘Song you never heard of’ and ‘Some other song you never heard of'”
Or am I the only one?
Re: I forgot to add...
I can’t believe you guys are so forgiving. The current state of the industry is bad. I’m swearing off music until they start producing better products.
Re: Re: I forgot to add...
You know Billy Joel and others made this kind of stink when CD’s first came out. They were longer than LP’s so inevitably the quality of music would go down. Couple that with the fact that the labels tend to release a catchy single then drop bands on their a$$, there is a huge lack of quality music. I see apps like iTunes giving the consumer a tool that he/she has wanted all along. The power of choice. If a hip/hop artist only wants to make one real song and then resample everything else then they should only be paid for that one song. Same goes for all types of music. Take artists like Tu-Pac, Biggy, and others who make full ablums and the consumer will want all of the tracks. This whole business of uncoupling music is rediculous. There usually is nothing to uncouple.