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Apple is going to start bundling interactive content with albums on iTunes. The hope is to stimulate album sales. Last year, I was on an animated album artwork kick — see here and here. At that point, I wondered why more people didn’t do it. Now the answer is obvious. It’s expensive and difficult. One has to pay for a web designer and hosting space. The only metal bands I’ve seen with animated artwork are Cradle of Filth and Mastodon. Both are backed by big money (Roadrunner and Warner, respectively). Cradle of Filth’s “virtual vinyl” page is fun for five minutes. Mastodon’s Flash-o-rama page for Crack the Skye is a headache. (See screenshot above.) What’s worse, killing trees to print Photoshopped images, or spewing digital junk?
Aesthetics aside, Apple has solved the practical issue of enabling animated artwork. Its size and money allow it to host a platform on which bands and labels can mount content. This prevents the unwieldiness of, say, separate websites for millions of albums. The downside is that this further cements Apple’s dominance. Amazon has a perfectly fine (and much more user-friendly) MP3 store. But iPod and iPhone users are already leashed to iTunes. The record industry must be kicking itself to be under Apple’s boot.
Professionally, I look forward to richer digital content. It’s good that many promos now are served digitally. This saves everyone time and money. But most of the time, digital promos are crap. Usually I’m given badly tagged (if tagged at all) MP3’s at lo-fi bitrates (192kbps or below), with no artwork or lyrics. That’s like seeing a foreign color movie in black & white with no subtitles. I don’t understand why labels don’t put their best foot forward with promos. Reviewers should have the most information about a release. After all, we supply ratings, “press quotes,” and other such amusements. I constantly get promo CD’s wrapped in acres of one-sheets, but with no artwork or lyrics. That’s a serious misplacement of priorities.
I'm all for richer digital content, but with advertising and shows like American Idol near the top of their game(s), Apple (nor anyone for that matter) will be hard pressed to to turn the tides away from selling "the single."
Agreed. This plan strikes me as similar to the newspaper industry's plan to start charging for web versions of their papers after most have given it away for free for years. The hindsight of the record industry is kind of ridiculous. The ONLY way to boost album sales on iTunes is to actually sell albums instead of songs, but it's way too late to switch to that model now. You watch, they'll come out with these new interactive albums and the price will go up two bucks and eventually the actual physical CD will cost less at Wal-Mart than the download on iTunes…
I have less than zero interest in this idea. I listen to music while doing other things, whether writing or going for a walk. Staring at my laptop screen while some overly elaborate cartoon plays is not at all my idea of "added value."
It would be nice if labels got behind better-quality digital promos. I downloaded the new Converge album last night in CD-quality audio, but too many labels do send ultra-shitty files. I've gotten 128kbps promos in the past, and that's just ridiculous.
Reviewers should have the most information about a release. After all, we supply ratings, "press quotes," and other such amusements.
No offense, I can begrudge anyone how they make a living but you do see how this isn't going to pan out for long? As I've seen by a few recent posts I think you do, so I guess what you say here is besides the point. Finding different ways to make music critique vital and useful to the community again is a more interesting priority than exploring why labels are mistrustful and hostile to reviewers.
I have no interest in looking at a cartoon while an album plays. Who the heck would be? Little kids?
That Mastodon website sucks even worse than the actual booklet that came with the CD. I went to it thinking there might be some explanation of all the crap in that album's lyrics, and all I got was some flash-animated cartoons. Assholes! If only I had bought the version with the DVD, I might understand how Brett Hinds's sister is an analogue for Rasputin in space, but I foolishly assumed they'd put that shit in the booklet if it was important for enjoying the music (that's what I get, some of you say, for buying a Mastodon CD at all… yeah yeah).
In conclusion: I want nicer booklets. That's all! Some cool informative thing, maybe a statement of purpose or I don't know what, to make me feel like I bought something that matters. Gates of Slumber's most recent booklet was great. The booklet could even be digital. iTunes can already do that.
That's because Gates of Slumber actually have something to say. Same with Nile–nothing against the guys, but the best thing about them is their liner notes. The crap in Mastodon lyrics is just that.
Being that I have never bought MP3s online, from the discussion I take it that all albums are sold on a song by song basis? That's kind of….stupid. I mean sure, allow people to buy songs seperate but if I want an entire album wouldn't it make sense to encourage that with a discounted album price? A set price per song and few bucks off if I buy them all?
And I concur with the people that are saying they don't want to watch cartoons while they are listening to the album. That makes sense, unless it's something really trippy and I'm taking LSD I don't see a point.
I mean sure, allow people to buy songs seperate but if I want an entire album wouldn't it make sense to encourage that with a discounted album price? A set price per song and few bucks off if I buy them all?
This is exactly how the Amazon MP3 store works. (I've never bought music from iTunes, but I assume it's the same.) Generally speaking it's 99 cents per song, with a price of $8.99 or $9.99 (sometimes less) for the full album, and they list what the difference is at the top of the page. For example, if you buy Judas Priest's Nostradamus (bear with me), it's $13.99, as opposed to buying 23 MP3s at 99 cents each, which = $22.77.
I always thought album art was a very important (and exciting) part about releases and I find myself struggling with the idea of digital album art.
Getting nice album art now is more like a bonus.
I don't know if I could spend an extra 3 or so dollars on some flash animation with Mp3's when I could spend an extra 10 or 12 dollars and get a 12 x 12" album cover printed on a gatefold jacket when I buy vinyl. I prefer the printed artwork.
@Punchy: I think we're already halfway there. I try to sell CDs on Amazon now, good stuff, and demand is so low I can barely pay people to buy CDs.
I too find there to be a lot of value in owning the physical object. I used to love ripping the plastic off of the brand new CD and checking out the liner notes. In the old days it was cool to read the list of thank yous. However, more often than not the liner notes were an unbelievable disappointment. The artwork is too small to really appreciate. A vinyl sleeve is much, much more appealing. Nowadays, I normally go with downloads due to their overwhelming convenience and lower price. I usually only buy CDs when I can get them cheaper than the downloads or if it's something really special (like Deathspell Omega). Even then, I just rip the CD and store it. If we lived in a world where vinyl didn't cost an arm and a leg, I'd probably start collecting them (only if a free download or CD were included), but CDs? Those things are not worth collecting. No way. They are only good for delivering lossless digital content. Someday, when storage capability and transfer and download rate become a non-issue (soon) we'll be able to download and store CD quality (and higher) files. Then we won't have to feel like we are cheating ourselves by owning mp3s.
I've found that my iPod actually contributed to my love of the album because I can keep track of how many times I've listened to each song on the album. This helps me to balance my attention to the all songs on the album. Also, if you spend some time to find high resolution scans of the artwork, it can be enjoyed in a digital environment. I love bloggers who post scans of all of the liner notes.
ok i get to be the bad guy here. i can admit that i've long gotten over the excitement of opening a new compact disc and viewing the liner notes/artwork/packaging, etc. what's replaced that, though, is the fun of the leak, where it's a matter of seeing which scene group leaks an album first (save for crappy p2p rips). there's a little more chance involved, instead of just waiting until tuesday morning for a cd. album art is nice, but most albums i've bought i've only looked at the artwork once or twice. homepages and myspace pages have replaced cd booklets.
i'll support buying albums from smaller bands/labels (like the DsO example), but i'm not going to waste a single cent to support apple's (or anyone else's) musician-raping.