Revolution
Amazon.com launched a DRM-free mp3 music download site today called amazonmp3. So far, it looks like they have some decent artists on their catalog with downloads from $0.89 to $0.99 per track. They claim to have over 2MM songs and 180,000 artists to choose from at this point – that’s a lot of Alpha!
As I’m sure you know, iTunes offers songs for $0.99 to $1.29 per track. Amazonmp3’s are compatible with iTunes and Windoze Media Playa’ so you can download music for any mp3 player for one price.
I began playing the guitar at a young age and I remember having to buy albums for $8 or $9. A lot of times an album would have 3 songs that were any good and the rest of the album was filler, artistic – sure, but economically speaking, it was filler material. Admittedly, not every album could be like Steely Dan’s Aja or Sprinsteen’s Darkness on the Edge of Town, but there many albums that feature more B-sides than Singles.
So you’d be standing in the record store weighing in on buying a couple of 45’s instead of the whole album to save money. But then you’ve got three 45’s – 6 songs – three of them great, and three you couldn’t care about. And how many times did you lose that little pain in the ass plastic thing than you had to use to adapt the 45 to play on a 33 rpm record player? I guess it’s would’ve been naive to think that the record companies would put 2 hit singles on one 45, that would be cheaper. Outside of The Beatles, who else can release their B-sides and keep their dignity?
Enter mp3’s and DRM-free downloads – the record has spun in our favor. As Lynn Hirschberg pointed out in a NYT Magazine article about Rick Rubin titled The Music Man, a big problem for record co’s is that iTunes basically prices all mp3’s equally.
A Justin Timberlake smash costs the same as an Al Jolson classic. Since a listener would, ideally, pay more for a Top 10 hit, that egalitarian system costs record companies potential millions of dollars. The opponents of the subscription model feel that making all music by all artists available for one flat fee will end up diminishing the overall revenue stream.
From what I’ve read, Rick Rubin seems more of an artist/collaborator – cut from the same cloth as Mo Ostin – than from David Geffen. But a Geffen protegé is what the record industry needs right now. As it stands, record co’s might have to share in the touring, dvd, and merchandising revenues of their signed artists.
If that is the direction a record company decides to go in, the best man for the job is Gene Simmons of Kiss who is a merciless marketer. According to Wikipedia, “Kiss has licensed its name to over 2000 product categories,” – from credit cards to condoms. Don’t be surprised if he puts his D**k in a Box in time for the holiday season. He’s bringing the Kiss Army to another level.
Evolution has hit the recording industry hard. For the time being, the consumer can get what they want, for a price they want, play it on a device they want, and take it with them.
