I am a music lover, have been for as long as I've had ears! From my parents records of the Beatles, the Mamas & the Papas to The Muppet Show album, I grew up with music. As soon as I had my own pocket money, I was buying records of my own. I can't say the 10 year old me had particularly good taste, but there is sentimental value in those 7 inches. 20 or so years later, I have a fantastic music collection: some limited editions, box sets & exclusive promos of some of my favourite artists, along with far more CDs than a normal person should own. Thing is, I wouldn't change it for anything. I rarely buy digital tracks from iTunes, as it's less tangible than possessing a CD or record. This is where my gripes with iTunes begins.
I often see artists advertising "exclusive to iTunes" versions of their albums when they're released. Obviously, there's nothing wrong with that, but the sort of people that are completionists in terms of music like their exclusive box sets, limited edition packaging & "exclusive" content in physical form. Ok, those of a certain demographic do, but as record company budgets are tightened, fewer things are released in a physical format. This in turn somewhat makes music far more throwaway, and seen less of as a creative art form. As someone who still likes to buy music legally, I'm often penalised when 'special editions' of albums are released several months after the original that I've already bought. If I want this new material I can buy the album again when I already own most of it, or I can download the extra tracks individually, which generally costs around the price of buying the album again anyway!
My reason for writing this piece stems from an incident that occurred recently. I am a fan of Nerina Pallot. I pre-ordered her album, 'Year of the Wolf' in May last year from hmv.com, as they had a chance to win tickets to an exclusive gig she was doing the week before release in June. Play.com had signed albums to the first however many people pre-ordered the album, and iTunes had an exclusive 'deluxe' edition with extra tracks not available on the CD. I was lucky enough to win some tickets to her gig, and also got to see Bernard Butler perform with her on a few songs. I loved the album too, and felt I really got my money's worth buying that CD! Fast forward to January 2012 and Nerina announces on her Facebook & Twitter pages that a 'New Year of the Wolf' album with covers & BBC sessions will be available exclusively on iTunes in a few days. This gave me the impression that the '6 new tracks' were going to be an EP of some sort. Went onto iTunes the day the album was available and this album was yet another version of 'Year of the Wolf', but basically the original iTunes exclusive with another 6 tracks. As someone who bought the physical CD this meant there were 11 tracks I did not have. The album as a whole costs £11.99 on iTunes, it would cost me £10.89 to download the 11 tracks I don't have, which I won't do. As a true music fan I'd like a physical CD of some sort, 'exclusive to iTunes' doesn't hold much appeal to those of us who like mementos of our favourite artists' music.
I don't think I'm alone, judging by the complaints on Nerina's Facebook page. Of course as an artist it's not her fault, music is now an industry that makes so little profit from its products, no risks can be taken in manufacturing goods people don't buy. That's the beauty of the download - stock is in constant supply to whoever wants it. Thing is, although I put my music onto my iPod, I still like to buy CDs to add to my collection. I think something can be done however and this is my appeal to record labels.
When you have exclusive content for fans, communicate with them to offer pre-orders on physical products, with a deadline and limited run. You have your orders before manufacture so there is no risk involved with unwanted and pricey stock. Pledge Music sort of does this, though is mainly for artists without record deals. So it's buy before you try, but true music fans will pay for something they want. When we go to gigs we buy the tickets months in advance and not on the day, so why should it be different with music?
So, what's my point? In short, I'm not going to pay iTunes £11.99 for an album I can't hold in my hand when I already own half of the songs on it. More and more music fans are downloading illegally because of rip offs like this, even though they would often prefer to purchase the music legitimately. However, I would pay £11.99 for the same album on a CD in a limited run issued to fans only.
As long as this goes on, more people will download illegally and music becomes more and more devalued.
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