Franz Ferdinand Wants You to Download Their Music
I like the idea that, because of downloading, people are going to buy songs only if they are good. I think that’s a positive thing. It means lazy bands aren’t going to get away with giving you one hit single and an album full of filler.
This is almost exactly what I’ve been saying all along. Giving consumers the ability to download individual tracks should eventually kill the pop music industry model of “2 decent singles on an otherwise shitty album.” If I wanted to buy a really great t-shirt, I wouldn’t be forced to buy an ugly pair of pants and flip flops to go with it.
In a perfect world the download model would allow artists to get back to making good music without interference from studio executives. Unfortunately the reality is so many of these artists don’t perform, let alone choose their own music. Perhaps in the next few years to come we’ll start seeing some more accurate statistics on music purchases. After all, isn’t iTunes something like the third largest music retailer in the United States right now?
Could this account for the steady decline in hip hop sales?
We have to start betting on the new and the up-and-coming for us to grow as an industry. Right now, I don’t think anyone is taking chances. It’s a big-business culture.
It’s funny how artists are all about fans and potential fans downloading their music, but the record labels are all against it. It’s very rare that artists and bands make that much money off of their albums. Most of their money comes from promotions, touring, and merchandise.
In any case, I’m not going to pay over $10 for a CD when only two, possibly three, songs are going to be good. I need to listen to it first. And maybe hip-hop sales wouldn’t be declining if it wasn’t the same thing, just by different “MC’s”. For the record, I don’t consider T-Pain, T.I, and other such artists real MC’s. Common and Talib Kweli would be examples of MC’s. Their music has a message, something that’s been lost in hip hop since Run DMC, NWA, and Tupac. I’ll even through in some of Jay-Z’s tracks.
I absolutely agree. The only time I buy cds anymore is 1. used, or 2. directly from an artist at a show i’ve enjoyed, and only in the instance vinyl isn’t available. Also agree on the latest flavors of pop hip hop not being true MCs.