When the media talks about bands who aren't making their music available for sale online, they are usually talking about the biggest hold-outs of them all: The Beatles. But they aren't the only ones who aren't embracing iTunes. According to Reuters, both AC/DC and Kid Rock decided not to sell their latest albums on-line.
However, their reasoning was different that The Beatles'. One of the features that many people love about iTunes is the ability to download single songs without having to buy the whole album. This feature is exactly what AC/DC and Kid Rock wanted to avoid. The wanted to force their fans to buy the entire album, not just one or two songs. Clearly, the reason behind this is money. The bands are afraid that if their fans can download one or two songs for 99 cents each, then they won't buy the entire album and their record sales will drop. And their plan seemed to work. Kid Rock's album, "Rock N Roll Jesus" was the third best selling album of the year, and AC/DC's "Black Ice" was the fourth.
But why are these big acts so worried about record sales in the first place? For big-name bands with a large fan base like AC/DC and Kid Rock, most of their profit comes from touring and ticket sales, not from album sales. Most of the money made from selling albums goes to the record label. So these bands must see their music, not as a collection of songs, but an entire work of art. If a person wants to listen to just one song off of an album, they won't truly understand the band's entire message.
And this leads us back to the Beatles. They were the first band that truly looked at the album as an entire work of art. Their revolutionary album "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," released in 1967 was one of the first concept albums, and it changed music history. Songs ran together without a clear ending and in order to appreciate the album, a listener had to listen to the entire album from beginning to end. This type of album doesn't translate well into individual songs, unless the user is forced to buy the entire album, and iTunes only allows this on the rarest of occasions.
So while the Internet may be good for some bands who release only singles and not concept albums, there are other bands, like the Beatles and AC/DC who feel that their albums should be listened to in their entirety or not at all, who feel that the revolution isn't necessarily a good thing.
1 comment:
I just had to comment as you know how big of an AC/DC fan I am. I think another reason why they weren't putting the songs on iTunes is because the album is only being sold in Walmart and Sams Club. I'd be willing to bet once the tour is over and the album falls off the charts, they will start making it available on iTunes, but I could be wrong. Also have you ever checked out their website or MySpace page? They profiled a few of their songs on the MySpace page I think before the radio stations started to play them. I think this is saying a lot on how an old school band has been able to adapt to a newer audience. Their motivations might be purely monetary, but you do have to admit their marketing campaign is pretty awesome. AC/DC Rocks!!
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