I'm a little disappointed that Breathe, the new single from Erasure, is not available at the USA version of the iTunes music store. It was available on the UK iTMS the day it was released in the UK, but it's not on the USA store the day it's released in America.
What gives?
In fact, I'm a little annoyed by the "worldwide web"ishness, or lack there-of, at the iTunes Music Store. One of my favorite bands, called Camouflage, is from Germany. And they are not distributed in this country. I always have to pick through import stores or order a CD from over there in order to pick it up. They're available in the German iTunes Music Store, but not the US one.
I know Apple must respect distribution rights of companies etc, but the whole global system seems a little screwed up. here I am, a GWM (guy with money) who can't buy music by a specific artist because of a contract being enforced by the record industry. It's still based on where you live instead of what you want to listen to. So I can't download music from the German iTunes Music Store, nor can I download new Erasure from the UK iTunes Music store.
Yesterday, I read that the music industry as a whole is suffering, and sales are down. Of course they're blaming the net and music downloads. I'd certainly be spending money on tunes if they (1) produced music I liked and (2) got rid of these stupid territorial restrictions that keep music from local bands tied to a geographic region.
Hey, Erasure, Camouflage, Alphaville, Human League, pay attention. I can't get your music here. You haven't lost the sale, I'll track it down somewhere, eventually, but my purchase won't count towards your chart success because it likely won't happen for months after the single comes out. I want to buy your songs, but they aren't distributed here at the iTMS yet. Can you work from your end to fix that?
Global economy my ass.
2 Comments
I can't think of any industry out there that hates its customers more than the music industry. Allowing songs to be downloaded is supposed to break down the availability barriers. Right? It defies logic – even business logic – to deny you the opportunity to get what you want. The porno industry doesn't have any problem at all.
When I make a rare purchase of a CD, there's this strip of industrial tape keeping it closed. Why is it there? For "security"? That's supposed to keep me from stealing the CD? I hate that tape. It never comes off like it's supposed to. Most annoying.
True! True! Have you ever tried to open a new CD in the car while driving? You can swerve into oncoming traffic in a split second doing that! Trying to get that industrial tape off with your teeth. It somewhat diminishes the joy of having just acquired a disk full of new music…