It’s obvious that physical album sales would decline ever since the rise of iTunes and other online music stores, and who wants to buy an entire album of filler songs online when you can purchase the three or four songs from the album that you want? Apple and its associated record companies have noticed the large decline in online sales of entire albums, which have higher profit than individual tracks, so they’re working on a new perk to spark people’s interest in buying albums again. What’s more is that these doubtful rumors that have been going around about Apple’s tablet actually seem to have some truth to them.Apple and four of the largest record companies, EMI, Sony Music, Warner Music and Universal Music Group, are working together on a project they call “Cocktail” that will add an entire slew of new content that will be available only with albums. It’ll be more intriguing than the current offering according to one ‘executive:’ “It’s not just a bunch of PDFs. There’s real engagement with the ancillary stuff.”
What Apple will be offering with albums downloaded from iTunes in the hopes to rev sales will be interactive. Interactive booklets, sleeve notes, video clips, and other media were mentioned to be bundled. Apparently those who buy albums will be able to play songs directly from this ‘interactive book’ without having to go back to the iTunes player. According to another ‘executive:’ “It’s all about recreating the heyday of the album when you would sit around with your friends looking at the artwork while you listened to the music.”
I never did that myself, but perhaps that was more common back with LPs, which were long before my time.
Rumors have been flying about Apple’s upcoming tablet for the past several weeks, and none have been published at OSAlert for obvious reasons. However, the Financial Times seems to have some actual evidence (these few unnamed executives). According to the article, the tablet will have a touch screen of up to ten inches and have Internet connectivity though most likely not via a data plan like the iPhone. They said that Apple’s hoping to have this new device out in time for the Christmas shopping season and that it will be an industry-changing device just as the iPod and the iPhone have been.
The “Cocktail” project, which is planned for a September launch, is hoped to compliment the tablet and vice-versa, bringing in more revenue for everybody involved.
There have also been talks with Apple from book publishers to add services to the new tablet. “Kindle Killer” has a nice alliterative ring to it, don’t you think? We’d have to fit that “i” in there somewhere, but “iKiller” will discourage many 13 year-old’s parents from allowing such a device in the house.
Whatever happens, I don’t think the offering of cheap media along with album downloads is going to tempt many people so they can “sit around with their friends looking at the media while listening to the music.” Single-track downloads are generally bought for the sole reason of not having to buy the rest of the album that you don’t want. As for the tablet, the Financial Times has me convinced. If the battery can last a long time, I believe it may be a hit.
As said, people want to be able to buy single tracks they enjoy, often skipping those songs they don’t really like all that much.. People also buy songs online because they can take those songs along when they go somewhere, be it on the phone, some other portable player, a minibook/netbook or something similar, and songs in electronic format are easier to just have while you’re doing something else on the computer/device, be it research, playing, studying, work… All those cases there will be no use for all that extra fluff. Music just is often used to spice up the atmosphere when you are doing something else and no matter what fluff you stuff along the songs will not change that.
“sit around with their friends looking at the media while listening to the music”
I’ve never heard of anyone doing that, actually. It might have been popular back in stone-age. Mostly because it was so difficult to take those songs with you, I suppose.
Albums are often filled with worse songs than the hit songs. On a good album with 15 songs, at most five are really good. So if I buy these 5 songs individually I spend a lot less.
There are exceptions of course. Concept albums like “The Dark Side of the Moon” come to mind. But normally most is just filler material.
Often the record companies just used the album to get more money from the fans, after they already bought a single. Remember it was often cheaper to buy the album, than to buy two singles.
That’s a bit harsh towards many artists. There’s a lot of good albums out there, especially if you stray outside pop music and listen to album-oriented artists/bands.
That said, these “interactive books” sound like a gimmick. For some reason, I’m expecting that these books will stay tied to iTunes and possibly have DRM. If I’m listening carefully to music, I won’t do it in front of a computer, even if it’s a tablet. Definitely not interesting, even for album fans.
To be fair, most of Apples flagship products of recent years have been well designed and marketed gimmicks which ended up penetrating the market as “must have” devices.
I guess it really depends on the kind of music you buy.
If you listen to the more commercial / pop side of music, then yeah I whole heartedly agree with you as the music is driven mostly by singles sales.
However if you prefer some niche music scenes then you’d generally find that singles often don’t sell so well. So the artist writes the album and then picks tracks from the album to be singles – thus the albums are of a better quality (assuming you like that style of music).
Also agreed about concept albums.
I really think the only tablet that would make any sense is one with a matte backlight-optional Pixel Qi screen. It would be a cool web tablet and an excellent PDF ebook reader.
Such a device is not rocket science and I am surpised that no one hasn’t anounced something like that yet. Techcrunch or Always Innovating could improve their upcoming products with such a screen, but to really make a splash you should have it right from the start.
Apple is good at these “connecting the dots” decisions. Most OEMs totally suck donkey balls at that.
Maybe if they stopped stuffing albums with filler then the whole album would sell?
Seems perfectly reasonable to me.
Edit:
Well, I think I should elaborate a bit more. The extra fluff I think will fail. It sounds like DVD extras, and most people I know could care less about DVD extras. I also don’t see many people sitting around and listening to music for it’s own sake, rather it is background noise. There is no want for further interaction. If this is the case, this extra content will be a complete no go.
The only way to sell more music is to produce more music. I don’t see how they can miss such a concept.
Edited 2009-07-28 22:09 UTC
Maybe I’m strange, but I like as much information about the music I’m listening to as possible. Lyrics, line notes, recording session photos, essays by the artists…
done right it can greatly enhance the listening experience.
Very much disagree. There is already more music out there than anybody will ever be able to listen to. Quantity is not the problem at all, quality is.
You might really enjoy Songbird and its MashTape plugin, if you haven’t seen them
http://addons.songbirdnest.com/addon/73
then they need to make the music worth buying. Frankly, most of the popular music (and consequently the most expensive) isn’t worth album price. I do buy full albums… from Magnatune and other such independent labels. Why? Because the artists on those labels are actually good, they know they don’t have a giant label behind them forcing their sub-par music all over the radio and into movies. If the music is good, I buy the album, if not they get no sale. Interactive booklets? Pfft… and maybe I’m too young, but I don’t remember anyone ever sitting around and looking at the album art while listening to the music. Why is it that whenever these big labels want more people to buy their crap their solution is more gimmicks instead of better music?
People want a single song that they like, from an artist who usually sucks. Nobody wants to buy an album where one single was good and all the other singles released were terrible.
I’ve never bought a single in my life. Singles have always been relatively expensive compared to an album, until iTunes came along.
Why would I buy an album for more money than the physical media costs?
Plus, most of the bands I listen to, aren’t single focussed. The art that has been produced is the album, not just one single. The sequence of the songs is important. The physical design inlays are important.
iTunes is designed for the lowest common denominator, i.e. those purchasing X-Factor type pop.