Buckcherry guitarist Keith Nelson says U2’s deal with Apple has devalued music and made it harder for bands who still rely on record sales.
The group’s Songs Of Innocence was automatically downloaded free to over 500 million iTunes accounts last week, reputedly costing the technology giant $100m – but Nelson says it sends out the wrong message.
He tells Northwest Music Scene, “I think music has been devalued in the eyes of the consumer, to the point where a band like U2 decides to just give its music away and basically tell people their music isn’t worth anything. That’s a bummer because I know what it takes to write a meaningful record and get it into consumers’ hands. They’ve sent a message to everyone that music is free, and that’s disturbing. It’s easy to do that when you’re a multi-millionaire and money isn’t something you worry about. But, when you’re a working band and you count on every dollar, it’s disappointing to see someone do that.”
Meanwhile, the UK Entertainment Retailers Association has slammed the U2 giveaway, saying it’s as damaging as piracy and called the promotion a “failure” after fewer than 7000 CDs from the group’s back catalogue sold after the stunt.
ERA Chairman Paul Quirk said, “This promotion is a failure on so many levels. It devalues music, it alienates the majority of people who don’t use iTunes and it disappoints those who prefer to shop in stores. Giving away music is as damaging to the value of music as piracy and those who will suffer most are the artists of tomorrow. If one of the biggest rock bands in the world are prepared to give away their new album for free, how can we expect the public to spend £10 ($16.25 U.S. dollars) on an album by a newcomer?”
Last month, Buckcherry released their Fuck EP on August 19th.
additional source: classicrockmagazine
44 Responses
Unfortunately this does confirm how little music really is valued these days. I blame the record labels/artists for most of this.
When was the last time you bought an album that really sounded awesome? I mean, just as good as the classics from your old vinyl or early CD’s? They are very very few these days. Too many times, the music is compressed to death w/ so little dynamic range than it just becomes background stuff to hear. That is not worth money to me. Add to that, how do you feel about buying the CD only to find that there are exclusive itunes ect. tracks.? You got ripped off for supporting the band before you got out of the store.
You could say that there is more new vinyl for those who care about sound quality & that is true. But it sure is funny that the CD format’s best asset was it’s stellar dynamic range compared to vinyl. Yet the good ol’ LP has the better mastering these days.
Sadly, greed has reared it’s ugly head in that respect too. Prices for new vinyl have jumped by huge amounts in the past year.
A comparison: Taylor Swift’s (don’t laugh) recent stuff are on nice double albums w/gatefold cover & lyric sleeves ect. w/very good sound – far better than the CD for $15-20. That’s a damn good price esp. compared to yesteryears record prices.
Now we have good old KISS: You can buy Love Gun again & get the cardboard gun with it, but no deluxe cover. It’s a cheap lightweight cover, but the single disc vinyl is very nice w/awesome sound. That’s cost ya about $32 for it.
And finally we have Pink Floyd’s Division Bell reissue. It’s been spread out of 2 LP’s this time w/a nice gatefold cover to boot. That’s bleed your wallet for around $40.
The point is it’s just simple greed & stupid choices for how music is presented (sound-wise) that have devalued it to nothing more than Muzak & we all know how popular that is…
Music is an art & should be presented as such. It should sound good in a way that touches your soul & makes you want to hold the actual product in your hand while feeling you paid a fair price for it.
I’m saddened to see how far out that ship has sailed in recent years & I doubt it’s gonna return. So instead of supporting new crap product, I’ll go to the record show this weekend & likely come home with a nice pile of classic stuff I’ve never heard just waiting to be discovered.
I heard ISIS was claiming responsibility for dropping the U2 album in The playlist of many
Next I’ll be getting Kate Perry’s new album that’s when I call Homeland security
Downloading songs is killing rock devaluing music iTunes is damaging the industry
Even if it’s in the Cloud and not automatically downloaded to your iPod or computer, iTunes is still doing a massive marketing push to U2 (like they need it). So if I was in a band struggling to get the word out about our music, I’d feel like “Ok, so are you going to give us a big push too by putting our album in everyone’s cloud?”. No, they aren’t. This feels like another version of “the rich get richer”, 2 superpowers working together to put everyone else out of business. I know it’s not a direct comparison, but the idea is the same. I’m neutral on the “free” aspect of it. I understand the argument about de-valueing music and don’t disagree, but at the same time since they are mega stars I kind of applaud the “give back” angle. I’d have rather they just left it free and if you wanted it you have to actively go get it, even to put in the cloud account. And, I’m also not an iTunes user – but I’m not going to go sign up just for this (not a huge U2 fan either, so it’s moot for me I guess).
I think it does speak somewhat though to the pathetic state of music sales. Maybe I should rephrase that and specify “album” sales instead of single tracks. I used to get really excited when I bought a new CD by my favorite artitsts – I think for a lot of people it’s just another commodity now.
“I think music has been devalued in the eyes of the consumer, to the point where a band like U2 decides to just give its music away and basically tell people their music isn’t worth anything. That’s a bummer because I know what it takes to write a meaningful record and get it into consumers’ hands.”
Says the guy who couldn’t think of anything more original than to release an album full of songs with the word ‘F*ck’ in each title.
Exactly! big daddy