iTunes - Idolator

Posts Tagged “iTunes”

paul mccartney's gotta pay that alimony somehow

Did Bloomingdale's Leak Beatles/iTunes News?

If you're a Beatles fan, prepare to be either horrified or economically exploited by the holiday lineup at Bloomingdale's; the retail chain has gone frantic for the Fab Four. Between Beatles t-shirts designed by Marc Jacobs and St. Pepper's jackets by Met View, there's something for nearly everyone with money to spend and dubious tastes in aesthetics. More surprising is the announcement that the store will sell "an exclusive limited-edition Beatles iPod has been created, stocked with the band's classics." Only a thousand of these iPods will be available, apparently—but is this some sign of more Beatles/iTunes crossover to come? [Fashion Week Daily]

4:45 PM on Tue Jul 15 2008
By Dan Gibson
374 views, 9 comments

Latest by davidm: I may be wrong, but I thought you couldn't pre load an iPod, since you're supposed to sync it with you machine which would wipe whatever was preloaaded? Which is why the U2 iPod came with a certificate to download more »

100 and single

Can't Touch This Werewolf: Kid Rock Brings Back The Sales-Free Chart Hit

A front-line act with a months-old album decides to push his most obvious hit-bound song to radio—a song heavily reliant on a prominent sample of a deathless pop hit. But, bucking the day's prevalent trend, he decides not to release the song on the most popular singles medium, forcing most customers to buy his album.

It's a risky move, because the Billboard Hot 100 is dominated by songs that scale the chart by amassing sales as well as airplay. But the song is so mindlessly catchy, the act's people figure it'll be a big chart hit anyway with radio alone.

I could be talking about M.C. Hammer's 1990 smash "U Can't Touch This," the "Superfreak"-sampling hit that made the Top 10, even as Capitol refused to issue it as a cassingle.

But I could also be talking about Kid Rock's "All Summer Long," a mashup of Warren Zevon's "Werewolves of London" and Lynyrd Skynrd's "Sweet Home Alabama" that debuts on the Hot 100 this week at No. 80 despite his lack of interest in releasing it digitally.

Can the erstwhile Robert Richie pull off in 2008 what one Stanley Kirk Burrell pulled 18 years ago?

1:00 PM on Fri Jul 11 2008
By Chris Molanphy
1,345 views, 7 comments

from plastic guitars to world domination

"Guitar Hero" Creators: "Sure, Let's Go Head To Head With iTunes"

As probably could have been predicted, the folks behind Guitar Hero are looking for ways to make a bit more cash off their massive success catering to frustrated music fans. If people will buy a game dedicated to Aerosmith, surely they're willing to buy anything with the Guitar Hero brand slapped on. So why not take on the most powerful music retailer in the country? More »

11:30 AM on Fri Jul 11 2008
By Dan Gibson
568 views, 2 comments

no time like the present

A Midsummer Afternoon's iTunes Cleanup

How are you going to figure out your best albums of the first half of '08 if your iTunes Music Folder is completely disorganized? This dude has a bunch of ways to whip said files into something resembling shape, so you can figure out just what, exactly, has been droning in the background while you've been working all these months. (Unfortunately this won't be much help to people like me, who have a backlog of albums from this year that they haven't imported into iTunes yet because they're that lazy/frazzled/annoyed by their computers' tendency to balk when iTunes and Firefox are open at the same time. Not to mention that they played into all the trend stories and bought a lot of new releases on vinyl.) Feel free to share your own musical-organization techniques in the comments—especially those of you who have library-science degrees, since I'm sure you all have some crazy categorization schematics up your collective sleeves. [internet jogging via the listenerd]

9:00 AM on Thu Jun 26 2008
By Maura Johnston
368 views, 9 comments

Latest by Handsome Pete: @Richaod: My brother does that. more »

Say goodbye to those days when you could pick up an Adele CD with your Caramel Frappucino: Starbucks will dump almost all of its in-store music offerings over the next three months, according to sources. This news shouldn't come as much of a surprise, given that the coffee company has been slowly inching away from its entertainment-business aspirations over the past few months, but it probably isn't making music execs all that happy, given that Starbucks was apparently moving some 4 million CDs a year. [Silicon Alley Insider]

10 comments

Viva La Album Sales

"Coldplay has already shattered Jack Johnson's previous one-week iTunes sales record of 140k in a single day." [Hits]

9 comments

download without a cause

Kid Rock Hopes His Summer Jam Doesn't Have To Be On iTunes

Kid Rock must know better than anyone that "All Summer Long" would cross over bigtime if he'd just bounce across our TV singing it while earbud-accessorized silhouettes dance around him, but in the name of Fats Domino he must refuse. "Back in the day, we all know the stories of the Otis Reddings and Chuck Berrys and Fats Dominos who never got paid...I will be on iTunes eventually because I can't avoid it, but I like to always stick to my guns and prove a point and do something original and because I believe in it." This might help explain why the song has yet to hit the Hot 100, and has only scraped a few peripheral charts. At least he's OK with you stealing the fucker so you can sing along at shows—this way, he doesn't have to suffer the indignity of a weak royalty rate. More »

9:30 AM on Wed Jun 18 2008
By Anthony Miccio
795 views, 3 comments

Latest by duetoprivacy: I read avoid, as afford, and it made the story that much more entertaining more »

as the arcade fire bides their time

Coldplay Accused Of Swiping "Viva La Vida" From Mustachioed Indie Rocker

In October 2007, the Brooklyn outfit Creaky Boards was excited to see a person who resembled Coldplay's Chris Martin enjoying their CMJ festival performance. Less than a year later, that enthusiasm has turned into frustration as bandleader Andrew Hoepfner discovered that Coldplay's iTunes-ad-featured "Viva La Vida" had a melody that was kind of close to their "The Songs I Didn't Write," performed at the aforementioned concert. Did Martin go hopping from show to show at CMJ, lifting bits for his next album? Don't be daft, say the superstars; "Viva La Vida" was allegedly demoed over a year ago. This hasn't stopped Hoepfner from creating a video clip comparing the tracks and publicizing his band. More »

10:45 AM on Mon Jun 16 2008
By Anthony Miccio
1,873 views, 9 comments

Latest by greggdetroit: hmm...I used to know Andrew H. and i don't think he'd stake this claim unless he meant it. He's always been a pretty stand-up guy and was a fantastic bass player. more »

truth in advertising

Coldplay's iTunes Ad Somehow Not Worst Thing On TV

Part of the reason I took my DVR recording of American Idol off fast-forward during the the above ad was to make my girlfriend groan about how much she hates Chris Martin and his stupid face. But the title track of Viva La Vida is actually getting stuck in my head in a more than pleasant way. Somebody's figured out how to mix the Arcade Fire's ornate bombast (it might be about the French Revolution!) with the usual Bonosity, and, well, maybe I was too quick to assume the new album was bound to stink. Then again, there are only two other singles by the group I can actually get all the way through. (And "Clocks" ain't one of them.) More »

1:00 PM on Thu May 22 2008
By Anthony Miccio
2,011 views, 12 comments

Latest by n/a: @Halfwit: ITA, I think when Chris Martin started to actually proclaim that he wanted Coldplay to be the next U2, it was like "oh...THAT'S what you're doing? I thought you were going to be something else entirely" Parachutes was one of more »

Today In Unsurprising Major-Label Negotiation Tactics

With the forthcoming launch of the 3G iPhone, Apple is trying to make the iTunes Store available to any iPhone users, and not just those who are already within reach of a wireless connection. But he needs to make deals with the major labels in order for this to happen, and so the majors are hoping that this means the idea of variable pricing—in which, say, Hard Candy will cost the few people who still want to buy it out there an extra couple of bucks—is back on the table, as is the whole "Comes With Music"-like all-you-can-eat plan that gives over a chunk of change to the labels for each device sold in exchange for said devices having "any" songs (that the labels want to keep in digital print and, presumably, don't feel like overcharging for) available to users who want them. Not to seem all biased and stuff, but I do hope Mr. Jobs stays strong in these negotiations, because the whole Comes With Music plan in particular seems like a stinker with a shelf life that will come screeching to a halt as soon as the labels figure out that they've made all the money they can from it. [Listening Post]

1 comment

Overly excitable music-business types are looking at Apple's recent deal with HBO, where top-tier shows like The Sopranos are priced at $2.99 per episode on the iTunes Store (as opposed to The Wire's $1.99-a-pop price), as a sign that the company may someday embrace variable pricing, which would allow the music business to revitalize itself by charging the $2.99-a-song price that "4 Minutes" and "Touch My Body" so rightfully command. Thankfully, Anthony Bruno at Billboard splashes a bit of water on this notion by pointing out that the shows that HBO has placed on iTunes last quite a bit longer than three minutes and thirty seconds—which, one would think, might attract just a bit more money—and that most of the variants in price can be explained away by the shows' relative lengths. Prediction: Some poor major-label act is going to be corralled into releasing a 10-minute debut single for the purposes of "testing the $2.99-a-song waters" within the next six months. [Billboard]

8 comments

100 and single

Forever Leavin' Pork & Beans: Big Chart Moves By Summer Single Contenders

Chris "dennisobell" Molanphy, our resident chart guru, looks at the upward, downward, and lack of movement on this week's Billboard charts:

You can't kill Leona Lewis, you can only make her stronger. For the first time in 30 years, a song returns to the No. 1 spot on Billboard's Hot 100 after being evicted twice. Love her or hate her, Ol' Dead Eyes is back.

As unusual as Leona's threepeat is, the more interesting moves this week are made below the No. 1 spot, in part because it looks like the songs we may be hearing during car-radio season are hitting the charts now. That includes big debuts by the unsinkable Chris Brown and heartthrob Jesse McCartney, a first-time appearance by new British "It" girl Duffy, and a huge move on Modern Rock by a certain gang of veteran geek-rockers trying to regain their cred.

2:00 PM on Fri May 2 2008
By Chris Molanphy
1,554 views, 7 comments

cross-platform branding

Hot Chip To Rock For Zune, Play iTunes Festival

Man, those Hot Chip guys sure love irony. They're in the middle off a month-long tour promoting Zune (remember Zune?) that will take them to Coachella—and then they're headed to Berlin to do their post-modern thing at the iTunes Festival! So whether you prefer AAC or WMA, you can easily get your hands on the best album of 2008. But which company does the band have more love for? More »

11:00 AM on Wed Apr 16 2008
By Anthony Miccio
291 views, Comment

reality check

iTunes Beats Wal-Mart As No. 1 Music Retailer... So What?

You may have heard that iTunes has taken Wal-Mart's position as the top music retailer in the US. While this is probably a gradual inevitability, and iTunes sales have risen quickly over the last two years, the stats involved only cover the month of January 2008, a period influenced not just by holiday gift cards, but a lull in big album releases. With little new full-length product of note, it's no surprise digital sales would rise in overall percentage. There's also evidence that the slump in CD sales and the rise in digital-music sales are both slowing, and may even plateau. This doesn't "debunk" the report, but it does suggest that everyone should chillax about the end of tangible product, and see what craziness comes next. [ArsTechnica]

4:30 PM on Thu Apr 3 2008
By Anthony Miccio
170 views, 3 comments

Latest by scott pgwp: I wouldn't be surprised if numbers came out showing that the trend covered the entire 1st quarter, not just January. a) for all the reasons you raise above (even in Feb. and March there weren't any really huge albums), and more »

Hypebot is wondering if the stalled effort to make more digital-music stores' catalog free of digital rights management is the fault of the stores or the major record labels. I have a third theory: The roadblock isn't really because of either side digging in its heels: It's because the "issue" of whether or not music should be free of DRM is one that doesn't really matter to 95% of consumers, as long as they can get the songs they've already purchased online to work on their computer/portable device, and so pouring a lot of money into a "solution" for this overhyped-by-the-tech-nerds problem isn't really as high a priority as, say, negotiating deals for possible subscription services or wrangling holdouts' catalogs onto their stores' virtual shelves. (I know, readers—it's hard to think that the opinions of people on the Internet might not be all that important in the grand scheme of things!) [Hypebot]

5 comments

oopsie!

iTunes Leaks Raconteurs Album, Apple Switchboard Prepares For The Worst

Looks like the iTunes Store accidentally leaked the Raconteurs' Consolers Of The Lonely a few days before its Tuesday release—reports are filtering in from people who successfully purchased the album on both the US and UK versions of the iTunes store, and it's apparently popping up on the peer-to-peer services as well. (In the interest of reporting, I tried buying the record, only to be greeted with a "This album is no longer available" message.) Who among us would not love to be listening in on that angry phone call from Jack White? [The Modern Age]

1:30 PM on Fri Mar 21 2008
By Maura Johnston
1,085 views, 6 comments

Latest by scott pgwp: "Accidentally," sure. That's what they get for dissing iTunes and advance release dates in one press release! more »

the new model

Majors And Apple Looking To Open An All-You-Can-Hear Buffet

The Financial Times is reporting that Apple has been talking to the major labels about bundling unlimited music into iPhones and iPods, although the deal hasn't yet been done because of the amount of money Apple is willing to pay the majors for access to their catalogs. (The Cupertino device maker wants to give the labels $20 per device sold; in comparison, Nokia pays out $80 to labels for each device sold with its Comes With Music subscription plan.) The plan would tack $100 onto the cost of each iPod and $7-$8 onto each iPhone user's monthly bill, but apparently the majors are also lobbying for a clampdown on the number of tracks consumers can keep, with the desired provision allowing "customers to keep up to 40 or 50 tracks a year, which they would retain even if they changed their device or their subscription lapsed." I'm pretty skeptical about the whole idea—for reasons involving interoperability of the "all you can eat" catalog and previously owned music, the limitations of what the store will actually have if it ever launches, and the probably-inevitable DRM that will force the tracks to disappear once consumers stop ponying up money—but I'm always open to a second opinion, so after the jump, a few industry observers weigh in. More »

12:00 PM on Wed Mar 19 2008
By Maura Johnston
325 views, 7 comments

Latest by PerpetualCarouse: So Doug Morris and Apple make more money, and artists still won't get paid. more »

they get letters

Idolator

"Rough"-ing It In East Africa