September 28, 2008
-
On Ellen the other day, Kid Rock made a few anti-iTunes statements which I found interesting. To paraphrase, he said people shouldn’t have to pay the same for every song because some are worth more than others. He then used the example that pricing a garage band’s song the same as a Bruce Springsteen song was ridiculous. Now, I can sorta see his point; however, who can decide that? I mean, it’s so subjective. If I had my way, then, everything I think is crappy should be 49 cents and everything I think is awesome is 99 cents or more. Anyhow, I think the statements were made after he promoted his songs on a site that were free or something. Ellen said she agreed with him, but there was an awkward pause in her reply which leads me to think she agreed so he wouldn’t bash an empty beer bottle over her head.
Comments (28)
Although I dislike Kid Rock, he does make a point. But you’re right – the idea of what’s “good” and what’s “bad” is too subjective of an idea on which to base monetary value. (I hope I worded that sentence correctly.) Who’s to say the garage band isn’t just as good or better than Springsteen in some people’s eyes/ears? Just because The Boss has been put up on this pedestal as a rock legend doesn’t mean everyone likes him.
I never thought about that but it makes perfect sense.
I agree with both of you. And Springsteen just doesn’t do it for me.
Hahahaha, who wouldn’t be afraid of Kid Rock bashing a beer bottle over their head?
I kind of agree, like couldn’t they maybe come up with a system based on general popularity?? Sounds plausible.
Maybe we should be able to pick the price of a song, if so, Kid Rock gets one cent from me. Although I’d just refuse to buy his stuff. haha
Good garage band music is free. The fact that the music makes it to a pay for site should be all the premium necessary. I have a lot of free music that is by far better than a lot of stuff on i-tunes. The shame of it all is that the music industry has no idea how to find and promote good new talent.The music industry, as far as music sales is concerned is dying. Worrying about pricing structures, is all so foolish. When they are simply not attracting a significant number of customers of any sort
Yes, how good a song is is nine-tenths just a matter of opinion. Go back and listen to when music became a major part of modern culture, and listen to early Beatles. Most of it was crap, but it fitted the times, and people turned onto it. Also, the amount of work any musician – or writer – has to put into a work is massive compared with the amount an individual has to pay to buy it, good or bad.
I think they should raise the price as it sells more. That way people would have incentive to buy it now! So, for example, Song A by Whoever starts at 5 cents, then after it is downloaded 100 times, it goes up to 10 cents, so on and so forth. Of course there would have to be a cap of $1 or whatever, but I think that would be cool. What I don’t like about iTunes is when you can’t buy one song, because it’s only available when you buy the whole album. That defeats a lot of the purpose of iTunes, for my use anyway; I like that I don’t have to spend $15 on a whole CD when I just want one or two songs.
I agree, but… yeah, it’s so subjective!!
@trunthepaige - Though there is truth in what you say, anyone that wants to can get itunes. Many of my favorite indie local bands are on there… it’s a great way to make your music available sans shipping discs… and helps recoup recording costs. After all, not everyone who likes your music is going to make it to a show to give you that $5 cover charge.
@WordFlyerJosh - Indeed and more reason for the music industry to stop promoting its failing formulas and enter the world of new music. And promote it
@trunthepaige - Check out noisetrade.com. It’s a personal favorite of the new music world for me.
@WordFlyerJosh - Thank you I like it
never really thought about it… yeah, it’s better to leave it as is since it’s so subjective.
maybe we should start charging more for movies that get good reviews and less for those that get panned. same goes for books…right.
i think the only realm where kid rock is right (most of the time) is with food. pay more, eat better. but even that isn’t concrete.
i wonder how much he’d pay for his own songs, but since they’re free, i guess it implies anything about what he thinks of his own music.
radiohead had the best system, pay the amount that you think it’s worth.
and i like those garage bands.
WOW. I’ve never had so many comments. I’m overwhelmed!
@wherethefishlives - Exactly & wonderful grammar young one!
@trunthepaige - Again, it’s subjective because I might think your free garage band stuff sucks… and I LOVE iTunes AND this new GENIUS sidebar!
@darkoozeripple - Thanks for the history lesson; it all started somewhere.
@XbabyK - I hope they don’t up the price as it gets popular; I’m always late to arrive to the good music that’s been around awhile…
@heyitzlong - Good points… food… yea, I already pay more for Qdoba than McD’s and that’s fine by me!
@WordFlyerJosh - Couldn’t have written/said it better.
I hate to be a cynic (haha), but I think Kid Rock doesn’t want his stupid song on itunes because he knows no one will buy his crappy album if they can just download the song.
Mockery aside, a lot of artist (Radiohead, Paul McCartney) also have similar reserves about one song downloading. They argue it’s turned music consumers into “one hit consumers,” people who don’t really like or listen to music, but only download the hits (which is in a record company’s favor, not a musicians).
Personally? I’ll download crappy hip hop songs or dance tunes i enjoy. would i ever buy the whole album? No, because I don’t think it’s worth it. I’m sure those people feel that’s wrong too.
Bottom line? I think it’s all about the Benjamins.
@tokidokiforever - Oh, I agree. I don’t buy whole albums anymore… I want my dance hits. I want something to run to. I want a song to meditate to. I use those iTunes Essentials lists all the time.
Honestly, I don’t really care if an artist has put together songs to tell a story… as a consumer, I want what I want and that’s about it.
With that said, there is one artist who I would download a whole album of without hearing one song = BECK. That man is a genius… but that is MY OPINION.
Long before Kid Rock and his opinion on I tunes, most of my music was either bought as a CD, album, or cassette tape, from a record / music tore. The price was generally the same for any album, the bands popularity did not matter. The only difference in price I remember were slight variations if an album was imported or live or something like that.
I agree with KRs point that all music does not have the same value, but can also see how subjective the decision would have to be.
I think were itunes and and like are really able to deliver is that you can pay per song, it puts much more pressure on the band to turn out good tracks. Long gone are the days that one song can sell the 16 dollar album. That is something I do not miss.
..:: dante
I was actually thinking about this the other day. I’m pretty sure Itunes has made an average, because well, when you buy a cd youre paying mostly for artwork, thousands of print outs, and the cd and cd case itself.
But I don’t agree with him, on the point that, if his music were priced less than say a sort of unknown band, wouldnt he find that offensive?
XbabyK had a point though. raising the price as the popularity goes up.
I think buying the album has its good points, though. Some of my favorite songs are ones that never got air time, but were on the tape I bought because it contained a hit. You get to know your bands so much better by listening to the entire album.
Of course, you can get burned…I loved “Love is on the Way” by Saigon Kick, so I bought their album. Oh my gosh! That was their one ballad, the rest were major, heavy duty hard rock. Not rock -n- roll like I was used to with my nice midwest ears! LOL
If albums were books and songs were chapters, would you buy just your favorite parts of a novel??
@ChubEchpmnk - See that’s different though because I would argue that the chapters in a book are more dependent upon the chapters that proceed it in order for it to make sense… albums & songs aren’t always set up that way if at all.
@teacher47 - So true, it was a stretch!! LOL I just like a good debate, and this has all the earmarks of a good one.
Why don’t you just allow the artist to choose how much they think their music is worth? That way, there is no blame on others about the music being worth more or less than it actually is. Also, if fans of the artist are crazy enough about them, they’ll have no trouble selling songs for $1.99 a song.
they should make a committee full of music experts. there has to be a way
@EaTxYoUxALivE - I’m sticking to my idea that they should just keep every song at 99 cents (not that they plan on changing it, I assume)… even finding “experts” would be subjective. Look at the chaos with Paula and Simon and Randy…
@teacher47 - that’s very true. ill just stick with free downloading sites