THE NEW MUSICAL BOX

SQUEEZING OUT THE SALES 

Sometimes the stars are all aligned and new patterns emerge. And in musical terms, it's happened this week with several new announcements. 

The announcements - in their various ways - are all about selling albums, be they downloads or physical copies. We shouldn't be surprised at this time of year. The retail festive season starts earlier and earlier these days and record companies do all they can to take advantage of it. In years gone by, album releases might see a handful of Greatest Hits packages emerge and the occasional festive song. Today, that simply won't do - and big financial muscle is needed as complex marketing campaigns abound. Through a combination of viral marketing, clever product placement and lavish (and traditional) advertising campaigns, it's the big acts who will reap the benefits as the consumer, well, consumes. 

California - September 9th - Apple Launch the complete new U2
album to all 500m iTunes customers - for free.

And they probably don't come much bigger or more ambitious than U2's new album launch. The album "Songs Of Innocence" - their first in four years - was a massive secret and formed part of Apple's worldwide launch of its latest iPhones and new smart watch in California on September 9th. More than that, as Apple CEO Tim Cook made clear, it was going to be provided free of charge to all of Apple's iTunes account holders - some 500 million people. That's half a billion albums, one distributed directly into every iTunes account holder's library. Free. Without charge. Gratis. Zip. And I checked - and yes, there it was - including digital sleeve notes, all sitting in my purchased folder and ready for downloading. It's available to download for free until next month when the physical copies are made available: download for free - and you can keep it. 

U2 - Songs Of Innocence released in its digital format for free

The questions are big and many.

Radiohead
In Rainbows - Free download in 2007

Will anyone want to buy the physical copy? My guess, is yes, people will if previous history is anything to go by. There have been previous free releases of albums - Radiohead did it back in October 2007 when they released In Rainbows as a free download. Four months later, the CD and vinyl copies appeared and hey, guess what? They went to number one in both the UK and USA. A lesser known free download was from Manchester band The Charlatans. In the spring of 2008, they teamed up with radio station XFM to enable their new album - You Cross My Path - to be downloaded free via the XFM website. It too had a physical release a couple of months later and sold well.

The Charlatans - You Cross My Path
Downloadable for free via XFM Radio

What's the cost? In distribution terms, it's minimal - whether it goes out to one iTunes customer or the whole lot, there isn't much extra effort involved. In production costs, it's minimal - and it does act as a free ad, albeit one that runs to eleven complete tracks. There will be costs in terms of customer feedback - indeed, whilst many people have welcomed the initiative (and of course, new music for free), there have been a wide range of criticisms across social media. Some iTunes users resent having their library "invaded" by something they didn't request (there is a delete button), others are a little sniffy about the band themselves - whilst a few have complained that the songs are a bit, well, old hat. 

Will other artists follow suit? Undoubtedly - this blog has explored several times the changing financial dynamics of the music business and in many cases, producing and selling albums is rarely a way to earn a fortune in the 21st century. But if a tie-up could be arranged with an appropriate label or distributor or high-tech business, then the *free* music would act as an enticement for tours, merchandise, de-luxe physical copies and so forth. And if it's a big enough band, the rewards could be huge. Touring is no more just a case of pitching up in some arena and bashing out the new songs. Tickets bring in large sums, especially if they bring in "exclusive" benefits such as a band meet-and-greets, limited edition merchandise, pick-of-the-venue seating, VIP treatment throughout the gig and so on.

David Bowie - "Nothing Has Changed" - Deluxe Greatest
Hits package - including brand new song

The other big announcement - big if you're a David Bowie fan - was the imminent release of a new album, albeit a Greatest Hits package called Nothing Has Changed. In itself, that's nothing too exciting - there have been several Bowie Best Ofs in the past - but this one promises to be a genuine career-spanning 50 year trawl through the entire back catalogue. It starts with his very first single in 1964 (Liza Jane as by Davie Jones and The King Bees) and runs right through to 2014 with a brand new song, the 8-minute long epic "Sue (Or A Season In Crime)" recorded recently with long-time producer, Tony Visconti. It may only be one new song - but Bowie's "worth" is still on a high from his surprise release in January last year of The Next Day, his first new studio album in ten years. That song - and indeed another new number which will only appear on the B-side of a special vinyl 10" release - was enough to get the blogosphere, twittersphere and all the other spheres a-buzz with positive vibes. 

Bowie Greatest Hits 2014?

And, it exemplified the current approach to artists compilations: cover their whole career (easier today as most record labels have been swallowed up into the Big Three global companies and rights are easier to acquire), provide enticing new content, and ensure that it comes in a bewildering array of collectible packages. Oh - and always appeal to the monied collector as much as the enthusiastic fan. Ordinary Greatest Hits (or Best Ofs if a more album-orientated band) are pretty passe these days - the time when Queen could release three volumes of Greatest Hits and sell millions are probably long gone as fans can pick and choose what they want on-line.

Queen - The triple-CD edition bringing together all
three Greatest Hits volumes. Sold zillions. 

   

And whilst all this was going on, another 1970s behemoth, Led Zeppelin, released the latest brace of their "expanded" editions of their classic albums. With input from Jimmy Page, the two albums - Led Zeppelin IV and Houses Of The Holy - have been remastered direct from the original tapes, there are several out-takes and unheard "alternative versions" of songs - and the whole shebang comes in an upmarket, deluxe set of packaging to appeal to collectors and those who may be wishing to buy them as an investment. This approach certainly brings the sales in - and often to fans who already have at least two versions of each album (vinyl and CD) as they seek to acquire all those extra songs. Me? I've heard a few of the alternative versions - and yes, they are interesting, but much as I respect Led Zeppelin, I can't imagine myself listening to them that much. I know the originals too well - and that's what is familiar and comfortable to me.

Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin IV and Houses Of The Holy
All manner of packing variants and formats in 2014 re-issue programme

However, I have been known to crack on occasion. Deluxe packages and in-depth box sets have a certain cachet to them. A huge variety of music is safely available in one place. There are sleeve notes, mini-essays, rare songs, unheard songs, photo-albums and all manner of enticements - and if you really do love an artist, then the pennies have to be spent in order to underpin that love. And that's how I ended up in 2010 with the 19-CD Sandy Denny Box Set which covers every publicly available song she's performed on - and a wealth of other bits and pieces too. Even though much of it, I already have in other fragmented formats. It sold out too. 

Sandy Denny - The self-titled 19 CD Box Set release in 2010

So, although the stars may well be aligned this week, the portents are a bit mixed, I'd say. These musical announcements don't change the way we do things in themselves, but they do get people thinking. Ideas emerge and paradigm shifts occur. What I can say - as I have several times in recent months - is that it does suggest, once again, that the concept of a traditional album is living on borrowed time. Apple's digital gift of a whole U2 album is a bold move, but in some ways, it also devalues the idea of a collection of songs. We're already so used to free singles and preview songs - will we now expect bands - certainly the larger, established acts - to give us their latest album masterpiece for free?

Let's wait and see.

Alan Dorey

10th September 2014