iTunes and a venture away from music
Don’t get me wrong…I’m a huge Mac fan…I owned an Apple before they were cool and back when the sad mac existed…anyone remember the sad-faced Mac or the happy face Mac?….during the Before iMac era or Bi for short.
I was examining the new Apple release of iTunes 9 tonight. Yeah, it’s neat that bands now can highlight their video and their lyrics, and make their albums very interactive in the new iTunes format, but I must ask this question: What about the music?
Bands these days get so caught up in the hype of an album, that they sometimes forget about creating quality music. Maybe they think if they have the most eye-catching artwork or invest enough money in the overall marketing plan for the album, then the music will write itself. Or maybe if their album takes advantage of the latest visual technology, then it will be deemed a great album. Wrong.
I believe we are living in an age of Guitar Hero hype. It’s sad when there’s more fanfare about a Rock Band Beatles video game than any album that’s been released in recent years. Whatever happened to the music fan? I know there are still some of you music fans out there who like to sit down and actually listen to entire album rather than just downloading one or two songs at a time. I fell in love with The Pixies after listening to the album, Doolittle, as a high schooler, even though I’d never seen one picture of the band or any of their music videos. I didn’t care about what they looked like. I didn’t need YouTube to connect with their music….all I needed was their album.
Today, however, I think the younger music fans out there have grown restless. Maybe their too wrapped up in social networking to really have time to listen to an entire album. Or perhaps they just don’t want to pay for music anymore. They want some reviewer to tell them what’s good and what’s not so good.
I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of all the hype. I tired of the iTunes “Editor’s picks” and the Indie Spotlights that make it seem as if the staff at iTunes is somehow authorized to tell us music fans what to listen to next. After all, aren’t they simply listening to the music reviewers who are heavily influenced by those marketing lobbyists who call themselves independent musicians? Have these iTunes experts ever even listened to The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s album in its entirety? Do they know Chuck Berry, Sun Records, and anything about the history of Rock and Roll? Or are they just fad chasers?
Why can’t good music stand for itself? Why can’t we spend our time writing instead of spending our most creative energy on designing the most effective iTunes album package?
I suppose I could ramble on for a few more sentences about the problems with the music industry today, however, I think I’ll go and write a letter to the iTunes staff citing four compelling reasons why they should pick Peach League as a Staff favorite. Maybe, just maybe, Peach League will sell enough individual downloads from our album, Whatever I’m Chasin’, to buy ourselves a cup of coffee at any place other than Starbucks. How’s that for product placement?
