It's A Brave New World!
See this? Some of you youngsters won't know what this is, but back when you were just a twinkle in your dad's dirty mind, this was your only way to get hold of new music. It was called a CD (or 'Crumpet Disc'*). Now, CDs had albums on them and they had singles on them, but they were always the same size (apart from a very few teeny-tiny 3-inch singles).
Which gave rise to an interesting problem for record companies thinking of releasing a single. How to fill a full-size CD with enough stuff to keep the fans happy, without contravening the strict rules laid down by the compilers of the charts, and getting yourselves banned from the Top 40.
These rules were always kind of barmy. For example, if the CD had more than three tracks on it, no matter how short (or crap), it was considered an EP, and therefore chart-ineligable, stuff like that. And at no point did anyone suggest that those extra two tracks should be anything other than pointless filler, especially if they happened to be the extra tracks on a fourth or fifth single off an already-successful album.
Fast forward into THE NOW, and my, how things have changed.
Look, here's James Morrison. A fine singer, and deserving Brit Award winner. The man's got some pipes on him, eh?
Well, his new single 'One Last Chance' is available as a download-only 'release', on July 2nd, so there's none of that tiresome CD palaver.
Kudos must be given to James and his peeps for their eco-friendly approach. But the big question is this: What incentive is there for people to buy this song as a single, when it's been available on James's album 'Undiscovered' for nearly a year now?
Seriously, you could download 'One Last Chance' right NOW if you wanted to, doesn't that kind of make a mockery of that whole 'released on July 2nd' thing? In a download climate, isn't a release date just a way of ensuring that enough people download the song in the same week to ensure a high chart entry?
Having said that, James's peeps are releasing the song as part of a 'buy one (for more than you'd normally pay), get two free' bundle, if only so's not to be accused of bewildering people with meaningless marketing.
The idea is that you buy the song, and you get two extra tracks. It's a revolutionary concept, I know. Some of you might find it tricky to separate this state of affairs from the one I was just talking about, with the the CD single and all that? Well, this is totally different, in that you don't get end up with a CD to hold, unless you burn it off yourself, do you see?
And what are these 'new' songs? A cover version of Michael Jackson's 'Man In The Mirror' which fans will have already been able to download from Napster, and a cover version of Blur's 'Out Of Time', which Radio 1 listeners will have heard on the Jo Whiley show.
Let's look at that again. You pay your money, and what you get back is a previously-available album track, a previously-available cover version and a cover version you could've taped off the radio.
Cuh! At least in the olden days you'd have got a nice new picture on the CD insert...
PS: Yes, it IS horribly unfair to single poor James out, seeing as a lot of people are doing very similar things. Doesn't make it right though...
*Must check before publishing...
Comments
i love the (now apparently old) physical copies! ok, so, downloads may be cheaper but i like HOLDING the cds, whether a single or album, and looking at all the pretty PICTURES in the insert. i have cd collection, not a collection of music if that makes sense. i run the risk of sounding old which is scary as im not even quite 17 yet but i miss the good old days! downloads are fine if you want one song, not as in a single, say for example if you wanted to get that legends tune you heard on kerrang at lunch today, but i dont like downloads other than that. does any one else agree? or am i talking a load of old phooey? i mean what if your computer crashes?? or if you buy a new computer?? its a pain in the arse transferring it all to a new one, but if you have a cd you can just rip it straight on. i support physical copies all the way!
The download-only album was of course pioneered by Tyler James and some other people no one except me wanted to buy the CD of. :( I propose a QUANGO is formed immediately to discover why James Morrison is allowed this discrepancy in distribution when perfectly good pop stars who don't sing about going down Clarks for some new footwear don't get an album out at all.
Of course if the whole 'new shoes' debacle was nothing to do with him then I retract or at least slightly alter the above suggestion.
"I said hey, I put some new shoes on and suddenly everything's right!"
Oooh Hazel, my poor head will think of nothing else for hours now, damn you! Love the Paolo though, even if he does act like a stoned neanderthal live.
CDs are good, BUT..
1. With CDs your sister can steal them and then lose, hide, scratch or if she's being especially malicious snap them. Chances are even if you get the CD back in good condition the case will be broken and the booklet thingy torn.
2. Similarly, CDs are more effort to back up. If you're good about it (I amn't) then you can make back up DVDs of all your albums as you go along. Even if you put multiple albums on the one DVD then you can easily make a list of them in Word for easy finding.
3. They take up quite a bit of room if you have a few.. I tend to only buy the albums I really can't live without as a CD because I'm so low on room these days.
In saying all this, the restrictions Apple and so on place on downloaded music are ridiculous. They're the one thing stopping me from wholeheartedly embracing downloading music. That and the album booklets, but I think some people have made those available for download too, haven't they? It's not that I don't like or prefer CDs, it's just that downloading can be more convenient, I guess.
cds may take up room but thats what collections are meant to do :P and for anyone that says its hard to find the cd that your looking for i say be organised. i have my cds i alphabetical band order, then order of date of release for each band. its EASY to find what your looking for
and although i do have a sister for once the fact that she hates the music i love has its benefits
and when i get snaped cases back i just swap them for my parents and sisters cases (but dont tell them that!)
Lol yeah I have alphabetical CDs too :P I just meant that it is possible to organise burnt CDs as well as regular ones!
And there's a limit to the collecting-room most people have! I'm unwilling to sacrifice my floorspace! :P