Thursday, July 03, 2003
What's with the iTunes Music Store and the Red Hot Chili Peppers?
One thing that totally confused me today was that I read this article stating the the Red Hot Chili Peppers are refusing to allow their music to be sold in the iTunes Music Store, and then saw the album cover for one of the Chili Peppers' most popular albums dangling in the front window of the Boca Raton Apple Store as I was waiting in line for the Grand Opening. Is this an oversight, or is it Apple's sly way of trying to convince the Chili Peppers to join the Music Store party? What's ironic is that the band's bassist, Flea, has written of his iPod in his road diary: One thing that totally confused me was that I read this article stating the the Red Hot Chili Peppers are refusing to allow their music to be sold in the iTunes Music Store, and then saw the album cover for one of the Chili Peppers' most popular albums dangling in the front window of the Apple Store. Is this an oversight, or is it Apple's sly way of trying to convince the Chili Peppers to join the party? What's ironic is that according to the road diary of the band's bassist, Flea, the Chili Peppers are all about digital music these days: " Listening to Lee Perry. Got this ipod thing going on with lots of jams i dig it. Anthony and John got 'em too."
So why would someone as cool as Flea want to deny us the opportunity to enjoy his band's music in the same way that he enjoys other people's music? The answer would seem to lie with the band's management outfit, Q-Prime, which also happens to represent Metallica. Yes, this is the same Metallica that went so far as to subpoena the names of every fab who had ever downloaded a Metallica track via Napster. It looks like good old Lars Ulrich, the band's drummer, is at it again. He's well within his rights to declare war on his fans if he wants to, but doing so twice in the span of three years seems a bit excessive. I have tremendous respect for Metallica's musicianship, but the ability to think rationally just doesn't seem to be there. If Lars can't figure out that by preventing fans from being able to pay to download his band's music from the iTunes Music Store he's just encouraging people to go and download it for free from the pirate networks, then perhaps he deserves to lose the sales after all. Here's calling for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, seemingly some of the coolest guys in the music industry, to distance themselves from Metallica's increasingly self-defeating stances, and if necessary, ditch the management company entirely.
Well, it's late and it's been a crazy week. I'm going to sit back and eat some potato chips and watch some fireworks all day tomorrow, and I hope all of you get to do the same. Except, that is, for the people who are still waiting in line to get into the Boca Raton Apple Store.
Got something to say about Apple's Music Store strategy, or Metallica's ignorance strategy? Know how I can reach Flea to ask him what the heck's going on here? Now's the time.
One thing that totally confused me today was that I read this article stating the the Red Hot Chili Peppers are refusing to allow their music to be sold in the iTunes Music Store, and then saw the album cover for one of the Chili Peppers' most popular albums dangling in the front window of the Boca Raton Apple Store as I was waiting in line for the Grand Opening. Is this an oversight, or is it Apple's sly way of trying to convince the Chili Peppers to join the Music Store party? What's ironic is that the band's bassist, Flea, has written of his iPod in his road diary: One thing that totally confused me was that I read this article stating the the Red Hot Chili Peppers are refusing to allow their music to be sold in the iTunes Music Store, and then saw the album cover for one of the Chili Peppers' most popular albums dangling in the front window of the Apple Store. Is this an oversight, or is it Apple's sly way of trying to convince the Chili Peppers to join the party? What's ironic is that according to the road diary of the band's bassist, Flea, the Chili Peppers are all about digital music these days: " Listening to Lee Perry. Got this ipod thing going on with lots of jams i dig it. Anthony and John got 'em too."
So why would someone as cool as Flea want to deny us the opportunity to enjoy his band's music in the same way that he enjoys other people's music? The answer would seem to lie with the band's management outfit, Q-Prime, which also happens to represent Metallica. Yes, this is the same Metallica that went so far as to subpoena the names of every fab who had ever downloaded a Metallica track via Napster. It looks like good old Lars Ulrich, the band's drummer, is at it again. He's well within his rights to declare war on his fans if he wants to, but doing so twice in the span of three years seems a bit excessive. I have tremendous respect for Metallica's musicianship, but the ability to think rationally just doesn't seem to be there. If Lars can't figure out that by preventing fans from being able to pay to download his band's music from the iTunes Music Store he's just encouraging people to go and download it for free from the pirate networks, then perhaps he deserves to lose the sales after all. Here's calling for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, seemingly some of the coolest guys in the music industry, to distance themselves from Metallica's increasingly self-defeating stances, and if necessary, ditch the management company entirely.
Well, it's late and it's been a crazy week. I'm going to sit back and eat some potato chips and watch some fireworks all day tomorrow, and I hope all of you get to do the same. Except, that is, for the people who are still waiting in line to get into the Boca Raton Apple Store.
Got something to say about Apple's Music Store strategy, or Metallica's ignorance strategy? Know how I can reach Flea to ask him what the heck's going on here? Now's the time.
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