The Fab Four have been absent from the digital music world since its inception, but this morning, Apple announced that the band's entire catalog will now be available for download on the iTunes digital store. Full albums will be available for $12.99 and individual tracks will be available for $1.29. The entire Beatles box set will also be available for $149.
"We love the Beatles and are honored and thrilled to welcome them to iTunes," said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. "It has been a long and winding road to get here. Thanks to the Beatles and EMI, we are now realizing a dream we’ve had since we launched iTunes ten years ago."
The Beatles might have broken up forty years ago, but they remain one of the most popular musical acts of all time. Their greatest hits compilation, 1, was the top selling album of the 2000s, and last year they were the third best selling artists, behind only Michael Jackson and Taylor Swift.
Apple and the Beatles, whose record label is also called Apple, have been suing each other since 1978 over rights to the name.
I didn't see this coming. I don't think anyone did. British singer Taio Cruz goes No. 1 with his debut single in the U.S. as "Break Your Heart" feat. Ludacris leaps 53-1. That move gives Cruz the record for biggest jump to No. 1 for a debut single, beating out Kelly Clarkson's 52-1 leap for "A Moment Like This" in 2002.
"Break Your Heart" was released in the U.K. September 2009 where it topped the charts for three weeks. As an avid British music fan, I took a liking to this disposable pop tune, but was disappointed (as I usually am) when I couldn't legally download it from iTunes. Despite the success of artists like Coldplay and Leona Lewis, British acts usually have a hard time breaking into the American market and fail (Robbie Willaims) and some, despite being some of the most amazing music makers on the planet, never even try (Girls Aloud). I assumed "Break Your Heart" would never make any impact on our shores.
What a surprise it was to see "Break Your Heart" available on iTunes last week. Naturally, they had to slap on a rapper to appease America, but this British smash hit was now available to purchase legally, and it was only 99 cents.
Apple is counting down to a major milestone as digital music retailer iTunes nears the 10 billion mark for songs sold. The customer who downloads the lucky 10 billionth song will win a $10,000 iTunes gift card.
iTunes also released a list of its top twenty best-selling songs. This is the first time the site has released this type of information before.
The top seller is the Black Eyed Peas' "I Gotta Feeling". They also come in at No. 3 with "Boom Boom Pow". Lady Gaga is the only other artist to land two songs in the top ten. Her "Poker Face" is the second most downloaded song and "Just Dance" sits at No. 6. Jason Mraz, Coldplay, Flo Rida, and Taylor Swift also scored high downloaded singles. See the full list after the jump.
Ke$ha broke the record for highest single week download sales for a female as "Tik Tok" sold 610,000 downloads in a single week. The previous record, set by Lady Gaga's this same week last year, was 419,000 downloads for "Just Dance".
The week following Christmas has traditionally been one of the highest-volume download weeks of the year as newly unwrapped iPods are filled with music and recently gifted gift cards are used. Each holiday season, one song captures the national zeitgeist and benefits the most from the post-Christmas rush. In 2005 it was D4L's "Laffy Taffy, in 2006 it was Fergie's "Fergalicious", in 2007 it was Flo Rida's "Low", and last year it was Lady Gaga's "Just Dance".
Of this half decade's worth of songs, each was the debut single of a new artist with the exception of "Fergalicious" which was the second single of a new solo artist ("Fergalicious" is also the only song in this list that failed to go No. 1. It peaked at No. 2). This suggests that consumers viewed these songs as disposable pop tunes that were worth 99 cents (and now $1.29), whereas the full length albums by these unproven artists weren't worth paying for.
Mariah Carey's Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel was originally slated for an August 25th release date but, after the cool reception lead single "Obsessed" has received, the album has been pushed back to September 15th.
Mimi's minions, commonly referred to as "lambs", have mobilized in an attempt to rescue their diva's song from its mediocre (for her) chart placing. A blog run by "Allamb" has popped up asking fans to donate their money to purchasing as many copies of the track as possible. Allamb went on to say:
"This looks to be the biggest flop for Mariah since “Loverboy,” which we lambs made a hit by gathering together and buying several copies. We can do the same for “Obsessed.” I am asking you to make a donation to wannaknowlove@gmail.com. I will spend my time buying several copies of the single. I have already collected $80 from one fan. If you don’t feel comfortable with that, we are setting Saturday as “Obsessed” download day. Please download at least five copies! By the remixes! Mariah needs our help!"
Does Allamb realize that we're in a recession! The key isn't swindling MC fans of their hard earned cash (even though one commenter, LambDahling, boasted in donated $200.00 to the cause), but creating some viral Internet sensation. Idolator has been following one such incident as "Jill and Kevin's Wedding Dance" set to Chris Brown's "Forever" has sent the song hurtling back into the upper reaches of digital music stores. "Forever" currently sits at No. 7 on iTunes and No. 3 on Amazon's music charts.
Does that make you want to go out and buy "Forever"? Me neither. It does make me want to craft some sort of viral video for "Obsessed" that will land me on next Saturday's Today Show, move the song up from its current spot at No. 20 on the Hot 100 and, allow all Carey's fans to donate their money to a cause more substantive.
Have any ideas? Make a clip, upload it to YouTube, and post it here on 17 Tracks. The creator of the best one wins a copy of Memoirs if it ever ends up being released.
It was 4:00PM on Thursday, June 25, 2009. I was reading an article on the Drudge Report about Michael Jackson being rushed to the hospital. Then the page refreshed. The King of Pop had died. I went to Facebook and watched as the news exploded across everyone's status updates. Some people were sad. Other people were pretentious and snickered about how everyone else posted something about it. Regardless of what was said, the news of his death blew up the blogs, Facebook, and Twitter.
The effects could be seen on iTunes as well where Jackson dominated every list possible. At one point he held No. 1-9 of the top ten albums with an additional 11 albums further down the list. On the songs chart, Michael Jackson or Jackson 5 songs took up a whopping 40% of the list with "Man In The Mirror" (oddly enough) the top seller. It currently sits at No. 2. Of course, its no surprise that the video "Thriller" has had a firm hold on the top spot for music videos and only Taylor Swift has broken his dominance over the entire top ten.
There are very few people on planet Earth whose death could have caused such a commotion the way Michael Jackson's did. I commented on the star's 50th birthday that no amount of scandal or overdone plastic surgery could seem to tarnish his legacy. He might have been the weirdest man alive but, his body of work spoke for itself and was louder than his detractors. He was the last great universal pop star, the last artist who united people across generations, races, and nations in a way that is impossible now due to the fragmentation of pop culture. There will never be another Elvis. There will never be another Beatles. There will never be another Michael Jackson.
Shake Up At iTunes Store
Yesterday, Apple announced that it would lift the anticopying restrictions on its entire digital store as well as permit record companies to set their own price for songs. The anticopying restrictions come as a result of digital rights management software. Also known as D.R.M., this software limits the times a file can be copied and makes it playable only on the iPod. Apple is finally permitted to sell songs without D.R.M. because of it's agreement to drop its blanket 99 cent song policy.
While the majority of songs will actually drop to 69 cents, the most popular hits and newest releases will jump to $1.29. Some tracks will still be available for 99 cents. Record companies are hoping to generate more revenue with the new price system by creating greater interest in their older and now cheaper catalogue while predicting that consumers will be willing to fork over an extra 30 cents for today's hits.
Before you start complaining, just stop and think about it. Under the old method, if you wanted to make an illegal copy of I Am...Sasha Fierce for everyone on your Facebook friend list, you would first have to buy it and then, after burning so many copies, iTunes wouldn't let you do it anymore. You would then have to go through all the trouble of ripping one of the burned copies of the album to get a DRM free version of it before continuing to make one for everyone on your list. See all the trouble that 30 cents saves you? Your little sister's best friend who you've never actually met but she added you one day and you accepted to not be a jerk will be so pleased. And you can save a little money when you buy all those Carpenters songs you've been dying to get.
iTunes Watch Palin Gives SNL, Adele A Major Boost
Saturday Night Live received it's highest ratings for viewers in 14 years this weekend with the highly anticipated visit of Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin. Twenty year old British singer Adele was lucky enough to be the guest artist. Her album, 19 (she was 19 when it was released), has been wildly successful in her home country, reaching #1 in the album charts and being certified platinum. In the United States however, it hasn't gone as well. After being released in January, it rose as high as #44 on the Billboard 200 album chart but no higher.
What better way to boost sales and interest than performing on the Saturday Night Live with the highest viewership since figure skater Nancy Kerrigan (the one who was clubbed in the knee by Tonya Harding's ex-husband) and Aretha Franklin took the stage in 1994? After her performance, 19 shot up the iTunes top album list and by Sunday night she topped it.
Over on iTune's top songs chart, "Womanizer" reclaimed pole position after playing second fiddle to Taylor Swift's "Fearless". "Fearless" is apart of a countdown to Swift's new album, a tactic used earlier for the Jonas Brother's release, where several new songs are release in the weeks leading up to an album's release date. Although it will have a tough chance keeping #1 on the Hot 100 this week with T.I.'s massive airplay, "Womanizer" has a good shot at a good third week position with it's continued sales.
Adele "Chasing Pavements"
iTunes Watch
"Womanizer" Vanishes
After being the #1 download for seven straight days, Britney Spears' "Womanizer" has mysteriously disappeared from iTunes. Earlier this morning, the song appeared atop the top ten list sans single cover. Customers who clicked on the song were greeted with a message telling them that there request could not be completed. "Live Your Life" has regained it's status as the top seller but the question remains: Where did "Womanizer" go? Could it be that Britney has sold more than enough downloads of the song to guarantee a record setting leap to #1 this Thursday so Jive pulled the plug? Will they put it back up next week hoping for an increased demand in order to keep it at #1 for as long as possible? Will they keep it off indefinitely to boost sales of Circus? Is this some anti-Britney conspiracy cooked up by Christina Aguilera and the tabloids? Developing...
AC/DC Refuses To Go Digital
In an effort to keep their albums from being disassembled and thrown on some one's iPod play list, AC/DC has refused to release their new album Black Ice to iTunes. The record will be available at physical stores only, with Wal-Mart offering an exclusive edition. While Tuesday usually marks new release day for music retail, Black Ice will be coming out this Thursday, but, over 400,000 fans have already snagged a copy illegally. After leaking earlier this week, over 4000,000 downloads have been detected by BitTorrent users, not to mention the untold number of people who downloaded their copy from other file sharing services. Still, the band is sure they want to keep their music off of iTunes digital shelves pointing to the increase in sales of their back catalogue the past five years as proof (Back In Black was #2 on the Pop Catalogue Charts last week after selling 9,200 copies. That would have put them in the 60's on the Billboard 200 Album Chart if it was still eligible.) Despite the lack of sales boost Estelle received just a few short months ago after Atlantic pulled her album from iTunes, a recent Canadian study found that fans who first obtain a copy of an album illegally are more likely to eventually purchase it.
iTunes Watch Last week, Kanye West set a personal record for highest debut when "Love Lockdown" opened at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. With virtually no radio airplay and only a couple of days of sales, he seemed a shoe-in for this week's #1 as Pink's "So What" barley beat him out in digital downloads despite having an entire week of sales. West had a lock down on the one spot on iTunes until yesterday when Pink's "So What" snatched it (who's still buying this song?) followed by Katy Perry's rising "Hot N Cold". That'll throw a wrench in Kanye's plans.
Meanwhile, new releases by Christina Aguilera ("Keeps Gettin' Better") and The Killers ("Human") are now available for legal download on the site. Neither of these tracks have made it to the top ten yet, but T.I. and Rihanna's "Live Your Life" has. The song, from T.I.'s Paper Trails album (out today) samples the infamous "Numa Numa Song" (actually titled "Dragostea Din Tei" by O-Zone) and is Rihanna's best song since "Umbrella". It's current #9 place on iTunes top 100 songs is made all the more impressive considering it has yet to be officially released as a single, has received little airplay, and doesn't even have a music video. Rihanna is an unstoppable force of nature.
Kanye West Arrested Rappers are routinely arrested for drug related incidents, but Kanye West is never content being like other rappers. The "Stronger" star was arrested yesterday after getting into a scuffle with a paparazzi in which he broke the photographer's camera. The incident occurred at 7:51 AM outside the security checkpoint at LAX. West was reportedly headed for Honolulu. "Flashing Lights" indeed.
Estelle Returns to iTunes On August 31, it was reported that in an effort to boost album sales and revenues, Atlantic records pulled Estelle's "American Boy" from iTunes digital shelves. This move came after Kid Rock saw success with sales of his album Rock N Roll Jesus without letting the hit single "All Summer Long" be available on the digital music store. Apparently this didn't work for Estelle. Album sales of Shine actually dropped 16% before rising 9% last week. "American Boy" which peaked at #11 dropped to #57 without the help of digital downloads. You can now find Shine being advertised in the middle space of the iTunes store banner.
Girls Aloud Win 2008 Popjustice Twenty Quid Prize In parody of the annual Mercury Music Prize, British pop blog Popjusticeholds an "awards ceremony" of their own where readers and writers of the blog meet and argue about the best British single of the past 12 months. Girls Aloud have won three of the past five years and added another win to their belt with "Call The Shots". The Aloud single beat out the likes of "Bleeding Love" and "Dance Wiv Me" to claim the prize. Past winners: 2003: Girls Aloud "No Good Advice" 2004: Rachel Stevens "Some Girls" 2005: Girls Aloud "Wake Me Up" 2006: Girls Aloud "Biology" 2007: Amy Winehouse "Rehab" 2008: Girls Aloud "Call The Shots"
A Love/Hate Relationship: iTunes And The Music Industry Last week, Estelle's "American Boy" featuring Kanye West, already a UK #1, sat just outside the top 10 and was poised to make its entrance this week. That, however, did not happen. Instead, "American Boy" plummeted from #11 to #37. The reason for the sudden drop is digital download sales? "American Boy" was the eighth most downloaded song in the country before August 19th when Atlantic Records pulled its parent album, Shine, from iTune's virtual shelves.
The decision came after seeing the relative success of Kid Rock's Rock 'N Roll Jesus. The album has been kept off iTunes, yet has sold 1.6 million copies. If it had been made available digitally, how many of those 1.6 million albums would have been downloads of just one song, say, "All Summer Long", the album's biggest hit? It's impossible to know for sure, but what is certain is that both Atlantic Records and Kid Rock would rather sell a $14.00 album than a $.99 single.
The record industry is facing record lows year after year as online piracy continues, burned CD's and mixes flourish, and other forms of entertainment compete for people's time. Initially, iTunes seemed like the solution to this growing problem, giving consumers a legal alternative to Napster or Limewire. In five years, the Apple music store has sold more than five billion songs and since the beginning of the year has overtaken Wal-Mart's spot as the largest music retailer. Ken Levitan, Kid Rock's manager, sees things differently. In a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, Levitan commented, "In so many ways it's turned our business back into a singles business," and that iTunes is "part of the death knell of the music business."
Atlantic's choice to keep albums of iTunes is a bold move designed to boost revenues and keep an album's artistic integrity intact, but it carries big risks. Will consumers who were willing to purchase "American Boy" off the Apple store turn to illegal means to get the track? Will consumers be willing to spend money on an entire album if they only know there is one song on it they like? Levitan is sure the risks are worth it. "Check some of these artists that have hit singles, versus their album sales, then compare it to what Kid Rock is doing." "I Kissed A Girl" by Katy Perry has sold 2.2 million downloads compared to her album, One Of The Boys, which has managed a mere 282,000 copies sold. M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes" is up to 888,000 downloads while Kala has sold only 272,000 copies.
As a whole, iTunes sold 844 million songs last year and only 50 million digital albums. It's easy to see why keeping music off iTunes seems so attractive to a record industry in decline but not giving the consumer what they want is always dangerous. Maybe artists should just release a bunch of hit singles from an album and then release a bunch more hit singles and then put them all together on one album. Oh wait, they do. It's called Super Deluxe Ultra Platinum Reloaded Edition Rerelease.
American Idol
In the epic battle of the David's for the crown at the 7th annual American Idol finales, Cook came out on top. At first, it was a surprise, but reflecting back on it, we should have seen it coming. You have Archuletta, a kid who is being pushed to stardom by an overbearing father up against Cook, a guy who didn't even intend to try out for the show in the first place. I think the underdog in all of us likes the the second storyline better than the first. Sure David Cook was already pursuing a musical career, but the idea that a bartender could walk into an audition he went to only to support his brother and end up winning the entire competition is so much more fulfilling than thinking that another Papa Simpson or Papa Cyrus was a puppetmaster calling the shots for their kids to be superstars and live through them.
David Cook never seemed like the American Idol early on in the competition. But about the time he changed his hair, he lost his attitude, and Michael Johns got kicked off, he became a contender. For as cocky as he initially was, after Simon called him out on it, David changed. It wasn't an act at being humble, I think he really was humbled. He found himself at the final and was nothing but gracious at the opportunity he had before him and at David Archuletta's talent, but wasn't everyone?
Randy predicted about Archie, "this boy's the one to beat" and after the final performance, Simon announced that he had won in a landslide. Outside the Nokia Theatre, Fox newscasters from around the country were discussing who had won and they all brought up points about performances, but they completley missed the point. Not one mentioned the fact that Syesha Mercado had accumulated a large fan base that had lost her and who they turned their texts to had an insurmountable advantage. No one said anything about disgruntled Cook fans texting overtime to prove Simon wrong. But all of those things happened.
Right when Simon apologized to Cook for being rude, you knew something was up. He'd been tipped off or something and was trying to save face. Well, David Cook is our American Idol. He owns the top three on iTunes. Honestly, he'll make better music. Archuletta had a fan base of 14 year olds but made music for 44 year olds. His adult contemorory was too adult and not enough contemporary. Cook on the other hand, has great potential for recording some hits.
In American Idol, winning isn't everything. In season 2, Clay Aiken reached #1 on Billboard while Ruben Studdard had to settle for #2. Chris Daughtry seems to be more popular than Taylor Hicks and Katharine McPhee. Still, Cook has already put up a convincing argument that he is worthy of his title breaking a Neilson Soundscan era chart record for most debuts for an artist in a single week with 11 and they are: 3 - "The Time Of My Life" 15 - "Dream Big" 22 - "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" 28 - "The World I Know" 42 - "I Don't Want To Miss A Thing" 47 - "Billie Jean" 67 - "Always Be My Baby" 73 - "Hello" 77 - "The Music Of The Night" 92 - "Eleanor Rigby" 99 - "I'm Alive" Only the Beatles have ever had more songs in the top 100 at a given time with 14 in April of 1964. Now enjoy both Cook's and Archie's Guitar Hero commercials.
So American Idol jumped on the digital music bandwagon this season by announcing that each nights' performances will be available for purchase on iTunes. Dredlocked singer Jason Castro was the first to make waves when his rendition of "Hallelujah" climbed to #2 on the iTunes charts. I'm not for sure, but I wouldn't be surprised if that's higher than anything Jordin Sparks has put out yet. I'm not counting on a Castro victory this season though. The high chart placing is definatley based on the song and not the artist. I guess the folks at iTunes realized this and swapped Castro's cover with the Jeff Buckley original which now sits at #1.
That's power right there ladies and gentlemen. American Idol has catipulted a 14 year old song to the top of digital downloads for if only for a few days until Usher shoulders his way back. If you don't believe me, check top music videos. Paula Abdul's comeback, "Dance Like There's No Tommorow" is at #1. American Idol has catipulted a pop star who hasn't released an album since 1995 to the top of digital downloads if only for a few days until ..."Thriller" shoulders its way back. Hmm...Thrillers like 25 years old...and as of right now has nothing to do with American Idol. Well, don't mess with American Idol or Michael Jackson.
