Slashdot Mirror
iTunes Sales Ban Does Increase CD Sales
Guinnessy writes "According to the New York Times, some music labels have deliberately stopped selling some new singles on online stories such as iTunes or Rhapsody while promoting songs on the radio, so that listeners will rush out to buy the CD album instead. The album appears in itunes at a later date. Not everyone seems to think this is a good idea. From the article: 'The labels are shooting themselves in the foot,' says Rhapsody's Tim Quirk. However, Ne-Yo's CD In My Own Words sold 301,000 copies using this method. Chris Brown's Run It, that was in the itunes store, sold 154,000 copies in its first week. Ne-Yo's So Sick was downloaded approximately 3.4 million times on the peer to peer networks during the week of his album release while the album Run It!"was downloaded approximately 5.3 million times in the same release period."
Agreed...if the study is not based on numerous samples, this is garbage. And even then it can still be skewed. This is no way to measure the effectiveness/ineffectiveness of iTunes sales. You'd be just as accurate flipping a coin to tell you whether it impedes sales or not.
What the RIAA is all about is controling what choices you have in music. If you can only get the CD's that they distribute, they can force anything down your throat. If you can download any artist's music, the artist has much more power, and the labels much less. The RIAA would love to end all downloading of music -- because right now Apple is making money off of ITunes, and they are offering all sorts of music -- music the labels would just as soon you not be allowed to hear.
Search online before you rush out and drive 15 miles in your SUV to get that latest CD.
Message to the music industry:
The horse and buggy distro system of funny plastic disks has been superceded by an Internet. Tune in or drop out.
It's the Slashdot summary (surprise, surprise) that makes the conclusion "iTunes Sales Ban Does Increase CD Sales". The article itself is titled "Labels Halt Downloads to Increase CD Sales" which just means that labels are trying to increase CD sales by halting downloads.
When the DS was unavailable a couple years a go it sold like hotcakes, same with xbox360 this year. Special colors (my wife wants a Pink DS) are only released in small quantities and therefore are highly desired.
Making people listen to a song on the radio without making it available for purchase means that it will hit the charts hard when it does release. Is there anyone who could possibly be surprised by this?