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Bands Bypass iTunes With iPhone Apps
iminplaya writes to tell us that the band "The Presidents of the United States of America" (yes, the peaches guys), are trying to expand their engagement with fans by selling their music via Apple's App store, something others have experimented with but never dealt with on this level. "The app, called 'The Presidents' Music — PUSA,' sells for $2.99 on the App Store (iTunes link) offers users access to four full albums, including the band's early 'lost' recordings. This includes the previously-unavailable FroggyStyle — 'unless you have one of the 500 cassettes the band sold in 1994, you've never heard this before,' reads the app description. The app also features a number of extras and exclusives that the band says are updated regularly, and fans can read the band's blog directly from the app on their iPhones or iPod touches. The music, however, is not actually contained within the application itself; instead, it is streamed to the app from a server, requiring the user to be connected to a network of some kind (iPhone users on the cell or WiFi network, iPod touch users on WiFi) in order to access the media."
Personally, I know them better for their song "Lump" (which Weird Al parodied as "Gump") better than I know them for "Peaches".
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If the content is streaming, I don't see Apple having a problem with this. After all, I can stream numerous radio stations already through iTunes or through an iPhone app. I don't think Apple will be concerned unless the app allows you to save the music. Besides, there's probably some agreement the developers have to agree to that states no app will directly compete with iTunes.
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If looked at purely as a method of accessing the artists' work it seems ineffectual. However, as a total package this is a genius appeal to the "always on" "web 2.0" environment of today's Internet. For 2.99, a price I think many will pay, users recieve a portal on their mobile device into the world of their favorite artists. Bios, extra content, tour dates, blogs, and ALL their music in one place. Sounds like something a fan would gladly pay 2.99 to have access to.
"By the time they had diminished from 50 to 8, the other dwarves began to suspect 'Hungry.'" -Gary Larson
More bands should be offering their music for free on the Internet itself. Look at how well Nine Inch Nails and Radiohead (for starters) have done with their Internet releases.
Yeah! All you need to do to make it big on the internet is to already be a multi-platinum selling band before the internet came along. Simple!
One of the reasons people buy iPhones is for integration both on the phone and desktop. You know, all your music in one place. This will also have limited use for Touch users who wan't to listen to music without be near wifi. I for one do not want 100 apps from various artists scattered across my phone.
Firstly, it just bypasses iTunes in loading new music onto your phone - there seems be a not-inconspicuous "BUY NOW" button, which I would guess would take you to the iTunes Store so you can... purchase the song!
I've seen similar apps on the store, GameRock being the one I use. It seemed appealing enough - access to all the music game's library of music (Guitar Hero (1..n), Rock Band 1/2, etc), but honestly, it sucks.
Firstly, you can listen to the setlists contained in each game, yes, but they're shuffled. You can only go next track and pause (and the pause only works for a little while - pause too long and you'll lose the song). Oh yeah, there's a nice big BUY NOW button so you can purchase the track. You can browse the setlist, but that's only if you want to buy a different track than the one currently playing. It's slow switching tracks (several seconds to pull new track information, then several more seconds to start playing), ugh. And the quality's fairly crappy too - like 128kbps (or lower) MP3.
It's a great way to sample an artist's other works, I'll admit, but it certainly doesn't beat actually having the song loaded on your iPod. The random shuffle, the slow next track make it useful as say, a radio that plays one artist only (or in my case, music from one game), but not much more.
The BUY NOW would explain why Apple freely approves these kinds of programs - more iTunes store revenue.
And I have absolutely no idea who they even are! I guess this means I'm just too old.... or too young....
No no, PUSA were very much a "blink and you'll miss 'em" band. Some trajectories are brief.
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Is there some reason why anyone should be concerned with what Apple's position is here? If you bought the iPhone, you should own it and it should play whatever you want it to play at any time. It's sad that anyone would raise Apple's perceived position on this as an issue, as if they rightly should be allowed to stop any activity you undertake with your iPhone.
Digital Citizen
This is just another way to deliver music, and not an exceptional method at that. Complaining, as you do, would be like complaining about them putting music on iTunes. Only those rich enough to own a music player can have access to this sort of thing. Even now music players are not cheap. A few years ago when iTunes opened, it was only the rich who have the option of choice, while the rest had to live with a CD player.
Get real. There is little value in this. Only those who like the band well enough to toss them another few dollars are going to this. Everyone else will just rip and load like we always have done. With no significant new stuff in three years, they had to do something to revitalize the catalog, and box sets are not what they used to be.
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