MACHINE HEAD's Robb Flynn recently stated how he doesn't purchase "physical music" anymore thanks to digital streaming. He also stated that he probably wont ever purchase "physical music" again. With him being a musician and a key player in Heavy Music, his comments caused a massive stir up from the purists out there who still believe that the music industry can return to what it used to be. Here is Flynn's reaction to all the stir up, followed by some key recent data regarding iTunes (the #1 provider of non "physical music").
"Look, I'm in a band, I've lived on a bus/van/plane for well over 25 years of my life now. I live out of a suitcase, that resides on a tour bus, with 10 people (imagine a studio apartment on wheels, with 9 roommates) for 10 months out of a year at times. My life needs to be efficient, it needs to be compact, it needs to be portable. Sure, I used to carry a big-ass CD wallet everywhere with beer-soaked, scratched up CD's and it was a pain, so yeah, the Spotify / iTunes world fits me perfect.
"But, I also realize this isn't most people's life.
"Most people don't need the portability I do. Lot's of people said they love iTunes and streaming. Lot's of people said they would like a CD, and of course, for the time being we will continue to sell CD's. That's never been a question, as long as there are stores to stock CD's, we will sell CD's. And with Bandcamp.com and HDfiles.com offering CD quality and higher files, that's a cool thing the future is bringing to files. But also, as I'm sure as most of you know, stores to purchase CD's are getting harder and harder to find. HMV (the last UK based CD chain) just closed shop, FNAC and Virgin France just closed. Here in the US Best Buy has cut CD rack space down from 24 racks to 4 racks!
"I have a ritual I've done for every release since Burn My Eyes in 1994, where first day I go in and buy our album. Call it good luck or whatever, I love my rituals. But believe you me, I was stunned, STUNNED, when I went into Ameoba Records in Hollywood (I was in LA on the Jason Ellis show day of release) and saw our regular album NOT on sale, but full price for $16.99. I spent $40 bucks buying the 2 editions. It was wrong, it's supposed to be on sale the first week / first month. You reward the die-hards, reward the Head Cases for going out there and supporting you first day/week/month. It's a thank you. We were pissed and fans weren't stoked. Shit like this has to change, it has to, and we as a band (with your help) have to figure out a way around it."
The impact of iTunes:
Recently, Apple® announced that music fans have purchased and downloaded more than 25 billion songs from the iTunes Store® (www.itunes.com), the world’s most popular online music, TV and movie store. The 25 billionth song, “Monkey Drums” (Goksel Vancin Remix) by Chase Buch, was purchased by Phillip Lüpke from Germany. As the downloader of the 25 billionth song, Phillip will received a €10,000 iTunes® Gift Card.
“We are grateful to our users whose passion for music over the past 10 years has made iTunes the number one music retailer in the world,” said Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services. “Averaging over 15,000 songs downloaded per minute, the iTunes Store connects music fans with their favorite artists, including global sensations like Adele and Coldplay and new artists like The Lumineers, on a scale we never imagined possible.”
“In a lot of ways, iTunes has leveled the playing field for musicians. Whether you’re unsigned, indie, major, whatever—it’s the place most people go to buy digital music,” said Wesley Schultz, guitarist and lead vocalist of The Lumineers. “iTunes doesn’t exclude any musicians simply because they’re not yet established or popular.”
The iTunes Store is the world’s most popular music store with a catalog of over 26 million songs and over 25 billion songs downloaded, and is available in 119 countries. The iTunes Store is the best way for iPhone®, iPad®, iPod®, Mac® and PC users to legally discover, purchase and download music online. All music on the iTunes Store comes in iTunes Plus®, Apple’s DRM-free format with high-quality 256 kbps AAC encoding for audio virtually indistinguishable from the original recordings. iTunes in the Cloud lets you download your previously purchased iTunes music to your devices at no additional cost, and new music purchases can be downloaded automatically to your iOS devices.
In our humble opinion, "physical music" still has a certain value to the music industry as a whole. However, with music stores closing their doors thanks to the digital era we are all part of, it is essential for musicians from all walks of life to upload their music to iTunes and other digital media sources. If you are reading this and you are a musician, make sure your music is on iTunes before uploading the content unto any other site. iTunes is the NEW Tower Records, the NEW Virgin Records, and will continue to be for many years to come.
Let us know what you think about this at the comments section below.
Related links:
Machine Head
http://www.apple.com
