I came across this on Bravewords.com this morning:
Starting at roughly 8:00am EST on Thursday, February 2nd, VAN HALEN’s new album A Different Kind Of Truth will reportedly be available via the Australian iTunes store (12:00 midnight on February 3rd Sydney time). Go to www.apple.com/au/itunes for more information.
A Different Kind Of Truth, will be released in North America by Interscope Records on February 7th. Audio samples from the entire album can be found at this location (click view in iTunes).
As I suspected you can already find the album on the torrents for free. Many U.S. and rest of world fans who would buy it today from iTunes CAN’T BUY IT. Why? Because we live in the wrong country. I have my iTunes preorder, but I can’t listen until next Tuesday, but fans in Australia can listen today. Explain why this makes any sense? Don’t complain about your music being pirated when you decided only certain regions of the world are allowed to buy it. Is there a really solid reason why the album could not have been released worldwide at the same time? Does the U.S. label really need until February 7th to get ready? Is the label in Australia that much more prepared that they didn’t need a few extra days? Or is it just because that is the way it has always been done?
Remember, there is only one territory for releasing music now… the world. You can’t restrict music to borders, there are no borders.
Whose fault is it that many U.S. Van Halen fans are now downloading the new album?
The main problem are the standardized week days for album releases. For example, in Germany, Austria and Switzerland albums are released on Fridays, on Mondays in the rest of Europe and on Tuesdays in the US.
So it’s not a matter of different label branches being prepared or not.
The question has to be asked, why do we have to stay with those release days? That is old school business for reasons that for the most part no longer exist. You are not shipping in product that then needs to inventoried and shelved. This is a world of digital. Recorded yesterday and released today. You can release a new album any day of the week you want. As longs as they stick to old world business practice this problem will continue to exist.
Exactly, I can’t even remember why these days were picked in first place. Release digital downloads and CD’s worldwide on a given day and you’d give fans less reason to download illegally from torrent sites, you’d have less administrative effort for labels – more money for both artists and labels!
…I can’t speak to why the dates are different, worldwide… but I’m pretty sure Van Halen’s audience is still a physical majority. I’m intimately involved in a mid ’90s band that’s been #1 on the alternative charts, off and on, in the past year… will be on Jay Leno this week… and their current full length ALBUM sales are still 70% physical. It’s the reverse for artists like Lady Gaga, but the audience genre makes a big difference. I’d predict first week Van Halen will be 35% to 40% digital, tops… then move closer to 30 digital/70 physical over time. Certain audiences only track dabble, then go for the album. Doesn’t explain some of this, but it’s not a digital world for everyone. Hardly…
May not be, but the world is going that way and it can’t be stopped or slowed. It does nothing to help with the issue of piracy which from the outset labels have blamed on the consumer. You want music now, you want to pay for it, take the money or lose the sale.
Believe it or not it actually takes longer to put a record out digitally than physically… in terms of scheduling, systems, etc. it’s beyond my comprehension, as to why, smarter people than me understand it (meta-data set up is mind numbingly slow, or what have you). I realize a song can be stolen via mp3 in a second… but that’s not thru the same mechanisms needed if you actually want to take people’s money and deliver them a proper version… and OVERALL digital in the US is far out pacing the UK, for example. Here the overall sales are about even… 50/50; in the UK overall sales are 67% physical. 35% digital… my source for this last tidbit below.
http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/industry/record-labels/analysis-diversity-not-just-digital-sales-1005306372.story
No debate about digital vs physical and the percentages. The time to setup and sell a digital track is also really no argument, they have had plenty of time for this album. I suspect that iTunes worldwide is ready today to sell the track. I want to buy the album today on iTunes… that would be taking my money and delivering a proper version. In the US they have decided to not do that, and only take money in Australia. Again, no borders any longer. If they want to maximize their digital sales they need to stop thinking about regional releases. A digital file knows no region… physical yes.
There’s probably an exchange issue, now… I’m not arguing that they shouldnt at least be simultaneous. But right now it’s probably cheaper for a kid to buy a digital track in the U.S. than in Australia if he lives there. Because you pay attention, they know you’d buy the record cause you’re ready. But the larger passive audience is just getting around to knowing this record exisiting. If they released it the day they had it it might be perceived as a “bomb” and do only 35,000 units and go away quickly. that figures into their thinking. certain bands like KISS or RUSH will sell X no matter what. But Van Halen has a high potential for a huge amount of passive drive by fans. It takes time to get to them.. and 1st week sales at least affect touring adavnces and merch advances, and blah blah blah… not always relevant . Plus the first single sucks in my mind, and they needed to figure that out too!
Not even a VH issue… a digital product is trying to be sold in a system designed for physical products. A system that had reasons why it was being done for physical, reasons that at one time made sense. They don’t work for digital. Would five days earlier in the US changed anything about the album?
Maybe in their minds they’re releasing this 5 days earlier than planned (they may also be targeting a date/week with less competition, to insure a #1 debut which matters, of course). Considering they signed or announced this deal in November, I’d say this is a quick turnaround. Interscope and Universal often do unconventional release dates. Saturdays, Mondays. it’s a bit like asking why KISS doesn’t change their set list every night…. they could. but there’s a ton of things choreographed (in this case, media) around a targeted date everyone agrees is realistic to execute all that is needed for any release. the impact of the first week sales number matters to all… not how fast something can come out to please the die hards only. If this record leaks significantly, they’ll put it out earlier, trust me. VH, like most artists, may have some release week media stunts that can’t be moved. anyone can put something out NOW if they really want to. The good would have to outweigh the bad. A certain amount of bootlegging/downloading is factored in. When I worked exclusively for a $70 million (annually) hip hop label, we used to worry if we didn’t see bootlegs in the streets! It meant no one gave a shit!
I like that, Recorded yesterday and Released Today, that’s exactly how it is Right Now, there really is no reason for the off-release days
Yep, that is crazy and old school frame of mind.
That’s exactly why I’m releasing my records more or less on air on sale and the digital is name your price downloads. I don’t like sending physical or digital promos before official release date if I can avoid it.
Because there are so many records being released and so many ways to get them for free if you want it makes sense to only let people know about it if they can buy it/download direct from you as soon as they hear about you.
I am so glad there are other people with the same opinion about this as me, it’s an absolutely stupid practice and another addition to the long list of reasons why record labels are losing money hand over fist. Someday the decision makers will see there are no borders in a digital world if an album is available in Sweden it better be available world wide at the same time and it really doesn’t matter if it is a band like Van Halen, Kiss, or some up and coming band from Australia because people in Canada, the U.K., the U.S., or wherever are going to get it regardless if it is available in their home country or not that is just a simple fact of life today.
Amazes me how the labels will blame fans for the pirating problem, yet actions like this just drive fans to pirate.
Good post , Michael. Spot on!
Thank you Brian!
I think the uniform dates for record releases was so that everyone had a level playing field.
Records released on Fridays (payday) might out-sell another that was released on the following Tuesday etc. Similarly to gifts with records where what you give is limited, otherwise bands with spare cash (?) putting out rubbish would always be in the charts for the wrong reasons.
Now because everybody can own a ‘label’ and release stuff themselves, the net is awash with songs that should be kept in the bedroom.
Hi Michael,
Couldn’t agree more. There have been moves in the UK to release records as ‘on air on sale’. Previously labels would promote a single on the radio weeks before its actual release date. Only to realise that this was increasing the demand for pirating.
The same principle should be applied to releases worldwide, as territorial releases only leaves money on the table for labels and their artists.
I’ve just written about it on our blog – Recorded yesterday, released today. The new music release model.
You may recognise that tag, we thought worthy of a post title 🙂
Cheers,
Steve
Great article! Glad I could be some inspiration. Just seems to me that if the labels are going to point fingers at consumers for pirating music, the labels should do everything they can to actually try and get the consumer to pay… not present a reason to go find it for free. Selling a digital product in a system that was originally designed for physical products does not work.
Whilst I agree fully with this post, reality goes even further. Global accessibility is only part of the problem, there’s also a question of global cost.
If I take the Van Halen single “Tattoo” for my example it might be clear who here in the UK would get my trade between Itunes (99p) and Amazon (89p) for download. But if I’m living in Australia that same digital download costs $2.19AUD from Itunes, which is a significant price hike over the (approx) $1.46AUD a UK customer has paid. Yet an AU Itunes user can’t choose to get their download from the UK Itunes instead, they are forced into paying a much higher price, even if we were to take currency conversion fees into account. Whilst I accept we can expect fluctuations in relative values of currencies, the differences in price for exactly the same download surely shouldn’t vary so widely if music is global.
So it’s not just about being a global music market in terms of accessibility, there also needs to be a global music market in terms of relative cost, with prices available to consumers being much closer, irrespective of country. Otherwise you’re still in danger of landing up with the piracy, even if accessibility is there.
Great point, just further illustrates that music is a global market and you can’t place territory restrictions on release or price… consumers will find other options.
I do believe that if the consumer is presented with music at a fair price, the moment they want to purchase it, in a manner which is easy to purchase and download… they will buy. Our time is worth something. The biggest problem is that when we want to buy music it is often not the easiest to find it and buy it. Once a hurdle is placed, a sale is potentially lost.
Music industry bites its own a** again. I’m in an independent DYI rockband and we will release the fourth album early next year and for quite some time now I’ve been asking myself: why do I need a record label, and why do I need a publisher? They won’t provide me a marketing budget anyway and since I’m already doing shit myself my own way, why would I want to give away 66,6% or more of practically no income since fans can’t access the album in a way they want to. I’ve come to the conclusion that all I need is a distributor that’s come to the same conclusion as I have.
And now: morning coffee, peace and joy to the world 🙂