Bundling is an old technique. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Product_bundling https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Product_bundling The animosity towards Elsevier is p

Bundling is an old technique. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Product_bundling https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Product_bundling The animosity towards Elsevier is perhaps better explained as reaction against product tying. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tying_(commerce) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tying_(commerce) What you describe with punk and hard core music is not tying, because "a song by band X" is very similar to "a song by band X". Eg, people used to buy a single for the song on the A side, and get the song on the B side as well, even if they didn't want it.