4 ms·

today's a day I won't forget? The day Apple announced yet another way to buy songs from the world's most popular band?

by sandipc 16y ago

vic_nyc 16y ago
Is Apple starting to 'cry wolf' a bit too much lately? :) Funnily enough, I already forgot what day it was.
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
- tvon 16y ago
  Has Apple ever made a major announcement via website update? I mean, it seemed kind of silly to expect major changes from this...
DrJokepu 16y ago
It's a reference to Beatles's[del][del][del] Paul McCartney's song "Another Day". And this is kind of a big deal as Beatles was one of the last really big top-tier bands that blocked every attempt to distribute their records online. They still cannot be streamed on Spotify but it's just a question of time now. I feel that many people here don't really appreciate the importance of this. This is really the beginning of the end of the old ways of the music recording industry, and a new music recording industry is emerging right now. Very interesting times indeed for those of us who are working in this field or anyone who loves music. And yes, it was Apple, not any of the major record labels or consumer electronics companies that has brought us this change.
- coliveira 16y ago
  I think this is more like the end of the end... The traditional model is dead for many years already.
  - Tyrannosaurs 16y ago
    CD sales still account for a greater proportion of sales than downloads (though likely to change shortly). I think the end of the end is still some time away. Vinyl has supposedly been dead for some time but they still seem to sell a fair amount of it.
    - jonhendry 16y ago
      Vinyl's experienced a recent surge due to a retro trend. It might last, or the hipsters might get bored and move on to something else, like quasi-ironic adoption of 8-tracks or cassettes.
      - Tyrannosaurs 16y ago
        There was an increase in vinyl sales in the last couple of years but overall it got to a certain level about a decade back and then plateaued (somewhere around a 5% market share in the UK at least). There is a fashion thing in there but that steady level over a decade suggests something more. Maybe that's specific to vinyl and other physical media won't see a similar effect but we'll have to see. Certainly at the prices we see right now CDs are often comparable (sometimes lower) than download prices. All things being equal personally I'll still take the physical item, if only it's because it's a free backup, and I think there are others like me.
  - glhaynes 16y ago
    I was amazed to see someone say yesterday that 3/4ths of music is still sold on CDs. I can't remember the last time I even considered buying a CD.
    - smackfu 16y ago
      Easy to play CDs in the car.
      - leviathant 16y ago
- marklabedz 16y ago
  The beginning of the end started a while ago. The internet, particularly broadband and mobile connectivity, have revolutionized a variety of industries. News, mail, music, movie rentals. It seems to me that the Beatles finally caved to reality. Sure, there are "adults" that still buy physical media, but the "kids" haven't been doing that in a high enough volume to sustain the such a distribution model for a few years now.
- crocowhile 16y ago
  Oh come on.
- smackfu 16y ago
  Of course, it's not a Beatles song. It's a McCartney solo song. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Another_Day_%28Paul_McCartney_song%29 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Another_Day_%28Paul_McCartney_s...
  - DrJokepu 16y ago
    Good point. I stand corrected.
    - smackfu 16y ago
      No worries, it's just amusing because McCartney has all his solo stuff on all the services. So you could already get "Another Day" on Amazon MP3 yesterday: http://www.amazon.com/Another-Day/dp/B003D5FGBW http://www.amazon.com/Another-Day/dp/B003D5FGBW
- philwelch 16y ago
  AC/DC still aren't on the store, and they're still a somewhat active band. And by now, they may be even more relevant than the Beatles, if such a thing is possible. iTunes is the top music retailer in the world, even before this. This isn't the beginning of the end of the old ways; it's the Beatles catching up with 2003.
deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
MikeCapone 16y ago
They certainly got a lot of free publicity. This story is on the frontpage of all the Canadian and US newspaper sites I read.

today's a day I won't forget? The day Apple announced yet another way to buy songs from the world's most popular band?

by sandipc 16y ago

today's a day I won't forget? The day Apple announced yet another way to buy songs from the world's most popular band?

vic_nyc 16y ago

Is Apple starting to 'cry wolf' a bit too much lately? :) Funnily enough, I already forgot what day it was.

deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
tvon 16y ago
Has Apple ever made a major announcement via website update? I mean, it seemed kind of silly to expect major changes from this...

DrJokepu 16y ago

It's a reference to Beatles's[del][del][del] Paul McCartney's song "Another Day". And this is kind of a big deal as Beatles was one of the last really big top-tier bands that blocked every attempt to distribute their records online. They still cannot be streamed on Spotify but it's just a question of time now. I feel that many people here don't really appreciate the importance of this. This is really the beginning of the end of the old ways of the music recording industry, and a new music recording industry is emerging right now. Very interesting times indeed for those of us who are working in this field or anyone who loves music. And yes, it was Apple, not any of the major record labels or consumer electronics companies that has brought us this change.

coliveira 16y ago
I think this is more like the end of the end... The traditional model is dead for many years already.
- Tyrannosaurs 16y ago
  CD sales still account for a greater proportion of sales than downloads (though likely to change shortly). I think the end of the end is still some time away. Vinyl has supposedly been dead for some time but they still seem to sell a fair amount of it.
  - jonhendry 16y ago
    Vinyl's experienced a recent surge due to a retro trend. It might last, or the hipsters might get bored and move on to something else, like quasi-ironic adoption of 8-tracks or cassettes.
    - Tyrannosaurs 16y ago
      There was an increase in vinyl sales in the last couple of years but overall it got to a certain level about a decade back and then plateaued (somewhere around a 5% market share in the UK at least). There is a fashion thing in there but that steady level over a decade suggests something more. Maybe that's specific to vinyl and other physical media won't see a similar effect but we'll have to see. Certainly at the prices we see right now CDs are often comparable (sometimes lower) than download prices. All things being equal personally I'll still take the physical item, if only it's because it's a free backup, and I think there are others like me.
- glhaynes 16y ago
  I was amazed to see someone say yesterday that 3/4ths of music is still sold on CDs. I can't remember the last time I even considered buying a CD.
  - smackfu 16y ago
    Easy to play CDs in the car.
    - leviathant 16y ago
marklabedz 16y ago
The beginning of the end started a while ago. The internet, particularly broadband and mobile connectivity, have revolutionized a variety of industries. News, mail, music, movie rentals. It seems to me that the Beatles finally caved to reality. Sure, there are "adults" that still buy physical media, but the "kids" haven't been doing that in a high enough volume to sustain the such a distribution model for a few years now.
crocowhile 16y ago
Oh come on.
smackfu 16y ago
Of course, it's not a Beatles song. It's a McCartney solo song. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Another_Day_%28Paul_McCartney_song%29 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Another_Day_%28Paul_McCartney_s...
- DrJokepu 16y ago
  Good point. I stand corrected.
  - smackfu 16y ago
    No worries, it's just amusing because McCartney has all his solo stuff on all the services. So you could already get "Another Day" on Amazon MP3 yesterday: http://www.amazon.com/Another-Day/dp/B003D5FGBW http://www.amazon.com/Another-Day/dp/B003D5FGBW
philwelch 16y ago
AC/DC still aren't on the store, and they're still a somewhat active band. And by now, they may be even more relevant than the Beatles, if such a thing is possible. iTunes is the top music retailer in the world, even before this. This isn't the beginning of the end of the old ways; it's the Beatles catching up with 2003.

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]

MikeCapone 16y ago

They certainly got a lot of free publicity. This story is on the frontpage of all the Canadian and US newspaper sites I read.