Last Updated on: 21st November 2013, 01:33 pm
It’s not often I get to write a sentence containing the words major record labels get something right, but this is one of those times.If it’s on air, it’s on sale, say majors
Starting next month, both Sony and Universal will be making songs available for digital download at the same time as they start playing on radio stations. I imagine the radio folks are thrilled, but there’s no denying that this makes all kinds of business sense given how the world works now.
The internet means we don’t have to wait for anything anymore, and most people are more than happy to settle for a poor quality recording of a song they want if it means they can have it now rather than in a month or so when the industry would like them to go out and buy the album. and now that services like iTunes, Amazon MP3 and the like are beginning to win people over, you’d have to be a fool not to take advantage of that need for instant gratification. Give people the chance to buy an official version of a song from you instead of forcing them to get an FM quality radio rip from the pirates and odds are some of them will. It’s like I’ve always said: the reason people use P2P is because it offers everything people want, that being everything. the labels will never match those sites and applications on price, but that doesn’t matter quite as much now that at least a segment of the population is willing to pay a small price to download songs they want. Besides, the price battle is obviously unwinnable, so the best you can do is put your best foot forward. this is a huge step in that direction and I hope to see more labels following suit. Start giving people everything in a way that’s quick and convenient for them and only good things can happen.