Billy Corgan: iTunes Kills Music

[Owain Taggart]

Then he mentioned how someday all artists will sell their music directly without a middleman like iTunes. That is a nice thought for the bands themselves--no having to go through a label that takes a big cut--but it's a major pain in the ass for consumers. Who wants to have to go to a different website for every single band? It's nice to have a common platform, a one-stop shop for your music purchases, be it iTunes, Amazon, or something else.

Indie artists already do this, so maybe he wants to be an indie artist rather than a commercial mainstream artist. That said though, it's much harder for the indie artist to actually get their music out there and be recognized due to lower-key marketing and self-promotion, so I'm not sure what he's complaining about.

Maybe he's trying to find an explanation for why his sales are down. The answer to that is simple: competition. There is just a lot more music out there now than there was 10 years ago, thanks to how low the barriers to entry are these days. Pretty much anybody with a computer and some cheap equipment can become a musician or a DJ or whatever they like, and get it out there on the open market for very little money.

Very true. And likely some of it blows away his music Maybe that's what he's pissed about, haha.

 

[Pingfah]

It sounded like his real gripe was that music doesn't have the political impact it used to. When "anti-establishment" bands like RATM have their music available on iTunes--a service run by the giant Apple, Inc.--it blunts the sincerity and impact of their message.

Of course, RATM were signed to Epic for all their releases, who are one of the biggest record labels in the world. A decision De La Rocha defended at the time by remarking that there is no point having a political message if people don't hear it.

 

[Beyerstein]

None of the savings of manufacturing, packaging and shipping a physical CD are passed to the consumer via itunes. Most of the time you're paying more for an inferior quality compressed mp3. Apple hordes most of the profits and the music industry barley exists anymore.

I also do kind of agree with Corgan that the internet creates a kind of collective group think about things. Bands are either deemed good or bad based on internet consensus

 

[the G-man]

I also do kind of agree with Corgan that the internet creates a kind of collective group think about things. Bands are either deemed good or bad based on internet consensus

Before the internet did that, MTV did that.
Before MTV did that, radio did that.
Not to mention the music press doing it all along: Rolling Stone, Cream, Spin, etc.

 

[Beagleman]

Yeah, if anything, the internet gives small and niche bands a platform to find an audience. A chance most of them never had before.

 

[Pingfah]

Incidentally, Oceania, the new Smashing Pumpkins album that came out on Monday, is brilliant.

 

[Beagleman]

I have downloaded it, but hadn't yet time to give it a complete listen, take that Billy Corgan!