First 'Independent' Artists Arrive [Archive]

MacRumors

Jul 30, 2003, 09:35 AM

Yesterday's PaidContent.org notes (http://www.paidcontent.org/pc/arch/2003_07_29.shtml#002622) also mentioned an event of significance:

First independent artists is now available on iTunes: starting today, Moby is on iTunes...

In this context, "Independent" artists and labels simply refer to those who are not part of the five major record labels. Apple recently opened their iTunes Music Service to labels and artists. Jody Whitesides (http://jodywhitesides.com/) notes being "very first person to sign up for CDbaby's Digital Distribution" and will also be available through iTunes as well as a number of other online music servicecs.

MarksEvilTwin

Jul 30, 2003, 09:36 AM

Removed

Wash!!

Jul 30, 2003, 09:41 AM

The indies are coming:D

Sonofhaig

Jul 30, 2003, 09:42 AM

Bring on the Independents....
Every edition makes for a better itunes.

Vlade

Jul 30, 2003, 09:45 AM

Cool, apple needs to take away the "Biggest" title from buymusic

jamall

Jul 30, 2003, 09:55 AM

This Jody Whitesides seems to be gaining a lot of publicity all of a sudden. He seems to have used this whole Buymusic.com phenomenon to his own advantage in a very calculated and effective way. I've never heard his music before, but I'm curious, and heck, what's a buck? Quick, someone give him a job on the board at Apple...

Steamboatwillie

Jul 30, 2003, 09:55 AM

Any rumors if ITMS will have an area to request certain atrisit that they do not carry? A suggestion box of sorts? I would think that Apple would want feedback from it's customers about what content they would like to buy.

Glad to see the Indies com on board!

Steamboatwillie

Jul 30, 2003, 09:56 AM

Mudbug

Jul 30, 2003, 09:58 AM

This is indeed very good news. Not to mention that they've added a very large number of artists and albums this week alone, which will only help. Adding the indies will only bolster the bottom line and make the iTMS that much more attractive to music buyers.

arn

Jul 30, 2003, 10:04 AM

Originally posted by Steamboatwillie
Any rumors if ITMS will have an area to request certain atrisit that they do not carry? A suggestion box of sorts? I would think that Apple would want feedback from it's customers about what content they would like to buy.

This exists. and has existed since it was launched.

Click on Requests and Feedback in the iTunes Music Store.

arn

Awimoway

Jul 30, 2003, 10:06 AM

Originally posted by Steamboatwillie
Any rumors if ITMS will have an area to request certain atrisit that they do not carry? A suggestion box of sorts? I would think that Apple would want feedback from it's customers about what content they would like to buy.

Third item down, left column of the main iTMS page. Been there since day one.

arn

Jul 30, 2003, 10:06 AM

Originally posted by Steamboatwillie
Good point! I've never heard of him either!

That's the beauty of it. I've never heard of him either. A real "independent" artist.

Heh... and that's not to imply that indie = unknown. I'm just saying that there are a lot of smaller bands out there that people want. Hopefully they'll come too.

Moby's fine and all... but I didn't know he wasn't signed to a major label.

arn

Steamboatwillie

Jul 30, 2003, 10:07 AM

Originally posted by arn
This exists. and has existed since it was launched.

Click on Requests and Feedback in the iTunes Music Store.

arn

>blush< My bad, thanks for pointing it out!

My ITMS usuage, I guess, is a bit different than most? I never really paid much attention to the "home"page I just dive in and start looking for artists. Maybe I should take advantage of features I didn't know existed!

Java

Jul 30, 2003, 10:09 AM

Originally posted by arn
That's the beauty of it. I've never heard of him either. A real "independent" artist.

Moby's fine and all... but I didn't know he wasn't signed to a major label.

arn

Don't forget, Moby is a Mac user. Best of both worlds, an indie and a Mac addict.

iTunes is awesome. I'm off to go part with a few dollars.

AppleMatt

Jul 30, 2003, 10:31 AM

Originally posted by Vlade
Cool, apple needs to take away the "Biggest" title from buymusic

Perhaps, but if anything comes of this email claiming they illegally put-up tracks, then maybe they won't be the biggest for long.

Maybe (I haven't, and don't intend to, check), it would mean all of their 79c songs would dissapear also, or at least the majority. It's hard enough finding them at the moment.

edit: I didn't know Moby was a Mac user.

AppleMatt

morlium

Jul 30, 2003, 10:35 AM

not to descredit Moby, but V2 is about as mainstream as indy gets. but what's good is that we'll see The White Stripes soon enough.

when we start seeing music from pedro the lion, the nields, ani difranco, greg brown, the distillers, gemma hayes, etc., i'll take notice.

macnews

Jul 30, 2003, 10:36 AM

Originally posted by Vlade
Cool, apple needs to take away the "Biggest" title from buymusic

There is an article (http://www.macnn.com/news/20400) on the mac news forums that suggests buymusic's "big" library might not be legally obtained. Even if it is somehow legal, the story also says it means not many of the songs are from the big five labels. It also eludes to the cheaper prices being due to this deal (ill gotten songs) and more expensive songs being from the big five. If that is true, I think it shows the pull Apple has with the recording industry.

I haven't searched macrumors to see if someone else has started a thread.

arn

Jul 30, 2003, 10:41 AM

Originally posted by macnews
I haven't searched macrumors to see if someone else has started a thread.

Posted on MacBytes:

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?threadid=33555

Wash!!

Jul 30, 2003, 10:43 AM

iTMS for win is coming an will blow away all of the others

Rick65000

Jul 30, 2003, 10:45 AM

O.k. fine. I can get Moby, but how much longer do I have to wait to get imports?

Pizzicato 5

Judy and Mary

The Yellow Monkey
http://www.theyellowmonkey.com/

Bz

Dauerfisch: Entspannung is Beautiful E.P., You can ride my bike.:D

Wash!!

Jul 30, 2003, 10:47 AM

it's a sad fact

Hawthorne

Jul 30, 2003, 10:52 AM

Originally posted by jamall
This Jody Whitesides seems to be gaining a lot of publicity all of a sudden. He seems to have used this whole Buymusic.com phenomenon to his own advantage in a very calculated and effective way. I've never heard his music before, but I'm curious, and heck, what's a buck? Quick, someone give him a job on the board at Apple...

Gosh, what a clever idea. Have a website that's a blatant ripoff steal your tunes, distribute them online, never see one nickel from it, and then use it to sell your own records on your own site.

Yep, that's what he did alright. He knew, KNEW I say, that buymusic was going to launch with unauthorized copies of his songs! And then coldly calculated that the best way to profit from it was to send an email to an obscure Mac news site or two. Yep, no better way to make it to the top of the Billboard charts than that. That's how N'Sync did it, right?

:rolleyes:

Sigh.

mr moto

Jul 30, 2003, 10:57 AM

finally I can overwrite my pirated moby collection with good karma-clean MusicStore files!

at 1$ a song thats only 84 bucks to legalize one artist! isn't the world great?

paying up, and loving it, forever apple!

electric

Jul 30, 2003, 11:06 AM

Abstract

Jul 30, 2003, 11:45 AM

Originally posted by Rick65000
O.k. fine. I can get Moby, but how much longer do I have to wait to get imports?

Pizzicato 5

Judy and Mary

The Yellow Monkey
http://www.theyellowmonkey.com/

Bz

Dauerfisch: Entspannung is Beautiful E.P., You can ride my bike.:D

You'll get the imports when iTMS goes international. They'll neeeeed to get some international musicians in there if they do so. They can't sell American artists exclusively. ;) They wouldn't do that.......well, unless Steve-o has been eating paint chips again.

:(

suzerain

Jul 30, 2003, 12:58 PM

Apple added Indigenous' latest album. As far as I know they are completely Indie (of course, sometimes even tiny tiny labels up the food chain are owned by someone).

Anyway, they are one of my fave bands...I was very happy to see their latest album there. Now if only they'd add more old stuff and live/unreleased, that'd be even cooler.

ihatesoya

Jul 30, 2003, 01:05 PM

The thing about international "import" tracks is that they may be subject to the same limited distribution that current CDs are limited to -- meaning that the Japanese iTunes Music Store may be filled with J-Pop songs, but they will be inaccessible to American iTunes customers.

I had this problem with HMV's online store when I wanted to buy some CDs... the Japanese store had the CDs, but the North American store didn't have distribution rights... so in the end I had to pay a hefty courier fee and ordered them from Japan!

ptd

Jul 30, 2003, 01:14 PM

if you add up the total ammount of songs (if you list all songs in any genre you get the total amount available of that particular genre and then add up all genres) buymusic only has about 120 thousand songs. I am not sure how they can claim to have 300,000, but they are lying their asses off. I don't know the actual ammount at the applestore, but I would guess it is more than buymusic...

Originally posted by Vlade
Cool, apple needs to take away the "Biggest" title from buymusic

ptd

Jul 30, 2003, 01:17 PM

That is very refreshing to hear, nice job.

Originally posted by mr moto
finally I can overwrite my pirated moby collection with good karma-clean MusicStore files!

at 1$ a song thats only 84 bucks to legalize one artist! isn't the world great?

paying up, and loving it, forever apple!

macguymike

Jul 30, 2003, 01:27 PM

Ambrose Chapel

Jul 30, 2003, 01:37 PM

I still hope that the lawyers will be able to figure out ways of allowing international labels to sell in the iTMS, like the UK's Warp.

As for US indies, bring on Saddle Creek and Matador!

jaedreth

Jul 30, 2003, 01:57 PM

I want to see Natchet Taylor! Blacklash America!

Jaedreth

Abstract

Jul 30, 2003, 02:35 PM

Originally posted by ihatesoya
The thing about international "import" tracks is that they may be subject to the same limited distribution that current CDs are limited to -- meaning that the Japanese iTunes Music Store may be filled with J-Pop songs, but they will be inaccessible to American iTunes customers.

I had this problem with HMV's online store when I wanted to buy some CDs... the Japanese store had the CDs, but the North American store didn't have distribution rights... so in the end I had to pay a hefty courier fee and ordered them from Japan!

Well an American store is bound to NOT carry Japanese pop artists. However, since this is the internet, hopefully the limitations of having the physical album in stock at an American HMV store isn't an issue. Its just a file. It should be easy/easier for you to get some Japanese songs if this is true, unless I'm eating paint chips again.

Steve is God. Steve is doG.

juniormaj

Jul 30, 2003, 03:10 PM

Originally posted by mr moto
finally I can overwrite my pirated moby collection with good karma-clean MusicStore files!

at 1$ a song thats only 84 bucks to legalize one artist! isn't the world great?

paying up, and loving it, forever apple!

So far they have 2 full Moby albums (18, and Play) each with 18 songs for only $9.99 each.
With this rate you get 36 songs for $19.98.
It's theoretically possible to get all 84 songs for about $47.00 (rounded), depending on how the other albums are filled and sold.

New Guy

Jul 30, 2003, 03:33 PM

This may be off toipic but I still have a lot of not-so-good albums (Yes kids that's vinyl) from when I was a teenager. When nostalgia gets the better of me I would like to occasionally listen to some songs from them. The problem is I nolonger have a turn table. And the CDs aren't worth buying.

Is it still unethical to download songs from those albums via Lymewire or is it more like mame games? If you already own the media you can legally download an electronic version from the internet.

Thanks!

yosoyjay

Jul 30, 2003, 04:59 PM

It's legal to download those files if you own the record. But, it's still illegal to share those files.

Macmaniac

Jul 30, 2003, 06:12 PM

Yay! Its a start!

panphage

Jul 30, 2003, 07:12 PM

Happy about the first "Indie" on the scene. Still, there are serious gaps for me in the store, it's better than most record stores, but the bulk of my favorite music is either missing or there but only a few tracks from one or two albums. Richard D. James AKA Aphex Twin isn't there at all, The Orb and Orbital have dismally small portions of their catalogs available, Squarepusher is missing, the Beastie Boys aren't there at all...the bulk of the rappers I like don't have many/any complete albums in ITMS. Well, it *is* a great start, I just hope the catalog starts fleshing out. Cursed recording moguls and their greed and rules!

chuym

Jul 30, 2003, 08:02 PM

Well. i had a nice email chat with the marketing woman for RBR and she said that they were among the invited ones to the big thing at Apple. They are going for it and are just working out the legal, technical kinks. so we WILL be having some Ani on iMS VERY soon!!

LethalWolfe

Jul 30, 2003, 10:34 PM

Originally posted by Abstract
Well an American store is bound to NOT carry Japanese pop artists. However, since this is the internet, hopefully the limitations of having the physical album in stock at an American HMV store isn't an issue. Its just a file. It should be easy/easier for you to get some Japanese songs if this is true, unless I'm eating paint chips again.

Steve is God. Steve is doG.

It's not as much a physical problem as it is a legal/red tape one. The company that has distribution rights to an artist in one country probably doesn't have them in other countries. This is why getting an international iTMS is such a PITA. I don't have a music example off the top of my head but I do have a movie example. In the US T3 is distributed by Warner Bros, but over seas it's distributed by Sony Pictures. So, for example, if Apple started selling movies w/it's iMMS (iMovie Moive Store) and they wanted to sell T3 to both US and international customers they would have to get permission from WB to sell it in the states and then get permission from Sony Pictures to sell it overseas.

Lethal

midiman

Jul 30, 2003, 10:34 PM

Originally posted by yosoyjay
It's legal to download those files if you own the record. But, it's still illegal to share those files.

well, kinda...

If you download a file that was recorded from vinyl, that would be legal, but if it was ripped from CD, that would not be legal. Just because you own a vinyl album does not give you the license to copy someone else's CD - that would give you a much higher quality file than recording from vinyl. CD's are generated from a higher quality digital conversion process, and are recorded directly from a master recording. Not to pick nits or anything, just my 2¢

notEven

Jul 31, 2003, 12:57 AM

i wonder if the smaller labels will ever make it.. k records, saddle creek, kill rock stars, etc. i've also always wondered if bands get more percentage by selling their cds online through their own websites instead of through record stores, etc. if that is indeed the case, then i won't worry about it too much, and continue going direct.

phrancpharmD

Jul 31, 2003, 10:50 AM

looks like my delayed perusal of iTMS will occur soon enough - bring on the INDIES! (where, consequently, the greatest argument for "album as art" is most salient. . .)

mrwilly123

Jul 31, 2003, 02:24 PM

in the def jux newsletter, they said to look out for them on itunes......cant wait

taisoo

Jul 31, 2003, 03:54 PM

v2 doesn't actually count as an indie label, does it? i mean, it's virgin enterprises(or whatever it's officially called).

rueyeet

Jul 31, 2003, 04:25 PM

The only remaining question is: How long will it take?

I don't know how big the indie labels' catalogs are compared to the majors, but how long's it going to take to encode all that and get it up on the iTMS? I shiver with the antici...pation. Really. :D

Or, put another way, is it worth it to put off that subscription to EMusic?

*impatience--twitch--bounce*

I wonder if the iTMS genres will change any? where would you put industrial, for example? Electronic? Rock? Alternative?

I am so very glad to have my credit cards paid off.....brace yourselves, my little plastic friends! The storm is a-comin'!!