Hold your tongue, curr. I'm in my late 20s and Pink Floyd is the greatest band that ever existed.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Pink Floyd Wins Legal Battle Over Digital Sale of Individual Songs
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
LPs have to have certain number of tracks to be considered an LP. If they do not satisfy this requirement, it is considered an EP. To fulfill their contract obligations to record companies, they need to produce a certain number of LPs during a certain amount of time. Therefore, they were likely forced to break up the tracks. If you actually listen to the album, you would see that there are few artificial breaks between songs - the music is continuous and tracks blend together.
The same thing happened to the Mars Volta with Frances the Mute. There are only 5 songs on this "LP", but they couldn't release it as 5 tracks, or it would not have counted as an album, but as an EP. So, they had to artificially break up the songs into 15 tracks
Because not every song is worth listening to. I don't like every song.
It's unbelievable that it may be possible that I won't be able to listen or buy one of their tracks in the near future. I don't want to have to buy a whole album with many tracks I don't like for 13.00. I want to buy one good track for .99 or 1.29.
I agree, this is all about money. I love Pink Floyd, and their albums are cohesive works of art. However it should be up to the consumer to decide which tracks to buy.
Dying band yes... dying industry... I hope not.
Problem is, firms like EMI and BMG all have too much power to what "artists" can and cannot put together.
I think as music artists start to see how well models like iTunes and Amazon work, the power gets shifted to the artists as sellers of their own work rather than through Big Brother Labels.
The music industry is certainly a dying industry. Things are only getting worse for them, too. People in their 30s (or older) are used to paying for their music. There is a whole generation that is not used to this (and likely many more generations to come too).
As for PF currently, they died a long time ago. But, there is not much out there that can match their creative output of the past. At least their trying to preserve the artistic integrity of their past.
I buy albums from artists I absolutely love, but I also buy individual tracks that I've heard on the radio and liked... Don't just look at it from the 'Pink Floyd's Fan Perspective'... look at it from all other artists in the industry that can do the same...
I hope other artists don't take this example, or soon we could see more 'Only Full Album Sales'
There were separate tracks, but they were all on the same CD. You could not buy the tracks individually. The tracks are like pages of a book, one leads to the next.
I find it incredibly arrogant when bands complain about their albums being "fragmented." I was listening to a radio interview a few years ago with the lead vocalist of the Red Hot Chili Peppers who was griping about this as well. While I am a fan of RHCP, I certainly don't like all of their songs. "But-but-but-but...our work can only be truly appreciated if..." Arrogant.
I am just glad future generations will not reflexively download "We don't need no Education" and miss out on "Welcome to the machine."
These are on different albums man....
Methinks you need to look that word up, because it's not arrogance at all. An artists creates something, and they would rather you look at it as a whole rather than fractured. Makes perfect sense, especially for a group like Pink Floyd
That argument is preposterous. What radio station would play an entire album lasting let's say 90 minutes. It's like saying, "Why isn't the movie trailer the entire movie?".
Also if Floyd is ever in concert it must only perform entire albums. It can't pick and choose songs from different albums.
In their final tour they mostly did just that....
Heh. Tell that to teh Apple.
If you believe a company should be able to sell a product with its own restrictions in place, then you should believe a band has that right as well.
This is unfortunate for consumers, but the correct decision. This isn't any different than if a publisher decided to sell books by the chapter or selling prints of only the best parts of a painting. The artist (original copyright holder) decides how their artwork is licensed for sale.
I believe Mac OS X is the best OS in the world, but I think Macs are not the best hardware. Why can't I just buy the OS and put it on whatever hardware I find superior?
Who cannot remember listening to The Dark Side of the Moon for the very first time and being jolted by the alarm bells preceding the track "Time" and right after the track "On the Run"... Thats great stuff! I couldn't imagine listening to any track on this album by itself.
I am not really a Pink Floyd fan, but I do see their argument here and understand where they are coming from. However, I also think that the way things are with illegal downloading, this decision could actually encourage someone to download illegally. Let's say there is really only one song the person wants from an album. Previously this song could have been bough for $1, which is no big deal. If that opportunity is taken away, that $1 sale turns into a $10 sale to just get one song. At this point the person may decide that it is easier to just download one song illegally, instead of being out $10 for the one song they want. I personally hate spending $10 or more on an album and discovering there are really only one or two good songs, which is why I think single song sales is really a good thing.
Thank God
As an owner of the original vinyl release of Dark Side Of The Moon, I have to say that splitting up that album beyond physically flipping the record would be a tragic crime against true good music.
I'm glad they took a stand against iTunes, because as much as I love it, I absolutely LOATHE how important singles have become. It's always about the 3 or so singles, and the rest of the albums of today have become nothing but filler, and it's just widely accepted.
It's a damn good thing there are still artists with integrity out there that care, because this radio airplay single garbage has to stop.
Good. I don't have a single Pink Floyd song in my library, because I never bought their stuff on CD, and I totally side with them. If you want to go buy individual tracks, go buy what's playing on KissFM... If you want art, you have to pay the price.
Most artists let you pay 99 cents for individual songs, because the $3 you spend supporting them is about all they're worth.
Whether it's on Vinyl, Cassette, or CD, I buy any format as long as I can get the full album. Singles are shallow and company forced. I want to hear everything the artist(s) will offer.
As an owner of the original vinyl release of Dark Side Of The Moon, I have to say that splitting up that album beyond physically flipping the record would be a tragic crime against true good music.
I'm glad they took a stand against iTunes, because as much as I love it, I absolutely LOATHE how important singles have become. It's always about the 3 or so singles, and the rest of the albums of today have become nothing but filler, and it's just widely accepted.
It's a damn good thing there are still artists with integrity out there that care, because this radio airplay single garbage has to stop.
Good. I don't have a single Pink Floyd song in my library, because I never bought their stuff on CD, and I totally side with them. If you want to go buy individual tracks, go buy what's playing on KissFM... If you want art, you have to pay the price.
Most artists let you pay 99 cents for individual songs, because the $3 you spend supporting them is about all they're worth.
Whether it's on Vinyl, Cassette, or CD, I buy any format as long as I can get the full album. Singles are shallow and company forced. I want to hear everything the artist(s) will offer.
Ditto here...this has nothing to do with Apple, by the way, but with stupid EMI executives who unlawfully presumed that they had authorization to sell separate tracks.
As authors, Pink Floyd members are absolutely entitled to decide how their music may be sold...and in their specific case, from an artistic point of view, it must be said that single tracks make little to no sense at all.
By the way, thank you guys for the MEMORABLE music released over the last 40 years..!
Also if Floyd is ever in concert it must only perform entire albums. It can't pick and choose songs from different albums.
From 1972 onwards they often did incorporate whole albums, played in the correct sequence, into their live sets.
Maybe the one good track you like is worth 12.00 and the other 12 are worth 1.00 all together?