News
Mix: SigmaTel, iTunes disdain, Sprint, News Corp.
SigmaTel, which makes the chip that powers the iPod shuffle, is hopeful that it will win bigger contracts from Apple in the second half of the year.
iTunes “makes music disposable. It makes it a faceless impulse item. It steals its soul,” Victory Records founder Tony Brummel said. “Apple/iTunes do not care about independent labels or, for that matter, the record industry. Without the music industry, their site and their iPods are useless.”
In the four months since the Sprint Music Store debuted, more than 1 million tracks have now been sold. In comparison, the iTunes Music Store sold the same amount in less than a week when it launched in May 2003.
CNN/Money’s Paul La Monica looks at News Corp.‘s digital content moves and notes that it “has yet to strike an agreement with a major tech firm for video content online” and that its Fox channel is “the only one of the big four networks to not do so.”
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1
Actually iTunes does have independent labels aka Indie record labels.
Anyways what does Vitcory know about music….for Bobs sake they signed Hawthorne Hieghts!!! :p
Posted by Jesse on February 16, 2006 at 11:49 AM (PST)
2
In response to Tony Brummel’s comments, if artists would focus on quality instead of quantity, then maybe album sales would improve.
The time of artists, labels and all those in-between riding the “album sales wave” based on the strength of a single track has passed. I, for one, am happy that I’m able to purchase what I actually want, instead of an album full of filler tracks.
Posted by Zen Masta J on February 16, 2006 at 11:58 AM (PST)
3
Mr Brummel, and for that matter the entire record industry, need to work on the inflated opinions they have of themselves. First, just because someone writes and records songs that doesn’t make them an “artist”. Michelangelo, Picasso, Bach, Mozart are artists. What do they have in common? Their work stands the test of time. So in general, lets call recording “artists” what the vast majority really are, performers/entertainers. They make money only because we the paying public find their music enjoyable and entertaining. In the rare case that these performers are so good that we might actually consider calling them artists, then we would probably buy their entire album instead of cherry picking the good stuff out of the rest of the crap.
Posted by RGreen on February 16, 2006 at 12:22 PM (PST)
4
Hey Brummel: eat me. Seriously. There’s no point in rebutting your idiocy with anything approaching logic and reason, you’re too much of an idiot for that. So…eat me. And I hope your label fails due to poor management and all the bands find better deals elsewhere.
Posted by stark23x on February 16, 2006 at 12:48 PM (PST)
5
If iTunes makes music dispossible, then what do services like Napster and Yahoo!‘s music renting services do?
Posted by Peter C. on February 16, 2006 at 1:40 PM (PST)
6
Peter C. I was about to make exactly that comment. At least you own your iTunes music (until you’ve got through 5 computers!), unlike Napster where you have to sign a contract for life if you want to keep your music…
Posted by Ed on February 16, 2006 at 3:16 PM (PST)
7
Hey, Tony, if anything in this discussion is “disposable”, it’s most of the music that you and the other companies are producing.
Posted by The Raven in USA on February 17, 2006 at 2:59 AM (PST)
8
Brummel, I myself am a huge fan of victory records. I have noticed that some alblums on itunes you can’t cherry pick songs you have to buy the whole alblum or nothing at all, you can’t just buy one song off these specific alblums. Victory records should just put there music on itunes only avialable by buying the whole alblum. I don’t like to cherry pick songs anyway. I would much rather have the full alblum and listen to the songs the way they were intended. I play in a band and myself and we have an EP out so I understand where you are coming from, but if used right itunes can be a big help to artists especially indipendent artist. It allows them to reach some many more people than they normally would through shows.
Posted by Kris on February 17, 2006 at 8:21 AM (PST)
9
P.S. VICTORY RECORDS would make a killing on itunes. I can think of so many times when i was at home and wnated to buy one your alblums but couldn’t get a ride to the nearst record store or couldn’t find one that even carried it. Many times I have had to order them from the internet and wait a week or two to hear it.
Posted by Kris on February 17, 2006 at 8:26 AM (PST)
10
Singles ruin hidden musical gems ...
Posted by mflat5 in USA on February 17, 2006 at 11:31 AM (PST)
11
I also only like puting whole albums on my iPod.
I have never enjoyed such a wide variaty of indapendant music since I bough an iPod. Most unsigned artist offer there songs as downloads.
I also download a podcast called the “Indiefeed” if you want a bit of free Indipendant music.
Posted by Peachey on February 17, 2006 at 1:17 PM (PST)
12
I don’t give a crap about the music industry. I never download music and only burn when I want to share some Tommy Doresy with my grandparents. Give me a break. Half the music the music industry produces nowadays is absoloute $h!T. Some of it.ok…. but the rest of it just makes me sick.
Posted by Werewolf on February 18, 2006 at 7:05 AM (PST)
13
I guess the compilation CDs Victory Records sends my radio station are soulless too, because they’ve been cherry-picked? And the DJs on my station who play Victory Records tracks during their shows—those must be soulless as well?
How moronic. This is one DJ who won’t be playing Victory Records on his major market, high-watt FM radio show anymore.
Posted by Matt on February 20, 2006 at 3:46 PM (PST)