Forget the iTunes LP, Apps are the New Album
The "iTunes LP" is just one of the many new iTunes features revealed yesterday during Apple's announcement at their "It's Only Rock and Roll"-themed event. But the iTunes LP, unlike the other new features which get to exist as simple and fun enhancements in iTunes 9, has a heavy burden on its shoulders. It's supposed to revitalize the music industry by encouraging consumers to once again purchase entire albums as opposed to single tracks. With this new digital album format, the idea is to replicate the experience of buying an album, complete with lyrics, liner notes, album art, photos, and more, giving music buyers extra content to peruse while enjoying their new music. The only problem is that this so-called "interactive" format isn't all that interactive. And what's more, innovative artists are already discovering how to monetize their music while engaging fans in new ways that have nothing to do with a re-imagined LP. Instead, the "interactive format" of the future isn't the album, it's the app.
The Uninspired iTunes LP
Not so many years ago, consumers had little choice when it came to buying new music. If you fell in love with a favorite song from an artist or band, you bought the CD. Singles had already been phased out for the most part, so the choice was either to buy the CD or nothing at all. For this reason, artists were able to make oodles of cash even when they were only a one or two-hit wonder. Yet somehow, the music industry is convinced that people actually bought CDs for all the nifty content contained in the included booklets. With the iTunes LP, they're reinventing that booklet for the digital age and packing it full of media like lyrics, liner notes, album art, photos, and even videos - that last one being something that you certainly couldn't cram into the CD case in days past. With this digitally enhanced LP, labels hope consumers will once again buy complete albums, not just individual songs.
Unfortunately, this "interactive" album of the future, meant to rev up album sales, is a sad, uninspired effort which tries to cram the old business model of the past down the throat of today's new digital platform. While the extras are nice to have, the iTunes LP doesn't offer anything more than what fan sites do, as we noted yesterday in our critical analysis of Apple's new offerings. And unlike fan sites, which evolve and change over time, the LP is a static offering that doesn't take advantage of the platform it lives on - an internet-connected digital music player.
Forget the Album, Buy an App
Meanwhile, as record labels scramble to save themselves with this new format (and possibly even one of their own dubbed "CMX"), some artists are starting to figure out the formula for success in this new era of single-track purchases and app-laden phones...and it's not an album. A handful of forward-thinkers have come up with a way to offer true interactive content to fans, which in turn, encourages fans to purchase more of the artist's music. The answer? The iPhone app.
Instead of trying to reinvent the wheel, these music-themed apps are innovative new ways for fans to interact with content produced by their favorite artists. For example, Nine Inch Nails released a multimedia application earlier this year where fans can access a mobile version of the fan site nin.com, interact with other fans through location-based chat and photo sharing, stream tracks and exclusive playlists, download wallpapers, and much more. Although the app is free in the iTunes app store, the side effect of having more engaged fans means having more people interested in buying the band's music. NIN, headed by front man Trent Reznor, is no stranger to this sort of out-of-the-box thinking. He has experimented with a number of ways to make rockstar-worthy income in this digital age, including last year's introduction of a creative multi-level pricing scheme for albums where consumers could download tracks that ranged anywhere from completely free all the way up to a $300 premium package. Within three days, that experiment grossed $750,000 in sales. Not a bad way to sell an album.
But Reznor isn't the only artist with an app these days. American DJ and singer-songwriter Moby has also just released an official app created by social music service iLike which offers similar functionality. Besides providing access to exclusive content, fans can interact with each other through Facebook and iLike and they can post photos directly from the app to the Moby fan community. However, unlike NIN's offering, this app isn't free. It currently sells for $1.99. Whether or not this particular money-making gambit will work, though, is still to be determined. The app is only a couple of days old at this point so it's unknown whether fans will pay.
While apps like those described above essentially provide mobilized fan communities, hip hop artist Soulja Boy went a different route earlier this summer. Using a new app platform called Romplr, his $2.99 application, "Soulja Boy Tell 'Em," lets fans remix the artist's tracks and share them with friends via email, Facebook, or via www.romplr.com. In many ways, this app represents the best use of today's digital platform by allowing for true interactivity with the music. In fact, the press release about the launch even claimed "the next wave of fan and band interaction is going to be through the iPhone." Perhaps it will be the future of music sales, too.
The trend of artists with apps shows no signs of slowing down. Just today, popular R&B artist Usher launched his own app, too, "Usher's Top 100." This app, basically a streaming radio station of Usher's favorite tunes, will appeal to fans who want to know what music has inspired the five-time Grammy award winning star. It, like Soulja Boy's app, is not free either. The price is $2.99. Again, it's too soon to tell how well it will sell.
Only the Beginning
Although this is only a handful of examples of the new ways artists are using the mobile platform to interact with fans, all of these methods are arguably more inspired than the iTunes LP digital album. Instead of thinking that the old way of doing things can simply be tweaked for the new economy, these artists are developing compelling interactions which will either be direct sources of income as paid applications or will indirectly encourage sales through a more engaged fan base. While it's too soon to tell how much extra income these apps will add to the bottom line, if we had to bet on anything that could potentially "save" the music industry, we wouldn't put our money on the LP. It looks like the future is apps, not albums.
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Although I agree with your general evaluation of iTunes LP, I believe the iPhone app alone is not the answer either. Several articles have been written over the past two years talking about how music listeners still like all the "stuff" that used to come packaged in CDs and the original LPs. So there must be some data to back this up, right? (I'd love to see a followup article on this topic to back up your statements above).
I believe the experience people are seeking is a combination of digital and physical. The LP feature provides pretty, digital entertainment while I listen but it does not make it easier for me to play my music nor *share* it with friends. CDs and LPs used to be like collections of books where people would present them on a shelf, enabling friends to browse and pick the music to listen to. I believe there is a need to provide such a interface to my media collection so that I have a choice when selecting media: I can initiate playback via the digital or physical system(interface).
The mobile phone then acts as the remote control for initiating playback. It is the conduit, bridging the gap between the physical and digital world.
I was skimming through the article and I noticed this line
I guess my fingers were tired - thank you, fixed.
Great post Sarah and I agree that mobile apps are an innovative re-working of the LP format. However we shouldn't forget that an album is an artistic package too and so for that reason I'd hate to see the concept of an album of songs disappear. I generally like what Apple is trying to do to keep the album format going, but needs more lateral thinking too - ref what you've written about apps. Excellent stuff.
Great article. There's a great possibility that the idea of an LP may not even exist in a decade. It seems like the whole concept of the traditional ‘Album’ was more of a distribution obstacle than a creative framework. While we see that the album can be looked at as sings tied together with a theme to create a work of art, the idea of recording artists restricting themselves only to that format will inevitably fade.
I also do believe apps are not the answer. What's the purpose of having an iPhone/iPod Touch full of Album-applications which you seldom use? I do agree that Apple forgot the interactive part within the iTunes LP, but this is just the beginning, let's hope Apple will realize this soon.
But apps are only useful within two circumstances: when they provide a tool or information which is handy in many situations and which you check often, or when it's a good way of entertainment like games or movies. An iPhone/iPod Touch full of different music-applications has no use at all when it comes to being useful.
apps are a cool way to experience music. we will be adding a new feature for songs to this app soon.
imouth . net
and yes, the more fun you can have with the music, the more fun the experience of the music.
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I dig this. It makes more sense to reinvent the album for today's times with apps. LP's are older than computers. Why try to recreate the past on a medium it wasn't designed for? Today's album is interaction. The album is not as important as the music experience.
The iTunes LP format looks pretty cool, but it seems about 5 years late to party. You know I've never bought music from iTunes, but I have bought iPhone apps.
well said! fer real
Unfortunately, this "interactive" album of the future, meant to rev up album sales, is a sad, uninspired effort which tries to cram the old business model of the past down the throat of today's new digital platform.
One problem with apps is that other non touch ipods cant use them; thereby limiting your consumers aka limiting your money
There are many ipod users that have nanos, classics and shuffles which apps have nothing to do with.
A better idea would be for Apple to create something in which the itunes lp like features could be used on the ipod while listening to music.
I agree with a lot of the comments here. Trying to replicate the old will not work, having apps won't work on majority of users except tech savy. Music should not try to be in albums when there is no need for albulms. Why not have a website where you need to log into to obtain other info, pictures, lyrics etc in a format that is not easy to save and take away. Maybe each band can have their own site, when you download a song, you can log in to the website and get all the other info. People copying the song and sharing it, will not as easily be able to share the web content that goes along with it. Maybe they can sell categories of songs according to genre, or themes etc., but not albums.
I like these iTunes LPs... To check them out, I bought the new MUSE album which has a bit of a concept to it and is really engaging. Evidently, this current batch of iTunes LPs have been put together rapidly. It's great to have the lyrics and notes and to learn the names of the musicians but graphic artists can definitely come up with more (and better) stuff. I see tons of potential material that you wouldn't have in a vinyl LP (not just video) but comic books, java games, text essays, music sheets, hi-res galleries... The sky is the limit and it makes music very engaging. You get deeper into the experience of understanding what the artist really wants to say... Your music is suddenly worth more.
iTunes is also better than apps because it is also a library. This is where I keep my stuff organized. I prefer the neatness and the functions as having all these different pieces of software floating around my system.
Getting too creative with the add-on content is just going to (eventually) increase the cost of the music. I grew up with LP's, reluctantly moved to CD's, and have yet to go fully digital on my music. I'd like to have the lyrics and the list of musicians available, but that doesn't truly require an album approach. Artwork - am I going to stare at a screen while I'm listening to my music? Not usually. Music videos can be cool a few times, but the music usually has more "repeat" appeal.
I have an Andy Warhol album in my posession, but I haven't looked at the artwork in the last 15 years. the artwork was probably more of an enticer when shopping for music - I'd find a cover that looked interesting (not knowing the artist), and I would listen to the music.
I like the concept of music apps, but this works when there are a small number of them. Get 500-1000 in your collection, and the concept breaks down without some framework around it.
Playlists are today's albums. "Covers" can be useful in visually navigating your music, and standardized covers can help others browse your music. Use pricing incentives to sell the artists' own playlists (i.e. the album). The interactivity of the new touch music players should be explored.
People have to keep in mind that these are just the first wave of itunes LP content. The platform appears to be designed to allow much more interactivity than the current selection offers, Its just down to the artists.
--To Jamey Graham
The idea you suggest is already possible using both the iTunes DJ feature and the free iphone/touch remote app by apple. Anyone with one of those devices can browse your music collection and 'vote' a track to be played. The DJ system then automatically prioritises the tracks by number of votes. I make use of this feature at parties all the time.
Paying $3 to hear a stream of Usher's favorite songs is more inspired than iTunes LP?
No.
And while the iPhone/Touch are VERY popular, they represent a tiny segment of music purchasers.
Artists using apps will never be more than a niche idea, just another piece of the marketing pie.
I did a pretty in depth write up on the iTunes LP format, from both a content and a development perspective. Check it out. http://www.ericpaulsnowden.com/blog/index.php/2009/09/dissecting-the-itunes-lp/
A perspective that obviously matches my own. Sadly, Apple does not agree!