Saturday, October 18, 2008

This is probably an unfashionable thing to say but...

As someone who's been writing and releasing music for nearly 14 years (crikey!), these are exciting times indeed. Not particularly good times, but most definitely exciting. The way that music is now distributed has fundamentally changed and there are many unforseen consequences and opportunities as a result of this seismic shift, some good some bad.

The digital behemoth that is iTunes is too often seen as simply a necessary evil by artists and labels, but given that someone was going to do it, I am broadly pretty positive about the way iTunes operates.

I'm not going to rehearse the familiar arguments about how much they pay the artists/labels for the music, how they are a virtual monopoly on digital music, or about how they're hastening the end of the album as a format for releasing music. But in my experience so far they have a healthy regard for music which isn't necessarily the most commercial (my music video Catnip has been chosen as the music video of the week for the front page of iTunes US and available for a free download - plug plug), and what's more on a personal level its the details about the site that I'm starting to dig.

The user reviews are something both frightening and exhilarating for me as an artist, as until now no one has really been able to tell me what the genuine punter - who isn't my mum - thinks about my work. Journo reviews are one thing, but reading these early customer reviews of Songs Without Words on iTunes USA (I particularly love the "strange and retarded" one - isn't that a compliment?) has given me an invaluable insight into what Joe Plumber thinks of my work. This can only be a good thing for me as an artist.

Ok, user reviews are not just as iTunes idea, but the way they are so front and centre of the iTunes shopping experience is excellent. Power to the people! Or to Steve Jobs! Or just maybe both.


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