One of the most recognizable names in music entertainment has maintained a “No Downloads” policy ever since Apple’s iTunes revolutionized purchasing music on the Internet. AC/DC does not support the download format, and definitely not Apple’s iTunes service. In Australia however, BigPond has added 16 AC/DC albums to its line-up, available in MP3 and WMA formats (some sell as WMA only).
“Since iTunes came into existence, we’ve actually increased our back catalogue sales without being on the site. We were sternly warned by our management team and our record label that the complete opposite would be the case,” Angus Young said in a recent interview.
“Maybe I’m just being old-fashioned, but this iTunes, God bless ‘em, it’s going to kill music if they’re not careful,” Brian Johnson told Reuters. “It’s a…monster, this thing. It just worries me. And I’m sure they’re just doing it all in the interest of making as much…cash as possible. Let’s put it this way, it’s certainly not for the…love, let’s get that out of the way, right away.”
According to AC/DC representatives, the “No Downloads” policy does not just apply to Apple, but to all other companies selling music on the Internet. BigPond music is selling 16 AC/DC albums at $16.50 a piece, but the new album will not be available on the service and no single tracks are available to download. “AC/DC Live” is the number 17 album for BigPond this week.
Result for: Downloads
HMV, Woolworths, 7digital, Digitalstores, Tescodigital, Tunetribe, and Play.com have all agreed to promote a new “MP3 compatible” logo that they hope will raise the profile of the open MP3 music format and inform users on what they can do with their DRM-free downloads.
The logo should also help consumers identify legal music stores from P2P.
The Entertainment Retailers Association created the logo and says it will emphasize that MP3s can be played in all media players.
7digital’s Ben Drury added that digital sales “have been booming because users love the freedom of MP3″.
“The beauty of an MP3 file is that once you have bought it, you don’t need to be a computer genius or a lawyer to make it work and you are not locked in to a relationship with a single retailer or hardware manufacturer,” he said.
The BPI is also standing behind the new proposal.
“This logo will not only help give consumers confidence that the music files they are buying will play on a wide range of devices, but will also help them know that they are legal and that artists are getting paid,” noted Geoff Taylor, BPI chief executive.
Result for: Downloads
It was announced in August 2007, and now finally Limewire has launched a beta for its DRM-free online MP3 download store.
The store offers “a web browser-based interface for downloading music.” The store does not use P2P however and is centralized with the company hosting the MP3s on its own servers. You do not need to be a subscriber to purchase the tracks but you will get better deals if you do. Each individual Track costs $0.99 USD but if you purchase the “Platinum Plan” for $20 USD a month then you receive 75 download credits, good for 75 song downloads. At that rate, each track only costs $0.27 USD.
Users running Internet Explorer 6 & 7, Firefox, Safari or Opera browsers can currently use the store but Limewire hopes to integrate the store into the actual client.
“Our plan with the LimeWire Store is to add to the LimeWire experience–we’re not going to take anything away. We think purchase links should appear alongside Gnutella search results, similar to how Google keeps sponsored links separate. We believe a significant number of users will choose to purchase content if the presentation is convenient and unobtrusive, the price is Right, and the product isn’t hindered by DRM,” added a Limewire spokesperson.
