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Jay-Z bans songs on iTunes in album controversy

updated 02:45 pm EST, Thu November 8, 2007

Jay-Z bans songs on iTunes

Hip hop star Jay-Z has banned his latest album from Apple's iTunes Store, saying that wants the "work of art" to be enjoyed in its entirety. The album, titled American Gangster and serving as the 'imaginary soundtrack' for the film of the same name, is not to be offered as individual tracks via iTunes as is customary of most works sold via Apple's digital storefront, according to WCCO.com. The decision comes after rock band Radiohead chose to sell their works only as complete albums.

British direct download service 7Digital predicts that the key to selling entire albums lies in the absence of digital rights management, or DRM for short. DRM technology protects digital media, preventing users from illegally copying or playing the content. Apple's iTunes Store still dominates digital media sales, and many industry experts cite individual track purchases as an important reason for the company's success.

The recent introduction of unprotected MP3 versions of songs that play without restrictions has encouraged users to purchase more music than they have in the past, including full albums. Some 80 percent of tracks purchased through 7Digital's store are now DRM-free, with 70 percent of those sales consisting of full albums rather than individual songs, according to Electronista.

 
Previous Comments

my, my...

11/08, 03:47pm reply

Aren't we just a lil full of ourselves.

So by his logic, no single song should be played, hence no songs should be allowed radio play. Anyone wanna take bets one of these songs will get radio play??

He should also come up with a format that only allows people to play the CD from start to finish without skipping songs. After all, we wouldn't want to ruin his *COUGH* work of art...

eldarkus

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Joined: Feb 2004

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Don't they get it

11/08, 03:53pm reply

We (consumers) don't want to buy s*** we don't want to listen to.

l008com

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Joined: Jan 2000

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no_

11/08, 04:17pm reply

it will get radio play_ But the deal will be the same as the gripe about iTunes that the radio station has to play the Album in it's entirety from start to finish in the pre-ordained order_

What I'm more surprised about is that if he was quoted correctly that he knew the word "entirety"_

UberFu

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Joined: Oct 2002

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Art?

11/08, 04:20pm reply

What is that? Another (c)rap artist pretending to be talented? So long, sucker.

ricardogf

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Joined: Jan 2003

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Album Only Sales

11/08, 04:40pm reply

Actually, he could sell it in it's entirety on iTunes, making each song available as "Album Only."

By the way, using the Radiohead model may not be a good thing.

Over 40% paid NOTHING for In Rainbows. For those that paid, the average price was $6

I personally think their fans took advantage of them, and Jay-z may find himself in a similar situation.

dynsight

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Joined: May 2005

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Jay-Z's real agenda is...

11/08, 04:48pm reply

he is forcing the sale of CDs so that he can tie Elvis' record for 10 consecutive #1 album debuts. The Beatles hold the record and Elvis is in second. Jay-Z also released his album during a week where he saw very little competition from other artists.

The album will eventually appear on iTunes once he realizes he lost 30% of his first week sales by pulling it. I was reading some hip-hop forums and a lot of fans were pissed he pulled it. A lot of them were downloading it for free from torrent sites just to spite him.

zdezyne

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works for me...

11/08, 04:51pm reply

seeing as how i don't care for Jay-Z anyway, he's more or less "banned" from my iTunes already.

stainboy

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Joined: Sep 2005

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re: album only sales

11/08, 06:02pm reply

By the way, using the Radiohead model may not be a good thing.

Over 40% paid NOTHING for In Rainbows. For those that paid, the average price was $6


And Radiohead is happily chortling all the way to the bank. This is a heckuva better return that they would have gotten from the industry.

They've made somewhere in the vicinity of 2-6 million in about a month.

This on an overhead MUCH lower than what the recording industry would charge.

johnsonua

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Joined: Aug 2003

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Re: no

11/08, 06:27pm reply

it will get radio play_ But the deal will be the same as the gripe about iTunes that the radio station has to play the Album in it's entirety from start to finish in the pre-ordained order_

Sorry, but that be wrong. Radio stations, by pre-ordained order, are allowed to play any freakin' thing they want, in any order, in any way. The artist has no control over how it might be played.

testudo

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Joined: Aug 2001

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It's their prerogative

11/08, 06:32pm reply

Jay-Z and Radiohead have every right to sell their album in however manner they wish. I mean, they have control over how they compose their songs before they're released, right? This is just an extension of it.

It's not unlike when Prince put all of the songs in his album into one CD track. (Gosh, I can't remember the album's name, but the cover still haunts me.)

broohaha22

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Joined: Jul 2006

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