More Amazon mp3 Goodness

Remember how I said iTunes was going to have to step it up to stay competitive with Amazon? Well, I think Amazon raised the bar again with their Black Friday Specials, which are still running, apparently. Not only that, but they are doing a spend $25 in "qualifying purchases," get $5 at the mp3 store free promotion until December. The range of purchases is pretty wide. I managed to get a credit before I even knew of the promotion, for instance.

On the Apple front, I mentioned before Apple's attempt to meet Amazon's Friday deals, which is still pretty underwhelming in my eyes. Scuttlebutt is, the talks to make iTunes DRM free rage on with WMG dipping a toe in the water. It's a start, but, again, it's ironic (and suspicious) that so long after Steve Jobs gave his anti-DRM speech, EMI is still the only major to have totally embraced iTunes Plus.

EDIT: Interesting article at Hypebot on what the hold up is. Did Amazon make these same concessions (other than the one for BMG)? Interesting that one of the main issues is an explicitly stated fear that competition will drive prices lower. Regardless, I can't see a control freak like Steve Jobs bending much.

Then there's the oft rumored, would you please get it over with already, Beatles on iTunes talks which have apparently stalled again. I guess they need another dump truck full of money for that one. But, I'm still unconvinced that it's really that big a deal. Sure it'll be good for impulse purchases but are there really that many people waiting for the Beatles music to be available on iTunes to buy it? I have to wonder, with the availability of the Beatles catalog on CD, the ease at which one can find dozens of fan remasterings and "needledrops" of every Beatles record ever made on the web and the looming end of the 50 year copyright protection period in the EU, what exactly is the value of this catalog for a digital retailer like Apple.

Regardless of what sales will be, I just wish they'd get it over with and do it already.

Yuki Update

Sorry I haven't written anything in a while. Been kind of busy. And speaking of busy, things have been taking off with my band Yuki, which is a good thing. The first run of the CD is just about sold out. You can probably still find copies at Luna Music or Indy CD & Vinyl around town. For those of you not local, you can download a copy at Amazon or from eMusic. (iTunes and MySpace are taking their own sweet time getting these tracks up.)

Additionally, we've received airplay on X103's local music show and one of our songs off the EP is going to be featured in an Indy Star slideshow recapping a Colts game (we're still not sure what about us says "are you read for some football?" but apparently they see something we don't.) And we're going to be playing with Kristeen Young at Radio Radio on December 27th. (We've had a bunch of other show offers that haven't worked out for various reasons, it's a tough time of the year to try to schedule things.)

Other than that, we're just working on new material, hoping to have a followup EP out soon. That's kind of it. Reaction from the show and EP have been great and we're just trying to keep moving.

Dear Amazon and the Record Labels.

Hiya. I have a confession to make, I've become completely addicted to the Amazon mp3 Store's mp3 Special Deals. Specifically, I check daily to see what the deal of the day is. These deals of the day are albums on sale from .99 cents to $2.99, compared to the usual $5 and up.

Here's the thing about it, these bargain prices, combined with the quality of Amazon's downloads and the ease of using the service have gotten me to buy more music via download than I normally would. For instance, today I bought Jay-Z's Vol. 3. I think I have most of this album floating around on my PC somewhere, but it was .99 cents. At that price, it was a total no brain decision. I've also bought several other albums that I wouldn't have touched at full price or even some that I might have already acquired through less honest means. And I've even bought one or two on the Friday 5 special for the slightly higher price of $5.

My point is, the combination of lower prices and the quality of product and ease of use has made this guy buy more than he normally would, even when he knows where he could get the stuff for free. Perhaps it might be worth trying this with more than just an album of the day (and five on Friday) and seeing what happens?

Yours,

Rob Guernsey