“We believe fans should have the option to buy the same music at their preferred retailer, on the same date, and unfortunately that is not always the case.”

- Craig Pape, director of Amazon Music.
Kanye, Jay-Z & the labels’ decision to sell exclusive versions of their Watch The Throne album to iTunes and BestBuy has not gone well with rest of the music retailers. As you may know by now, iTunes will be the first store to sell the album August 8th onwards with ‘Otis’ already available as an exclusive download for customers who pre-order.
In addition to this, fans can buy an exclusive Deluxe edition CD from BestBuy from August 12th till 23rd for a price of $12.40. But other music retailers, specially the independent stores are protesting the plan calling it a “short-sighted strategy”. To bring the issue to the table, the community has penned an open letter to Jay-Z and Kanye highlighting the problem. Read the same after the jump.
Via Billboard.biz

Dear Jay-Z and Kanye West,

Independent record stores serve our communities. Our passion is music, and we convey this to the millions of customers who come to our stores. That’s what we do.

Four years ago independent music stores across the country banded together to create Record Store Day. Our goal was to counter the negative media coverage about the supposed demise of record stores brought on by the closing of the Tower stores and to respond to the music business practices that fans deemed to be manipulative and onerous.

We reached out to the artist community to see if they would join us, and the response was overwhelming, with words of support coming in from Paul McCartney, Erykah Badu, Tom Waits, Chuck D, the Foo Fighters and countless others. Working with their label partners, many of these musicians created limited edition works of art, including vinyl and CDs made especially for music-specialty retail. Hundreds of these artists took the opportunity to perform, DJ, and interact with their fans in our record stores. Here in the U.S., Record Store Day lifted the entire music business by 8% and contributed to the growth in music sales. Record Store Day is now one of the biggest music events in history, with millions of people participating worldwide. We also continue to work throughout the year with labels, artists and managers and run regular promotions via physical independent retail and recordstoreday.com.

We are responding to the bad news that your new album will not be available to independent record stores until after iTunes gets a window of exclusivity. We also learned that the deluxe version (which is what the true music fans who shop our stores will want, by an overwhelming majority) will only be available at Best Buy exclusively for a period of time. We believe this is a short-sighted strategy, and that your decisions will be doing great damage to over 1,700 independent record stores — stores that have supported you and your music for years.

We know that you are are busy, and that you put most of your energies into creating great music, but we are writing to you in the hope that you will hear us and take the time to rectify this matter. As representatives of the independent record store music community, we are asking you to allow record stores and music fans equal access to your new album.
With the utmost respect.

http://hiphop-n-more.com/...y-z-kanye/

Independent music retailers are the only people with an even less realistic view of music retail than record label executives. They should be focusing on converting their business into a Starbucks franchise before they start bouncing payroll checks.

HAPPYPERSON said:

“We believe fans should have the option to buy the same music at their preferred retailer, on the same date, and unfortunately that is not always the case.”

- Craig Pape, director of Amazon Music.
Kanye, Jay-Z & the labels’ decision to sell exclusive versions of their Watch The Throne album to iTunes and BestBuy has not gone well with rest of the music retailers. As you may know by now, iTunes will be the first store to sell the album August 8th onwards with ‘Otis’ already available as an exclusive download for customers who pre-order.
In addition to this, fans can buy an exclusive Deluxe edition CD from BestBuy from August 12th till 23rd for a price of $12.40. But other music retailers, specially the independent stores are protesting the plan calling it a “short-sighted strategy”. To bring the issue to the table, the community has penned an open letter to Jay-Z and Kanye highlighting the problem. Read the same after the jump.
Via Billboard.biz

Dear Jay-Z and Kanye West,

Independent record stores serve our communities. Our passion is music, and we convey this to the millions of customers who come to our stores. That’s what we do.

Four years ago independent music stores across the country banded together to create Record Store Day. Our goal was to counter the negative media coverage about the supposed demise of record stores brought on by the closing of the Tower stores and to respond to the music business practices that fans deemed to be manipulative and onerous.

We reached out to the artist community to see if they would join us, and the response was overwhelming, with words of support coming in from Paul McCartney, Erykah Badu, Tom Waits, Chuck D, the Foo Fighters and countless others. Working with their label partners, many of these musicians created limited edition works of art, including vinyl and CDs made especially for music-specialty retail. Hundreds of these artists took the opportunity to perform, DJ, and interact with their fans in our record stores. Here in the U.S., Record Store Day lifted the entire music business by 8% and contributed to the growth in music sales. Record Store Day is now one of the biggest music events in history, with millions of people participating worldwide. We also continue to work throughout the year with labels, artists and managers and run regular promotions via physical independent retail and recordstoreday.com.

We are responding to the bad news that your new album will not be available to independent record stores until after iTunes gets a window of exclusivity. We also learned that the deluxe version (which is what the true music fans who shop our stores will want, by an overwhelming majority) will only be available at Best Buy exclusively for a period of time. We believe this is a short-sighted strategy, and that your decisions will be doing great damage to over 1,700 independent record stores — stores that have supported you and your music for years.

We know that you are are busy, and that you put most of your energies into creating great music, but we are writing to you in the hope that you will hear us and take the time to rectify this matter. As representatives of the independent record store music community, we are asking you to allow record stores and music fans equal access to your new album.
With the utmost respect.

http://hiphop-n-more.com/...y-z-kanye/

Because the artists are looking for sales and could care less about what the retailers want, also the labels really could care less. If labels cared about retail there would have been a flate rate on cds from day one, the way video games are sold, one rate everywhere. The fact that you had places like target and best buy selling things below cost to entice customers in, all it was doing was fucking over the music stores that couldnt make up the difference on crappy vcrs and computers that best buy sells.

However exclusives are nothing new, christina aguilera has done 2, elton john, mariah, beyonce and countless others have done best buy, walmart, target etc...exclusives, the only reason there is an OUTCRY now is this one actually is gonna cost big dollars to stores, but lets be real this shit cd is gonna sell for a week anyway. But still the one thing im not hearing are the "double standard" "hypocrit" talk from the people that were on BONO's case about putting the bands money overseas (which in reality isnt all his idea) but if i remember correctly JAY Z the jigga man himself blasted iTunes for "the way they sell" and now it seems he doesnt mind lying down with the tramp because she is paying more to him.

Jay-Z made a mild stink 5 years ago saying he didn't like that iTunes would sell separate tracks from the album. Dude is in his 40s, so you KNOW he is accustomed to the idea of an "album" both as a listener and as an artist. I think this is a case of "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em"

I will be passing on this cd but I'm interested to see what their first week and 2nd week numbers will be. Notice that they didn't need alot of time to set this album up. Song 'Otis' came out about 2 wks ago and album dropping 4wks from there.

Most cds need at least 3mths to 6wks set up. What's the predictions for first week and era totals?

Jay is still going to be rapping when he's in his 50s.

These guys always rap about money and how much they are getting paid, that's really all they are concerned with. Money and expanding their "brand."

I'm glad I'm a fan of someone like Prince who would never brag about how much he is getting paid.

HohnerCatcher said:

Jay-Z made a mild stink 5 years ago saying he didn't like that iTunes would sell separate tracks from the album. Dude is in his 40s, so you KNOW he is accustomed to the idea of an "album" both as a listener and as an artist. I think this is a case of "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em"

I agree with him. Album tracklistings shouldn't be available for cherry picking on iTunes. No one should get to randomly buy tracks 3, 7, 12, etc., etc. I think that's why album sales are so nonexistent these days. The consumer is a little TOO spoiled. Either buy the whole album, or just buy the singles.

[Edited 8/1/11 8:48am]

chamber said:

HohnerCatcher said:

Jay-Z made a mild stink 5 years ago saying he didn't like that iTunes would sell separate tracks from the album. Dude is in his 40s, so you KNOW he is accustomed to the idea of an "album" both as a listener and as an artist. I think this is a case of "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em"

I agree with him. Album tracklistings shouldn't be available for cherry picking on iTunes. No one should get to randomly buy tracks 3, 7, 12, etc., etc. I think that's why album sales are so nonexistent these days. The consumer is a little TOO spoiled. Either buy the whole album, or just buy the singles.

[Edited 8/1/11 8:48am]

co sign... you cant no longer go into a store and buy singles ... just buy the complete experience

this is also a valid point... via the full billboard biz article

"It is very confusing to the customer," J&R Music World's Sue Bryan agreed. "We are muddying the water and making it difficult to buy the album. It will only hurt the industry. It is not good for J&R; it is not good for the industry and more importantly it is not good for the customer."

Merchants claim that the tactic will mute sales for the album. "Look at what happened to the Beyonce album '4,' when Target got the exclusive version of the album," said Trans World VP of music and new media Ish Cuebas, who estimates that Target has a 57% market share on sales of the album; the Target edition features six bonus tracks, three of them exclusive. "After the first two weeks, sales collapsed because the rest of retail wouldn't support the album."

That album has so far scanned 552,000 units in four weeks of sales availability after debut-week sales of 310,000 units, with the last two weeks both well under 100,000 unit sales, at 72,000 units and 54,000 units, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

getxxxx said:

chamber said:

I agree with him. Album tracklistings shouldn't be available for cherry picking on iTunes. No one should get to randomly buy tracks 3, 7, 12, etc., etc. I think that's why album sales are so nonexistent these days. The consumer is a little TOO spoiled. Either buy the whole album, or just buy the singles.

[Edited 8/1/11 8:48am]

co sign... you cant no longer go into a store and buy singles ... just buy the complete experience

Wow, I could not disagree with you two any more strongly. Of course people should be able to just buy the tracks that they want (basically the singles). I think that when cd's took over and singles became so overpriced that was one of the root causes of why illegal downloading became so popular. Since the late '80s/early '90s consumers were forced to buy albums when many of them only wanted one or two songs. Had the labels kept singles as an affordable option I believe that consumers would have been accustomed to paying a fair price for music and digital sales might be much higher than they are. Instead people were pissed off after years of buying whole albums when they just wanted singles and when illegal downloading became an option many people jumped on it. It's also true that the labels probably took too long to start offering music in a digital format but I believe that the lack of affordable singles in the '90s was what really hurt them in the long run.

[Edited 8/1/11 11:03am]

Whatever. Like anyone would download it for free anyways.

I'm a huge fan of Kanye & Jay.. and Kanye has had a genius high with MFDTF

But this album not been impressed so far, and besides first week i doubt it will sell well either...

BTW

Can i alo mention people though the R. Kelly & Jay-Z collab was going to be cool back in the early 00's.....

That's all i have to say on that one

Gunsnhalen said:

BTW

Can i alo mention people though the R. Kelly & Jay-Z collab was going to be cool back in the early 00's.....

That's all i have to say on that one

R Kelly's legal issues derailed that project as it was released

... Jay had to distance himself from it and him.

getxxxx said:

Gunsnhalen said:

BTW

Can i alo mention people though the R. Kelly & Jay-Z collab was going to be cool back in the early 00's.....

That's all i have to say on that one

R Kelly's legal issues derailed that project as it was released

... Jay had to distance himself from it and him.

Well that and the album was AWFUL, TERRIBLE, DISGUSTINGLY GOD AWFULLY BAD I would rather watch Graffiti Bridge or listen to Joyce's album

getxxxx said:

Gunsnhalen said:

BTW

Can i alo mention people though the R. Kelly & Jay-Z collab was going to be cool back in the early 00's.....

That's all i have to say on that one

R Kelly's legal issues derailed that project as it was released

... Jay had to distance himself from it and him.

They released "Unfinished Business" back in '04, and we all know what happened with that.

November said:

getxxxx said:

R Kelly's legal issues derailed that project as it was released

... Jay had to distance himself from it and him.

They released "Unfinished Business" back in '04, and we all know what happened with that.

Gunsnhalen said:

November said:

They released "Unfinished Business" back in '04, and we all know what happened with that.

and R.Kelly went

Jay-Z doesn't seem to do well with other people...

Timmy84 said:

Jay-Z doesn't seem to do well with other people...

This lol

He does well when guesting..

His verses on Moster & So Appauld where great....

But a whole album of collabs

[Edited 8/2/11 9:44am]

rialb said:

getxxxx said:

co sign... you cant no longer go into a store and buy singles ... just buy the complete experience

Wow, I could not disagree with you two any more strongly. Of course people should be able to just buy the tracks that they want (basically the singles). I think that when cd's took over and singles became so overpriced that was one of the root causes of why illegal downloading became so popular. Since the late '80s/early '90s consumers were forced to buy albums when many of them only wanted one or two songs. Had the labels kept singles as an affordable option I believe that consumers would have been accustomed to paying a fair price for music and digital sales might be much higher than they are. Instead people were pissed off after years of buying whole albums when they just wanted singles and when illegal downloading became an option many people jumped on it. It's also true that the labels probably took too long to start offering music in a digital format but I believe that the lack of affordable singles in the '90s was what really hurt them in the long run.

[Edited 8/1/11 11:03am]

Well thing is that the biggest sales period was the later 90's to 2001 then the whole thing caved in slowly. Now many have blamed this on pricing, downloading, 9/11, etc...in reality its probably mostly because its so easy to get, lower prices or not, people cant get it for free they will. The whole iTunes thing is not a benefit to anyone but the labels who make PURE profit on it, iTunes who make PURE profit on it and the consumer who get songs for 99 cents, but gone in all this are two things, the artist on average gets about 2 cents on that dollar(unless they have signed some kind of deal outisde the label for more) and second gone is the idea of the album, breaking things up like that takes away from everything, some artists now are HIP to this and are tossing on extra tracks and making them "Album Only", but if consumers want their way then something has to be done on the artist side, now if you give them more, expect your 99 cent and 1.29 singles to slowly turn into 1.49 and 1.99 singles.

lastdecember said:

rialb said:

Wow, I could not disagree with you two any more strongly. Of course people should be able to just buy the tracks that they want (basically the singles). I think that when cd's took over and singles became so overpriced that was one of the root causes of why illegal downloading became so popular. Since the late '80s/early '90s consumers were forced to buy albums when many of them only wanted one or two songs. Had the labels kept singles as an affordable option I believe that consumers would have been accustomed to paying a fair price for music and digital sales might be much higher than they are. Instead people were pissed off after years of buying whole albums when they just wanted singles and when illegal downloading became an option many people jumped on it. It's also true that the labels probably took too long to start offering music in a digital format but I believe that the lack of affordable singles in the '90s was what really hurt them in the long run.

[Edited 8/1/11 11:03am]

Well thing is that the biggest sales period was the later 90's to 2001 then the whole thing caved in slowly. Now many have blamed this on pricing, downloading, 9/11, etc...in reality its probably mostly because its so easy to get, lower prices or not, people cant get it for free they will. The whole iTunes thing is not a benefit to anyone but the labels who make PURE profit on it, iTunes who make PURE profit on it and the consumer who get songs for 99 cents, but gone in all this are two things, the artist on average gets about 2 cents on that dollar(unless they have signed some kind of deal outisde the label for more) and second gone is the idea of the album, breaking things up like that takes away from everything, some artists now are HIP to this and are tossing on extra tracks and making them "Album Only", but if consumers want their way then something has to be done on the artist side, now if you give them more, expect your 99 cent and 1.29 singles to slowly turn into 1.49 and 1.99 singles.

I kind of shake my head when artists start bemoaning the death of the album as an art form, particularly if we are talking about pop music. So many albums from the '50s to the present are, at best, two or three singles and a bunch of filler. Sometimes you just get one good song on an album. Of course there are exceptions but some of these "artists" that are crying about how their "art" is being compromised would be better off crafting stronger albums. I think that the return of affordable singles is a great thing for consumers. The majority of people out there do not want to buy the new Rihanna album and listen to the whole thing all the way through. They just want the hit singles. Not all artists are capable of creating a whole album of worthwhile music and I don't understand why they should try. If you've got a killer song put it out and hopefully people will buy it. I'm glad that the days of being "forced" to buy a full album to get one song are gone. Of course the problem is trying to put the genie back in the bottle as far as "free" music is concerned. That bell probably can not be unrung but as I said the labels have to blame themselves for being so slow to adapt.

On the subject of exclusive tracks I find that to be one of the more infuriating aspects of the modern music business. I still buy lots of cd's but that is one instance where I feel completely justified in "stealing" music. If I already bought the darn album I am not going to buy it again just to get a few extra tracks.

Thank you for purchasing tickets to see JAY-Z and Kanye West. For every ticket purchased, you'll receive a digital copy of their new album, 'Watch The Throne'.

When the album is released to the public on 8/8, you will receive an additional email from Ticketmaster with more information on how to obtain your digital copy. If you purchased after 8/8, you will receive your email within 48 hours of purchase.

WATCH THE THRONE SWEEPSTAKES: Redeem "Watch the Throne" (tour ticket + album) download prior to 11:59 PM ET on August 14, 2011 and you will be entered into a sweepstakes for a chance to win 2 Front Row Tickets to Watch The Throne Tour!*

[Edited 8/2/11 8:31am]

^ @ the Obama smiley.

rialb said:

I kind of shake my head when artists start bemoaning the death of the album as an art form, particularly if we are talking about pop music. So many albums from the '50s to the present are, at best, two or three singles and a bunch of filler. Sometimes you just get one good song on an album. Of course there are exceptions but some of these "artists" that are crying about how their "art" is being compromised would be better off crafting stronger albums. I think that the return of affordable singles is a great thing for consumers. The majority of people out there do not want to buy the new Rihanna album and listen to the whole thing all the way through. They just want the hit singles. Not all artists are capable of creating a whole album of worthwhile music and I don't understand why they should try. If you've got a killer song put it out and hopefully people will buy it. I'm glad that the days of being "forced" to buy a full album to get one song are gone. Of course the problem is trying to put the genie back in the bottle as far as "free" music is concerned. That bell probably can not be unrung but as I said the labels have to blame themselves for being so slow to adapt.

On the subject of exclusive tracks I find that to be one of the more infuriating aspects of the modern music business. I still buy lots of cd's but that is one instance where I feel completely justified in "stealing" music. If I already bought the darn album I am not going to buy it again just to get a few extra tracks.

esp. the bold part

rialb said:

lastdecember said:

Well thing is that the biggest sales period was the later 90's to 2001 then the whole thing caved in slowly. Now many have blamed this on pricing, downloading, 9/11, etc...in reality its probably mostly because its so easy to get, lower prices or not, people cant get it for free they will. The whole iTunes thing is not a benefit to anyone but the labels who make PURE profit on it, iTunes who make PURE profit on it and the consumer who get songs for 99 cents, but gone in all this are two things, the artist on average gets about 2 cents on that dollar(unless they have signed some kind of deal outisde the label for more) and second gone is the idea of the album, breaking things up like that takes away from everything, some artists now are HIP to this and are tossing on extra tracks and making them "Album Only", but if consumers want their way then something has to be done on the artist side, now if you give them more, expect your 99 cent and 1.29 singles to slowly turn into 1.49 and 1.99 singles.

I kind of shake my head when artists start bemoaning the death of the album as an art form, particularly if we are talking about pop music. So many albums from the '50s to the present are, at best, two or three singles and a bunch of filler. Sometimes you just get one good song on an album. Of course there are exceptions but some of these "artists" that are crying about how their "art" is being compromised would be better off crafting stronger albums. I think that the return of affordable singles is a great thing for consumers. The majority of people out there do not want to buy the new Rihanna album and listen to the whole thing all the way through. They just want the hit singles. Not all artists are capable of creating a whole album of worthwhile music and I don't understand why they should try. If you've got a killer song put it out and hopefully people will buy it. I'm glad that the days of being "forced" to buy a full album to get one song are gone. Of course the problem is trying to put the genie back in the bottle as far as "free" music is concerned. That bell probably can not be unrung but as I said the labels have to blame themselves for being so slow to adapt.

On the subject of exclusive tracks I find that to be one of the more infuriating aspects of the modern music business. I still buy lots of cd's but that is one instance where I feel completely justified in "stealing" music. If I already bought the darn album I am not going to buy it again just to get a few extra tracks.

To me though to have any form of longevity you have to do albums, and make them good, if you seriously cant put together a 10track 40 minute cd of good stuff ever, than you might want to re-think your career. It would be like a playwright only doing have a play then just tossing in lines that mean nothing all the time. Honestly im already bored with the whole idea of the singles artist cause im like, "i wanna like you but what else you got for me?" I mean there arent very many album artists out there that are good, but that doesnt mean they shouldnt do albums, i think more or less think music should be cheap because of quality? But again music is not a necessity, its not Food or air, and music is totally subjective to the listener therefore albums should always be made, thats how you grow if music is what you wanna do.

As for the exclusive tracks thing i understand what you are saying but this is where i feel iTunes and labels should be hand in hand working together. I think it would so simple to have a keycode put in a cd when you open it, kind of like those perfume ads that beyonce and others put in, and just have it as an iTunes pass code that you can just buy the tracks you arent getting on the cd, the Duran Duran current release has the issue of being digital months before and then a full version coming out and EVEN through itunes which is where is was available first, you had to buy thing over again, which was a 100% on iTunes.

Mostly the artists i have heard speak on the death of an album, actually have good albums, i mean Elton John is one that spoke on this and the guy has done 5 straight perfect records, and is one the top album makers ever, so i get his point, i mean im not really hearing Rihanna or Kesha complaing about the death of the album.

rialb said:

lastdecember said:

Well thing is that the biggest sales period was the later 90's to 2001 then the whole thing caved in slowly. Now many have blamed this on pricing, downloading, 9/11, etc...in reality its probably mostly because its so easy to get, lower prices or not, people cant get it for free they will. The whole iTunes thing is not a benefit to anyone but the labels who make PURE profit on it, iTunes who make PURE profit on it and the consumer who get songs for 99 cents, but gone in all this are two things, the artist on average gets about 2 cents on that dollar(unless they have signed some kind of deal outisde the label for more) and second gone is the idea of the album, breaking things up like that takes away from everything, some artists now are HIP to this and are tossing on extra tracks and making them "Album Only", but if consumers want their way then something has to be done on the artist side, now if you give them more, expect your 99 cent and 1.29 singles to slowly turn into 1.49 and 1.99 singles.

I kind of shake my head when artists start bemoaning the death of the album as an art form, particularly if we are talking about pop music. So many albums from the '50s to the present are, at best, two or three singles and a bunch of filler. Sometimes you just get one good song on an album. Of course there are exceptions but some of these "artists" that are crying about how their "art" is being compromised would be better off crafting stronger albums. I think that the return of affordable singles is a great thing for consumers. The majority of people out there do not want to buy the new Rihanna album and listen to the whole thing all the way through. They just want the hit singles. Not all artists are capable of creating a whole album of worthwhile music and I don't understand why they should try. If you've got a killer song put it out and hopefully people will buy it. I'm glad that the days of being "forced" to buy a full album to get one song are gone. Of course the problem is trying to put the genie back in the bottle as far as "free" music is concerned. That bell probably can not be unrung but as I said the labels have to blame themselves for being so slow to adapt.

On the subject of exclusive tracks I find that to be one of the more infuriating aspects of the modern music business. I still buy lots of cd's but that is one instance where I feel completely justified in "stealing" music. If I already bought the darn album I am not going to buy it again just to get a few extra tracks.

I said it earlier, some folks here were spoiled with what they think were great albums and are disappointed when other artists produce garbage but that's been going on since recorded music came into play a century ago.