Staggered Release Dates

Another example of how the music industry is ruining my music consumption experiences (yup I actually said music consumption experiences).

A lot of my music purchases are done online, usually through iTunes with the occasional Bandcamp purchase supporting an independent artist I enjoy. There are however a handful of artists I will still make the effort to go out and buy the physical CD for. These are some of my favorite artists, bands I have a true passion for their music and most likely have their entire catalog of releases on CD.

Part of the reason I go out and buy their physical CD is because I feel it actually ads to the experience. The anticipation waiting for the release day, going to the store wandering the isles seeing what else is new before grabbing a copy of the CD I want off the shelf and then walking up to the till to pay for it. I’ll have the wrapper off before I even get to my vehicle and the CD will be popped in the CD player before I even do up my seat belt. The whole experience is not only something I enjoy doing, and I often find I’m an even bigger fan of the collection of new music being played on the CD after buying the physical copy rather than simply clicking “Purchase” on my computer or phone.

So how is the music industry ruining this experience? (Aside from some artist’s music is getting harder and harder to find in some retail outlets)

Staggered release dates.

Every Tuesday I check iTunes to see what’s new for releases in both the music and movie world. Relying on iTunes as my primary resources for knowing when something has been released has lead to me being duped into assuming because it’s available on iTunes, the physical copy is also available in stores.  That isn’t always the case. There have been a couple instances now where a CD or DVD has been available on iTunes prior to being available in stores.

I understand why this is done in the movie industry. If a movie is available online for viewing prior to a physical copy being released, the movie could potentially earn more money. If the physical copy came out first, some people will just simply buy the DVD/Bluray and not spend any money renting it via an online on demand option. Where as if the on demand version comes out first, some people will pay to watch that version, then still go out and by a physical copy when it’s released. The staggered release for a DVD leads to more money being made off that movie…in theory.

We don’t see that trend in music. Some people will admit that they tend to buy 2-3 tracks to preview the album and then will go out and buy the whole album once it’s released, but with studies showing CD sales steadily decreasing and online increasing, I think it’s safe to say this is happening less and less. If people buy the whole CD on iTunes (which will also sometimes with bonus exclusive tracks) they are less likely to go out and buy a physical copy. It works for movies, because with On Demand you only have the movie for a limited amount of time. With music, they purchase it online and they now own the music and can listen to it when they want. If I know I’m going to go out and buy the physical CD, I won’t download any tracks off the album, not even the single. I want to experience the entire album when I buy it.

This has now happened to me a couple times. I’ve seen that the album is now available on iTunes, and not just as a pre-order, it has been officially released on iTunes. Assuming this means it is also available in stores I will go to HMV, Best Buy or even Walmart to pick up the CD only to be completely disappointed to find out the physical copy hasn’t been released yet. I get the logic behind this approach, even from a simple cost perspective releasing the album on iTunes makes more sense than printing way too many physical copies that will sit on shelves in record stores or buried in bins waiting to get returned to the label. What doesn’t make sense to me is that this is another example of the music industry having no clue when it comes to engaging their target audience.

Buying music should be an experience not something that you simply push a button to do. There’s a stronger connection when you buy the physical copy of an album. Sure online sales are cost effective and are easy for the consumer to do, but the interaction, the connection to the purchase can not be captured or recreated with the digital music purchasing experience and the labels/powers that be have no clue how much of an impact this could actually have.