Quite simply all UK independents should sign up exclusively with a service like 7 DIGITAL because it is UK based.

I Tunes is part of the creeping corporate music culture which has killed things like Top of the Pops by pushing mediocre USA acts onto our radios and pap music......even the UK gig scene is now owned by Live "Clear Mean Channel" Nation meaning that we get the SAME bands over and over again from the mouth of Corporate America.

Bands should only sign their music to UK download providers - 7 Digital is far superior in delivery than I Tunes in any case.

Suggest UK Bands and Labels and manufacturers start taking a stand and start backing UK music and companies.

Why not boycott Reading / Leeds and Glasto as well ( all USA sponsored events ) as for venues - which ones are owned by UK companies in London ? stay with those.

This is not protectionism or jingoism - it is simply stating that bands in the UK have limited opportunities because of the way these companies operate within in the UK marketplace.

Coca Cola and I tunes ( with a rosta of USA approved acts ) Yawn.

Time for the real spirit of 77 and punk to start pervading our music industry.

Get on the phone and cancel your downloads to I Tunes etc and sign up with a UK company - you will feel cleaner and better for it I promise

and 7 DIGITAL is a big player - one mornig you will wake up and the company has been bought by Dimensional Associates (US based).

terrible post!

Nobody should support anything/buy into anything for any other reason than it benefitiing their life...

unless it is an act of charity. And the record industry is not a charity. The day consumer decisions are driven solely by where something did not come from
is the day we consumers lose our choice.

Purely because something is UK based is not a good reason to buy/support it etc. If this was the case, there would be a few more of us with CJD.

You're almost making a good point, but for the wrong reasons.

And yes, it is jingoistic and protectionist.

Interesting thread, which, if nothing else, made me think. I think the sentiment of the orignal post makes some wierd sort of sense, but you can take the whole issue further.

The French are very much supportive of local companies - hence why Fnac as opposed to I-Tunes dominate the local download market. But then the French buy Renault, Citroen and Peugeot cars. (as opposed to Japanese etc.)

I believe we should support local enterprises, but you can only do that when there actually is a locally owned/produced option. Not sure how you can find an alternative to Reading/Leeds/Glastonbury.

Who cares who owns it.
And if someone wants to put on better festivals than CC, do so.
They need not be bigger. Just better.
Likewise websites.
I loved that Engllish student who did the million dollar site.
Typically eccentric and inventive British idea.

JK2006 wrote:
Who cares who owns it.
And if someone wants to put on better festivals than CC, do so.
They need not be bigger. Just better.
Likewise websites.
I loved that Engllish student who did the million dollar site.
Typically eccentric and inventive British idea.

I actually DO care who owns some things. There are some companies/countries of origin I try to avoid. But difficult to equate that to a festival that takes place on British soil/mud!

stewy wrote:
terrible post!

Nobody should support anything/buy into anything for any other reason than it benefitiing their life...

unless it is an act of charity. And the record industry is not a charity. The day consumer decisions are driven solely by where something did not come from
is the day we consumers lose our choice.

Purely because something is UK based is not a good reason to buy/support it etc. If this was the case, there would be a few more of us with CJD.

You're almost making a good point, but for the wrong reasons.

And yes, it is jingoistic and protectionist.
Jingoist and protectionist it may be, but sadly true. Whatever happened to the UK film industry? Not only is it a dot on the map of world cinema, it's a dot on the map of European cinema. Why? Because of the stranglehold of major companies on distribution. Warner's policy of opening everywhere on the same date with huge marketing spend, for example, kills any chance of non-major films opening at the same time. The screens are taken. Sorry pal, come back with a bigger budget next time. I haven't got the latest figures in front of me, but Ken Loach's latest is opening in about 50 measly cinemas in the UK, whereas it is opening in 300 in France. Now tell me that large companies encourage competition and offer more choice for the consumer. It's just not true.

Speaking of 7digital and Wippit: I vote for both and I'm not even a Brit. 7digital in particular is an excellent site. We're not talking about subsidising sub-standard products here.

It might sound like an obvious question, but "Who cares who owns it?" spells death for the spirit of enterprise. Why waste time? Let's stop all loans that are not intended for Murdoch, Microsoft, Warner and Coca-Cola. They offer a great customer experience, don't they? They have everything we could possibly want, don't they? Why let other people waste precious finances when these companies - our friends - do such good things with them?

Im sorry but I can't agree with the writer and their stance regarding iTunes.

iTunes is the very best thing that has happened to the independent
and mini majors and the major majors.

It was liberated the record industry and especially smaller labels
who otherwise had a hard time getting their repertoire into the
key world markets.

iTunes has the best (virtual) store front and has created a way for
consumers of digital music to purchase with ease an absolute huge
range of commercial and not-so commeraial music.

Jazz to Disco to Pop to Techno to Clasical and loads more -

There's a lot of slammin' aimed at iTunes going on lately
and I question the motive.

What I suggest to our fellow indy labels and producers - make
it work for you, because it can.

David

david wrote:
Im sorry but I can't agree with the writer and their stance regarding iTunes.

iTunes is the very best thing that has happened to the independent
and mini majors and the major majors.

It was liberated the record industry and especially smaller labels
who otherwise had a hard time getting their repertoire into the
key world markets.

iTunes has the best (virtual) store front and has created a way for
consumers of digital music to purchase with ease an absolute huge
range of commercial and not-so commeraial music.

Jazz to Disco to Pop to Techno to Clasical and loads more -

There's a lot of slammin' aimed at iTunes going on lately
and I question the motive.

What I suggest to our fellow indy labels and producers - make
it work for you, because it can.

David
Presumably you're speaking from experience? So you are a label that managed to get onto iTunes with no problem? I know over a dozen that have been pulling their hair out over the past three years trying to engage the company in some way to be able to enjoy the "liberation".

Not sure how relevant this is, but it's topical: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/5133754.stm

M

Hi Michael,

iTunes Music Store is great for commercial independent music producers/artists & songwriters as it really does work and it's customers like it.

It brings your music into households all over the world - people who are happy to purchase music.

It does require investment from the labels - you will need a current generation MAC/iMAC, subscribe to
EAN barcodes and file for with-holding tax in the US and Japan.

So you can't be too much of a tim pot outfit, but at the same time you don't have to be a jim daddy either.

So long as you have your business registered and
are registered for VAT/GST - have a business number for tax purposes and have sufficiant repertoire to attract the requirements then Apple will give consideration to you. It can be a lengthy process -
so you might be looking at 6 months from A-Z
but it is definately the way forward and iTunes is the market leader.

As for what France is trying to do .. don't let that become a major concern .. if the ethos of this is pushed to it's indended conclusion then everything including as an example Play Station and X-Box and Nintendo will all have to have inter-operability for their games. Software for PC's will have to work on Mac's (and vise-versa) and all other proprietary
software would have to work on all manner of systems.

This is just unreal to expect this to happen.

Rights have to be protected - this is peoples livelihoods we're talking about here, so I am against what France is trying to achieve. Sorry !!!

Same goes for Norway and Sweden.

The other thing we should remember is that the Internet is not a national thing, it's international
and you have to choose what delivers the best international result when it comes to online music stores. Of course a valid approach is to provide your content to all (official) online music stores
as well as Telco's for ringtones etc .. I haven't done that but I know labels that have and it is probably the direction best travelled. Spread your
net far and wide to catch as many fish as possible.

Regards,

David

As far as i understand the french law it is NOT about different formats (PayStation/XBox, Single/LP etc.) but about DRM-Systems.

If you are going to force things to be compatable and operate on
"outside" equipemnt, in other words take away proprietary
from the software then the argument surely can be extended to
include any number of other technology and software applications
and devices.

BTW - Back to this whole issue about WMA or AAC files not working on other devices ..

With Apple AAC files you can burn a CDR and then convert the CDR to MP3 if you want to -

Freedom of choice: there are now dozens if not hundreds of online music stores operating over the internet. If you don't want AAC files you can
choose WMA and if you don't want WMA there are some sites offering
DRM free MP3 files.

Not all content is available everywhere but the big commercial blockbusters
generally are.

iTunes, MSN, Tesco music, My Coke Music, OD2 sites and a whole selection
of Telco's for ringtones.

Customers do have choice - DRM is there to protect the rights of the people who put the time and effort and money into creating these music tracks - surely for those of us in this industry that can only be regarded as a good thing. In the recorded music business you owe it to the songwriters, publishers, artists and producers to provide a layer of protection for their work.