Appletell Interview: Indie Rock Bands on iTunes

Section: iPod + iTunes, iTunes, Features, Interviews, OriginalsWe all know by now how Kid Rock feels about the iTunes Store, but what if you’re not a former star fighting for relevancy in an industry that’s otherwise forgotten about you? What if the industry has yet to even acknowledge you? A couple years ago, I interviewed three indie bands—Zolof the Rock and Roll Destroyer, Bishop Allen and Splitsville—about the process of getting into the iTunes store and how they’re using it to appease and increase their fan base. I’m posting the article again here in a slightly updated form, as the answers I recieved may shed some light on the iTunes process, and will maybe help Kid Rock learn that perhaps music sales aren’t always about just making money. The content below was published in its original form at Applelinks on June 30th, 2006. I’m not a dedicated user of the iTunes Music Store. The reasons for that will vary depending upon what people are trying to get me to download, but each excuse basically just orbits around around the idea that music downloads aren’t my thing. I prefer CDs. Or old LPs. Or videos on YouTube. That being said, I get the iTunes music store, and I’m glad it’s there when I need it. Whereas I used to purchase greatest hits collections to just get five or six songs, I can now buy only the songs I want. Or, even better, I can use iTunes to round out those annoying “best of” collections that seem to leave off the band’s best song (I’m looking at you, Jackson Browne). There are also soundtracks to consider; I’m not going to purchase the Sky High CD just to get the They Might Be Giants cover of Devo’s "We’re Through Being Cool," but I’m more than happy to spend 99 cents on the MP3. And then there are the Japanese imports. And all of those bonus tracks. In fact, it was a search for bonus songs that became the impetus for this article. One of my favorite new bands, OK Go, had just released their sophomore album, Oh No. This was well before that video of theirs. You know the one, right? (Forget that song, here’s a better one.) Treadmills aside, OK Go are one of those bands with fantastic b-side material. They don’t cut songs from their albums because they’re no good, but because they don’t fit in, presumably, and so their b-sides tend to include some of their more interesting material. Therefore, I’m constantly hunting down these harder to obtain tracks, and sometimes have success with iTunes. And while doing a search for OK Go, I came across a song called "Super OK" by the band Zolof the Rock and Roll Destroyer. Say what you like about the name, but it stood out. The combination of the "Swedish death metal" name (as lead singer/keyboardist Rachel Minton put it) and the Hello Kitty-cute artwork intrigued me, so I visited their site, listened to their sample tracks and bought all of their CDs within a week. It struck me, then, that I wouldn’t have even heard of this Philly "spunk rock" band had it not been for the iTunes Music Store. When I also learned back then that Zolof uses Macs (from their "historic G3" to their in-studio G4 for recording to their touring iBook for laying down tracks in GarageBand), I decided to ask Rachel her thoughts about the iTunes store and why the band decided to list their tracks. "We have no choice in the matter; it’s the method that the labels who sell our songs have chosen," she admitted, but then added, "It seems like a good deal to me, though. It’s an easy, cheap answer to illegal file sharing. I would say the only downfall is not having the physical artwork.” Would she rather people buy their CDs directly from them than from iTunes? Yes, and the reason why should be obvious. "We don’t really ever see any money from sales through Amazon, iTunes, etc. (the reason why is because we’re a smaller band)," Rachel explained. "Also, it makes us feel good knowing how many people are purchasing the album per month." But if the band’s not making much money, how valuable a tool is iTunes? "Regardless of who profits, it’s most important that our songs are accessible to people," Rachel pointed out. "Doesn’t anyone remember the 90s when you had to find some obscure little record store to buy the indie album that you were looking for? iTunes is a much easier and faster way to reach your fans. It’s also great because you can download one song to see if you like it, and/or purchase an album one song at a time. Allowing people to sample your music for 99 cents is awesome..." This thought is echoed by Christian Rudder of Bishop Allen, an indie band NPR’s Weekend Edition calls "Vibrant, vivid, and refreshingly different." Their first release, "Charm School," drew 4 stars from Rolling Stone and prompted All Music Guide to state, "...how rock as meant to be." More importantly, they’re a band my wife and I both loved on first listen, and that doesn’t happen as often as I’d like. Bishop Allen released Charm School on their own label, Champagne School, in 2003, and embarked on an ambitious EP-A-Month project in 2006. Every month, the band releases another set of four songs. This is the kind of forward thinking campaign that would baffle record industry executives, but is perfectly suited for the iTunes Music Store. Unfortunately, iTunes couldn’t keep up, and most of the material was only available through Bishop Allen’s website. "We’d love to have all our songs up there the minute we release them," Christian explained. "Unfortunately, the Music Store moves pretty slowly in approving our songs, so there’s a few month’s lag. We’ve been submitting them all along, but I think the wheels don’t turn as fast as they could for an unsigned band." Two years on, the bulk of material from the EP-A-Month project is now compiled into two volumes on iTunes, along with Bishop Allen’s second official album release, The Broken String. One song, you may know; "Click, Click, Click, Click" was recently used in a Sony camera commercial. Despite the acceptance lag, Christian is very positive about the iTunes Music Store. "Aside from the delay in getting the music up there, which I suppose is ironic given the immediacy of the digital medium, iTunes is great...it’s the world’s most popular music store, so just having our records up there on the shelves is a huge boon. We don’t have distribution in the physical world and iTunes is certainly the next best thing. I imagine we’ve sold a fair proportion of the songs we’ve sold to people who are just browsing. Even though we offer digital purchasing on our own site, we can’t make new fans that way, only get music to our existing fan base." And there it is. People are discovering Bishop Allen the same way I discovered Zolof; the same way I discovered so many bands at countless record stores in the 1980s...by stumbling across them. Still, that’s not to say the iTunes Music Store is like the local independent record store with the Suicidal Tendencies posters hanging up and the goth chick behind the counter. There aren’t countless cheaply made flyers for amp repair and local concerts in the doorway, and you can’t find Queen bootlegs from Japan. It’s more like a digital Fye or Coconuts, promoting mainly what the big labels want them to promote. As I revisit this article, Randy Travis, John Mayer, NaS and someone named Brooke Fraser are rotating in the iTunes marquis behind my BBEdit window. John Mayer? Seriously? Apple may have cool ads, but the music they push is as corporate as Steve Ballmer, and there’s nothing cool about Steve Ballmer. The band Splitsville is probably too indie to ever be featured on iTunes, despite having a manager who handles their iTunes work for them. I discovered Splitsville the old fashioned way: they opened for another band I went to see back in ‘97 (that’s me banging my head at 0:40). Collecting Splitsville’s music was frustrating, as for some odd reason, a couple of this Baltimore-based band’s albums were only available as imports. But times have changed, and Splitsville manager Rob Toomey explains why iTunes was an obvious choice for making their music more readily available "The main advantage with iTunes is its reach and market share. I believe over 70% of music downloaded is via iTunes, so getting Splitsville material on there was a must for us," Rob explained. I asked him if he had the same problems as Christian from Bishop Allen. "For Splitsville, it wasn’t complicated at all, because our online accounts were set up via an indie music site called CD Baby. For a price (about 9 cents a download), CD Baby will submit an artist’s music to iTunes and about 30 other download sites (Rhapsody, Sony, Napster, PassAlong, etc, etc.). I tried getting Splitsville stuff on iTunes by myself, and got nowhere. I couldn’t even figure out to whom to speak to get the process started. If you don’t have a record label doing this for you, CD Baby is the way to go." So, CD Baby earns 9 cents to save us plenty more in import fees and inflated prices on ebay. Seems fair to me. An album I would’ve paid about $25 to import instead cost about $5.00 to get just the tracks I needed. I was certainly pleased, but what about their other fans? "Fans have reacted great, particularly with our older material which is difficult to find," Rob said. "Splitsville CDs sometimes go for $20 to $30 on eBay and the like. Our first CD, Splitsville USA, is long out of print and impossible to track down over the internet. One site has it listed for $49.99! I’m in the process of getting it on iTunes via CD Baby, and I expect some fans to jump on if for the $9.99 download price." Indeed. Thankfully, I won’t have to. I already own a copy. But Rob was successful, and Splitsville USA is now available at iTunes. I recommend everyone check out the tracks "Come Back to the 5 and Dime, Larry Storch, Larry Storch" and "I Was a Teenage Frankenstein." And so, although the iTunes Music Store shills the same old music as your average corporate run record store or radio station, the joy is that, like independent record stores and radio stations of the past, there are plenty of gems to find if you dig a little deeper. Don’t let iTunes make suggestions for you...it doesn’t know your musical tastes. I mean, seriously, what in Sam Hill did I buy that made them think I’d want anything by John Mellencamp or Jonny McGovern featuring Adam Joseph and Ericka Toure Aviance singing "Girl, I F***d Yo’ Boyfriend" in my "Just for You" box? Do a search, play around, see what you find. I’ll be bold enough to suggest you start with Zolof the Rock and Roll Destroyer, Bishop Allen or Splitsville. Apple’s iTunes store may be wearing the RIAA’s shirt and tie, but underneath, they’ve got some tattoos, and that’s probably all we can ask for. Full Story » | Written by Kirk Hiner for Appletell. | Comment on this Article »

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