Music Marketing

Apple To Launch Interactive Album Application

Antiapple_2
Labels Risk Giving Too Much Control To Apple Again

The death of the album cover in the digital age has been the subject of  much debate. Does fan engagement decrease without a physical product to hold, read and learn from?  Or with unlimited information available online does it really matter?

Apple appears to be trying to bring album packaging into the digital age with a new iPhone And iPod touch application that the company will test with the latest Snow Patrol release next month. “It will be an interactive element; a digital booklet that will take you into the videos and content,” Polydor product manager Liz Goodwin told Music Week. “For fans it will be a real must-have, and the fact that they are the first band to do this gives us an additional angle for exposure.”

Antiapple_4
COMMENTARY
: Kudos to Apple and Polydor for pushing the envelope.  But if labels allow Steve Jobs to control content delivery vehicle then only iPhone and iTouch users will experience all that an artist is trying to convey.  New album cover applications must be multi-platform and open source or the music industry risks a repeat of Apple’s pre-mp3 stranglehold on music sales.

SPREAD THE WORD: PLEASE DIGG, STUMBLE & EMAIL THIS POST

Share on:

2 Comments

  1. Dead on once again. I am the biggest Apple fan boy around, but Apple’s music partners never realize that apple is consistently controlling the application of delivery: Fairplay (DRM), Itunes, Movie Rentals, Ipod-Compatibility, AppStore & etc.
    However who else in the tech industry has the consumer base & ability to consistently develop applications ahead of the curve in terms of accessibility, user experience & reliability like Apple does? What are the alternatives in the market place? The only people that come to mind are Google, Microsoft & Sony.
    Considering other product lines, I feel Google could have the vision to do some revolutionary things with music (especially on the web) , Microsoft is too busy playing catch-up & Sony probably has the greatest resources at hand (with robust Film, Music & Electronics components) & has attempted (Mini-Disc, BluRay, Myplay.com) yet never really grasped that “wow” factor since the walkmen.

  2. old news. they are doing it for all labels. we’ve been working with them for 6 months on this. all of our dig booklet formats will be like this. cant wait to get the new snow patrol, tho!

Comments are closed.