sad, sad, sad

hi there

the somewhat excellent new which greeted me this morning is that we get a new single from The Rolling Stones this week, cheerfully titled Doom And Gloom. the somewhat less excellent news would be that, despite going to the length of creating artwork for the single (kind of), being able to purchase it relies entirely on you being in a country that Apple has a preference for.

the news of the single release over on their official site comes with the note that you can only buy it from the Apple iTwat store. leaving aside the depressing fact that Keith Richards is now happy to have his music appear in a compressed digital format rather than a properly mastered record or compact disc, this is just a silly decision. if they really want to go this way, then the Stones have no less than 2 online stores themselves that they could sell this from.

one can only assume that Apple have given the band an awful lot of money to make it an iTwat exclusive, then.

it always made sense that the record labels would want to move to downloads only, since it cuts productions costs dramatically whilst they charge the same price, but it's puzzling that a band of the stature of the Stones would happily go this way. it would seem, then, that Jack White is the last musician standing for championing properly produced music rather than digital stuff.

if everything really is going "digital download" rather than "proper release" then i suppose one just has to accept it. it would be a good deal easier to accept, however, if all who wished to were able to purchase these digital download things. Apple, you see, are very particular and indeed quite fussy about who they accept money from. their celebrated iTwat store is only available in certain countries, and i happen to be in one of those that Apple simply refuses to accept money from. great.

as soon as this single gets release, the internet shall of course be overflowing with less-than-legitimate copies of it for download, all gratis. i'd rather be adding to the vast piles of lovely, lovely money that the Stones have via purchasing it, but if they are not prepared to accept your money then what does one do?


be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!