I’d like to look at this with optimistic eyes. It’s the first step to being able to buy and read all of my comics on my wonderful iPad device the day they are released. There’s a catch though.
According to Marvel:
“Fans going to their local comic store can pick up the entire Invincible Iron Man Annual at a low price that day or all three chapters through the Marvel Comics app.”
No actual numbers are given in the press release, but we know the paper comic is going to be $4.99. A la carte digital comics are $1.99 through the Marvel app. With a little conjecture from the “three chapters” wording, one can quickly deduce that the digital version will cost $5.97.
I can’t help but think of the bullshit we’ve gone through (and are still going through) with the music industry and mp3s. Digital consumers are again being treated as second class citizens. Higher prices than the “real” product. We’re supposed to be excited about getting ONE comic “day and date” with the paper release? Is it that hard to scan in 32 pages per book each week and program in the guided view? Why isn’t everything available digitally at the same time as the paper release?
Comics are expensive nowadays. $4-$5 per issue isn’t a trivial cost anymore, especially when you follow multiple titles a month. Like in the music industry, we need a proper subscription model here. I realize there’s a fine balance with the retailers that have to be kept, but as a consumer, it’s just becoming too cost prohibitive to continue reading what I’ve been reading, much less trying out new titles. Also, trying to convert the average movie-going audience into comic buyers with a $4 monthly book may be a pipe-dream out of the RIAA playbook. Try convincing casual radio listeners to buy $14 CDs nowadays.
A monthly unlimited digital subscription fee for iPad/tablet users might be a good first step. The traditional comic buyers are still going to go to the store for the paper copies. You’d expand your readership into the mainstream with a better chance of convincing them to become lifelong comics fans.
Hell, you might even get some double-dip cash from tech savvy readers like me.
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It boils down to the following for smartphone users:
- No more $30 “unlimited”(actually 5gb) data plan (if you have one now you can still be on it, even if you buy the new iPhone, but you won’t be able to get it back if you change plans)
- Choice 1: “DataPlus” $15 a month for 200mb of data (Overages: $15 for each additional 200mb)
- Choice 2: “DataPro” $25 a month for 2gb of data (Overages: $10 for each additional 1gb)
- If you want to tether your data, you’ll have to choose the DataPro plan and pay an additional $20. (Shitty, but unsurprising)
Naturally, the first thing that went through my mind when i saw this was, “ZOMG WTF!! FUCK YOU AT&T YOU ARE THE WORST!”
Then, once I was done nerd raging, I thought, “Hmm, how much data do I actually use each month?”
Here’s my last 6 months of usage (You can find your graph by logging into your AT&T wireless page and clicking “Past Data Usage”):
I’ve gone over the hypothetical 200mb plan only twice, and didn’t even come close to a 2gb limit. I can’t remember what I did in November, but I do know that in May I had been streaming more live baseball games using the MLB At Bat app. Using the iPhone for Twitter, Foursquare, and looking random shit up while you are out does not use up a ton of bandwidth. It’s pretty clear streaming media is going to be the deciding factor for a lot of people. Since I’m paying $30 a month for data currently, I could be saving either $15 or $5, depending on how much I want to limit myself to.
That’s the good news. The concerning news is how this will affect rumored features in the new iPhone, such as video calls and a cloud-based iTunes. According to Wired, 200mb is roughly 7 hours of streaming audio. Thats like 2 baseball games, or a few commutes. Live, 2-way video streaming just sounds like it would eat up bandwidth like Brian ate poop in last month’s Family Guy episode. While I don’t see myself using video chat regularly, I’d like the option to, without feeling like I’m wasting precious allocated bits.
Maybe it was just wishful thinking to assume I could save $15 a month on my phone bill. It’s looking pretty tough to get by on only 200mb if you’re looking to stream any sort content. Ideally, Pandora, Spotify, iTunes, or whatever music cloud service ends up winning will over a robust caching feature so I can just preload all of my music at home before heading out into the wild.
Another silver lining in all of this is that AT&T will let you figure out which plan you want without much dicking:
The carrier’s going to be very flexible about changing between the DataPlus and DataPro plans — if you’re on DataPlus, for example, and you discover that you’re blowing past your allotment, you can choose either to start DataPro the following billing cycle, pro-rate it, or apply the higher plan retroactively to the beginning of your current billing cycle.
I look at this whole thing as hey, at least I’ll probably be saving $5 a month at the very least.
I’m not trying to hate; I honestly just haven’t really liked anything you’ve put out since Year Zero. Remember that Nine Inch Nails song, “Wish”? That song kicks so much ass, I just want to hear something new like that. But your new stuff’s gotten more experimental, downtempo, inaccessible, and for lack of a better word, “meh.” I gave your new band/project, How To Destroy Angels, a shot because of your pedigree, but I’m sad to report that the underwhelming single “A Drowning” is the best song on it.
That being said, I still love your acceptance and knowledge of how to distribute your wares on the internet. You provide pristinely encoded mp3s for the low, fair price of an email address. You make it easy for us to tweet, blog, facebook, and share your music without treating us as thieves. I’m glad you’ve offered me the chance to come to my musical conclusion by sampling your music for free.
I am sure there are people out there who enjoy your new musical direction and I don’t fault them for it. It looks like you’ve already “sold out” a $50 tshirt package on your merch site, so congratulations on that too. It’s just that I don’t think your music is for me anymore.
<3,
Andy
Remember the cryptic ID3 tag from the Nine Inch Nails – Discipline single download a couple weeks ago? Well, May 5th is upon us and a visit to nin.com reveals that the surprise is none other than a completely free download of a new Nine Inch Nails album entitled The Slip.
as a thank you to our fans for your continued support, we are giving away the new nine inch nails album one hundred percent free, exclusively via nin.com.
the music is available in a variety of formats including high-quality MP3, FLAC or M4A lossless at CD quality and even higher-than-CD quality 24/96 WAVE. your link will include all options – all free. all downloads include a PDF with artwork and credits.
for those of you interested in physical products, fear not. we plan to make a version of this release available on CD and vinyl in july. details coming soon.
I love how Trent continues to put out his material in proper digital formats, word is that the MP3 encodes are LAME V0 – none of this “encoded in iTunes” n00bery. All it takes to download is your email address again. I’m still waiting on my download link, but it looks to be the same process as it was in downloading “Discipline.”
Although, coming so quickly off the heels of “Ghosts I-IV,” I have a sliver of doubt of the album’s quality. I’m guessing it’s a more traditional Nine Inch Nails album, but could Trent be oversaturating us with material?
Regardless, free albums are awesome, especially with the presentation that Trent is putting forth here.
Download The New Nine Inch Nails Album [theslip.nin.com]
In our inaugural podcast, I am joined by former radio DJ Dan Brody as we talk about Coachella, Grand Theft Auto 4, Buzznet, Coldplay, and more.
We’re working on getting the Pottycast on the iTunes directory, but in the meantime, if you want to subscribe through iTunes just go to Advanced -> Subscribe to Podcast and paste this URL in the box:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/MyDayWillComePodcast
Then just make sure that your iPod/iPhone is set to sync the Podcast.
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Looks like Coldplay will be giving away their new single from their upcoming album Viva La Vida for one week starting tomorrow (4/29) at 12:15pm GMT. (8:15am PST/5:15am EST) now!
The song is called Violet Hill and judging from the album art and the new website, will be a lot more festive than your average Britpop ditties.
Here’s hopin’ for some maracas with that famous Chris Martin piano spazzing!
Download the new Coldplay single [coldplay.com]
No, that’s not a black and white version of Coldplay’s X&Y cover up there, it’s the cover to the latest Nine Inch Nails single, Discipline. This ain’t no BS instrumental either, we get to hear Trent Reznor’s soothing vocals layered over a 122 bpm bed. It’s a vintage Nine Inch Nails song, fans casual and hardcore alike should be into it.
If you look within the ID3 tag of the single, there’s a cryptic note that says:
Go to www.nin.com May 5
Hmmmm, maybe more free tracks? An album release date?
You can get your own copy of discipline here. All it takes is your email and you get a pristinely encoded VBR MP3. Trent takes care of his fans.
Download Nine Inch Nails – Discipline [nin.com]
In an overwhelming intellectual leap of faith, last.fm has concluded that allowing full-length track streaming has increased sales.
Since Last.fm’s label deals allowed them to stream over five million full tracks for free, the site has seen its CD and MP3 Amazon referrals increase 119 percent. Some of the effect is due to an increase in overall traffic since the full songs showed up, but existing users of the site purchased 66 percent more music during the same period.
Did anyone ever harbor the illusion that 30-second track previews were really enough to sell people on a track purchase? Sure, one could argue that maybe the right 30 seconds would be enough, but there’s no way of finding a “one size fits all” snippet for everyone.
Full length track streaming is the only way to go for online music purchasing. It isn’t a replacement for owning the cd or file because you can’t put the music on your device – the end goal of most users.
Would you buy a car after a mere 30 second test-drive? There is no way I’m spending my money on any music without hearing it in its entirety to make sure I love it.
Read more about last.fm’s conclusion [blog.wired.com]
Wired’s Listening Post reports that Warner Music has a plan to charge people a flat fee on the ISP level for the right to download unlimited amounts of music on p2p networks without the threat of litigation.
wat.
I’m still in shock. Hath mine own eyes deceived me? Is this really happening? Someone should check on Bob Lefsetz – he might be in cardiac arrest right now.
Coming back down to earth, it looks like the plan is not very well thought out yet and there are a lot of questions still to be answered.
What is known is that Jim Griffin has been hired by Warner to create “an ASCAP for the internet, collecting fees from ISPs and divvying them up among rights holders.” In the same way that diners pay restaurant’s music licensing fees with each dish they order, ISP customers would pay a bit more per month for the right to download as much music as their hard drives can eat.
The very notion that someone at Warners gets it is pretty shocking to me. Yes, this is a solution that should have been put in place a decade ago, but as I’ve said before, this sort of rational thinking from a major label was unfathomable to us in the industry even just a scant year ago. There’s still the problem of getting the rest of the labels on board, but I’m pretty confident that once one of them has a good plan of execution in place, the rest should fall like dominoes.
Bravo Warners, bravo.
Read more [blog.wired.com]
