The Best Actor in the Vase of Meiyu

Chapter 1298 Exclusive Release
On February 2004, , a strange scene appeared on the North American continent:

On the other hand, the Oscar Awards ceremony attracted the attention of the entire United States, with the hustle and bustle of the crowd focusing on it from all directions.

Because this is the first time in three years that the Oscars have been held smoothly without interference from off-site factors, and it is also the first time that the Oscars have been held in late February. Changes in the film market are coming.

There is no doubt that this is the focus of the focus, and whether "The Lord of the Rings 3", which has been leading the nomination stage, can break the curse that fantasy movies are ignored by the Academy is also a topic of discussion among everyone on the streets.

with no exceptions.

On the other hand, the music market is full of excitement and the heat is gathering towards the August 31st band.

Because of the special deluxe edition of "Midsummer Midnight"?

No, no, no, what people care about is not the album, but the first collaboration between the band and iTunes on August 31st, which officially opened a new era.

Since the millennium, digital audio sources have been widely used and gradually evolved into a new way to listen to music, which has directly led to a decline in the sales of physical albums.

The special deluxe edition of "Midsummer Midnight" is naturally not as attractive to people as before. After all, this album has been released for more than a year and even achieved an astonishing sales volume of five million. The market potential has been almost fully tapped. What people really care about is "another ray of light".

It is precisely because of this that "Another Light" completely grabbed the headlines.

In the past few years, more and more digital music sources have been launched on different music platforms, including iTunes. Singers must also consider the issue of digital music sources when releasing new music, because online piracy is infringing on their direct interests.

Either keep up with the times or be left behind.

However, this is the first time that a singer/musician has exclusively cooperated with a platform, not only exclusively authorized, but also officially announced the release of a single in the form of a digital audio source.

A first ever.

Shock, astonishment, impact, spread all over.

Has no other singer ever done this before?

The answer is yes.

The fundamental reason lies in the environment of the times. At present, the ranking and scoring method of the Billboard singles chart still does not include digital music download sales.

Of course, Billboard also has its own difficulties. There are too many digital music platforms, both legal and illegal. Coupled with pirated downloads, they have never been able to conduct official statistics. If there is no unified standard for digital music sources, Billboard will not be able to take these data into consideration.

To this end, Billboard has been looking for solutions. They cannot ignore the rise of digital music sources. In order to maintain the authority of Billboard, they must keep pace with the times; but so far they have no clue.

In short, Billboard has not yet included digital music downloads in the data statistics of the singles chart, which also affects the choices of record companies.

Data such as radio requests, physical sales, etc. are still the main components of the Billboard singles chart rankings.

Therefore, singers and record companies release digital music sources to keep up with the times and avoid piracy from eroding their own interests as much as possible. This is a defensive measure; but their focus is still on physical albums. This is a tradition and a reliable means of protecting their rights.

In addition, it is the right way to ensure that the single can achieve a good chart performance on the Billboard charts.

Until now, the band appeared on August 31. This band has been showing its difference since the moment the members met, and every step is impressive and continues to bring surprises.

Everything happened just as Apple expected. iTunes instantly came under the spotlight and became the focus of everyone's attention, with thousands of eyes focused on it.

So, what does this mean?
Has iTunes officially become the official platform for legal digital music downloads? Among all the digital music download platforms, does iTunes stand out?
At present, it is still unknown and it is too early to discuss these things; but what is undoubtedly 100% certain is that thanks to the attention and discussion that "Another Ray of Light" received at the Grammy Awards, when the band announced on August 31 that the digital audio source of this single would be exclusively released on iTunes, the shock to the entire market was clearly audible.

The reason is very simple -

Those listeners who complained, resisted or even boycotted the money-making move of releasing a special deluxe edition of the album "Midsummer Midnight", perhaps they were not fans of the band August 31st at all, and refused to buy an album for a song, have finally found a solution.

Digital music source, $0.99 per song.

Affordable, simple and direct.

If you like the song "Another Light", just download it and listen to it separately.

This is equivalent to the band giving the general public a second choice on August 0.99st. "Smart people" have said that they will not be stupid enough to buy the album. Isn't it better to download a single for $?

However, they are completely unaware that for just one single, they may need to buy an iPod, install and download iTunes, and will be tied to the iPod in the future, which is another consumer trap that is much more expensive than buying a special deluxe edition of an album.

Or maybe they noticed it but didn't care, and used it as an excuse to change their equipment, locking their Walkman in a drawer and embracing a brand new digital audio player.

There was a hustle and bustle, and heated discussions were in full swing.

Not only the general public, but also the news media and music industry professionals have cast their eyes, curious about the development of the matter——

There are at least eighty digital music platforms on the market, if not a hundred. It is a complete mess with good and bad products mixed together, and genuine and pirated products intertwined. No single platform has been able to stand out and organize the market order.

Now, August 31st has chosen to exclusively cooperate with iTunes, so how will the sales be? Can they break through the barriers and create great results, or will they be swept away by the turbulence of the times and disappear in the blink of an eye?

What if “Another Light” fails?

It’s not that I have no confidence in the band August 31st, but the chaos in the current digital music platform makes me lack confidence. Standing in the face of the tide of the times, personal strength is insignificant. How many iTunes users are there?

The number of users on a platform may be only one-tenth or one-twentieth of the entire market. "Another Light" is only released exclusively on iTunes, and the number of digital music downloads may only be able to tap one-tenth of the band's market potential on August 31st. Isn't it doomed to fail?
It is against this backdrop that the release of Another Light has sparked much discussion, even in the face of the massive momentum of the Oscars.

After all, it’s still early for the red carpet, so it won’t hurt to pay attention to the release of the audio source.

At eight o'clock in the morning, the special deluxe edition physical album of "Midsummer Midnight" and the digital audio source download of "Another Ray of Light" were launched at the same time. The whole of North America was silent, and iTunes carried unprecedented attention and hope.

A download button may very well become the focus of a turning point in the times.

It turns out that this may actually happen -

Open the door to a whole new world.

(End of this chapter)