The once occasional, and rather cool practice of an album re-release or same time release of a so-called ‘Special Edition’. Now it’s just standard and rather shameful.
I’ll be honest; I very rarely buy albums these days. What with the advent of free music through Deezer, last.fm and the like, I don’t see the need to spend the cash I seem to so very infrequently earn on music I can otherwise hear for free. Also, I have had something of a retro realisation that I’m in love with a bit of Radio 2 over the course of the day.
However, this year sees the return of 2 of my favourite bands to the music scene: Garbage and Keane (alright, alright… don’t judge!) have forced me to slightly reconsider my physical copy drought. In fact, I have pre-ordered both. Although, for some reason, instead of just ‘buying the 2 albums’ I discovered I had a rather difficult decision; I had to pick between 6 (Yes, SIX) versions of 2 releases.
Now, at first, all I could see was a difference in price; for Keane I had a choice of 4:
- The standard edition: £9.99
- The extended edition: £12.00
- The deluxe edition: £25
- The Strangeland Edition: £40
Now HERE is a deluxe edition! Different colours and EVERYTHING. Red cover definitely worth the extra £2, much more bright and vibrant... although black and white would go with my decor...
And for Garbage, upon investigating the pre order, I was in for a real treat, I could spend £10 on the black on white covered standard edition, OR for an extra £2 I could get the white on red covered, ‘Deluxe’ edition. Wow! A brighter colour for an extra £2; I’m in!
So of course, I had to investigate these pricing differences further. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not backward, I’m not naive, and I am aware, that the majority of the time, these new-fangled ‘exciting editions’ of albums contain extra tracks, extra material and the like. My problem lies with why artists and indeed, the majority of the time, labels, feel compelled to do this.
Upon further investigation, I discovered that the deluxe/extended editions from both bands did indeed include 4 bonus tracks apiece. Excellent. AND, in the case of Keane’s seemingly more extravagantly priced releases of ‘Strangeland’ you received a DVD of videos, making of’s and concert material, as well as a coffee table book of images from the band, taken over the course of the recording as well as a short story from none other
You can pick which edition: They didn't even bother with alternate artwork! Cheapskates
than William Boyd! The things you can get from music nowadays. And with the £40 top o’ the range edition of the album, Keane were also offering a, and I quote, ‘strictly limited edition, hand-numbered screen-print to commemorate the release of ‘Strangeland’. Printed on 250 gsm archival paper, this print is exclusively available from the Keanemusic.com web store. Size: 12 inch x 12 inch’.
Now, that’s great! For super fans and the like. But again, why is there a need for this? Why do labels release several versions of an album? I could perhaps get on board with 2 editions at a push; one if you’re relatively new/just discovered the band and aren’t sure, but want to give them a try. One if you’re die hard, love them to pieces and want every single bit of music you can get your hands on (myself and Garbage have this sort of relationship). However, as I stated at the start of this article, with the advent of the internet, social media, Youtube, last.fm, Deezer and the astronomical rise of Spotify, you don’t need to pay that extra amount to hear these tracks. So why bother? Once upon a time, these deluxe editions flew off the shelves, because fans could NOT hear these tracks anywhere else. However, as Keane have done, labels and artists are resorting to ever increasingly bizarre offers to get fans to part with the larger handful of their change. What’s sad, is that music is becoming ever bigger in peoples’ lives due to the ease that it can be accessed, the rise of independent and unsigned artists that perform on Youtube and Facebook, and yet labels still feel a need to only offer fans a complete album from their favourite artists, if they’re willing to part with the maximum amount of cash. It’s quite sad really. Surely now, with piracy as it is, CD sales slackening, labels should be clammering to get fans and potential fans to part with cash, not bandwidth. So to me, it seems prudent to give fans these essentially complete albums, instead of the half effort they currently get, for the same price. Correct me if I’m wrong.
What blackens my view of the music industry even further is the shameful and frankly appalling action of ‘re-releases’.
This practice, as you will all of course know, requires fans to go out and buy an album, and then, a few months later, instead of being given another album, or even an EP (extended play) they are given the same album with ‘[insert fancy word to do with the artist or album here] edition’ plastered on the end. It’s cheap, requires minimal publicity or promotion and offers big returns. Win win win all round. Oh, nope, wait, not if you’re a fan. As then you have to pay.
This payment angers me massively. Not only are fans asked to pay more in the first place for their “special edition” of an album on
OH MY GOD! New Katy Perry Album! I... oh wait. You might well pout Miss Perry, living your Teenage Dream with your fans parents cash. (Bint).
release date (let’s say £12, that seems like an industry standard). No, they are also asked to then pay more at a later date for the same LP. This is normally either £12-15, justified usually with the inclusion of around 4 ‘new’ tracks or ‘remixes’. So that’s around £4-5 per track, if you already own a copy of that now defunct ‘special edition’. That’s more than you’d pay for a single, and even then, you get 1-3 b-sides on top of your favourite radio tune.
Fantastic, I think I’ve just exploded with excitement. I mean, it’s such orgasmic value isn’t it?
There’s only one thing that could perhaps make this farce even worse. And that would be if these re-releases were aimed at teen pop artists. Artists whose album sales largely come from the bank of mum and dad and not from the pockets of their younger fans. God, wouldn’t that be something unbelievably shameful.
Hmm, good thing that Katy Perry, Christina Aguilera, Lady Gaga, Nicki Minaj, Britney Spears, Madonna, Beyonce, Miley Cyrus don’t EVER release these sort of music grabbing monstrosities isn’t it? Especially not recently, with climates and parents incomes squeezed as hard as they currently are *cough Nicki Minaj*, *cough-cough Katy Perry*, *cough Lady-coughing-Gaga*.
Even the Queen. Even the QUEEN has released 2 editions of her latest work. Although i will admit, she might be pushing 50, but the woman can still make a decent record, and look Bloody good!
The sad fact is that with actual music sales still much lower than they should be, and artists having to make their money through tours and merchandise, labels do resort to increasingly ridiculous tactics to break big fans, still small banks. Look at the recent Biffy Clyro album: £200 for one version (yes, that is a 2 with TWO zeros after it), which included a piece of the capes worn by the models on the album cover (and believe me, it was a distinctly small piece of cloth, one of my friends made the mistake of parting with a week’s wage).
Now, I am most disheartened to admit, that as I said, I love the 2 bands that caused me to write this article. So I bought the deluxe editions of both CD’s (well, not quite for Keane’s I went for the extended edition). Luckily, Amazon was offering them both at the same price as the now almost defunct standard edition of their respective albums. So naturally human instinct for a bargain kicked in; more content for the same price? I was there.
Now, I am distinctly hoping that this practice dies a death, and dies a death soon. Music is important to people in different ways and on different levels, but important none the less. To limit or even deny people of music: to get them though difficult periods, break ups, passings, losses and to celebrate the more joyful moments simply through greed and quite frankly a lack of something I believe has been largely absent from the industry for a while; creativity and originality has to stop. I am pleased to say that I have seen an increase of EP’s in my new music trawls recently, although not from the teen pop crowd, it is pleasing to see a return to originality and a bit of hard work.
Music industry, take note: people do not mind waiting 2-3 years for a fantastic album, look at Adele. What people are now wising up to is blatant cashing in. Instead of filling a gap between albums, here is a thought: let the gap and demand for new music grow, let artists create something new, ground breaking and fantastic instead of the same old-same old. People aren’t interested. Take the time to scout, find raw, exciting talent. Give another budding hopeful the chance to shine.
The music industry isn’t about money. Music should be an art. Art takes time. And art doesn’t have a standard edition and a deluxe edition if you part with more cash.
thethoughtsofjamie 