A post today on The Guardian‘s website talks about a recent email that Asthmatic Kitty sent to its mailing list, asking that anyone purchasing digital copies of Sufjan Stevens’s The Age Of Adz please buy from indie upstart Bandcamp or another independent retail site instead of Amazon. Writes Asthmatic Kitty:
We have it on good authority that Amazon will be selling The Age of Adz for a very low price on release date, not unlike they did with Arcade Fire’s recent (and really terrific) The Suburbs. We’re not 100% sure Amazon will do this, but mostly sure. We have mixed feelings about discounted pricing. Like we said, we love getting good music into the hands of good people, and when a price is low, more people buy. A low price will introduce a lot of people to Sufjan’s music and to this wonderful album. For that, we’re grateful. But we also feel like the work that our artists produce is worth more than a cost of a latte.
The low price, as the label notes, has its positives. According to the New York Times, the Amazon price ($3.99) was part of the reason why The Suburbs debuted at number 1:
Amazon’s boost is usually gratefully accepted by artists and record labels. But some record executives also worry that the fire-sale pricing may further devalue recorded music. Merge would not comment on its arrangement with Amazon, but executives at other labels, speaking on condition of anonymity because the deals were private, said that Amazon typically selects an album to promote and sells it at a loss, by paying a label its standard wholesale price — usually about $7 — while offering it to fans for $3 or $4.
I don’t know if Asthmatic Kitty received the same deal from Amazon, but so many of AK’s decisions are made on principle, so wanting fans to buy elsewhere, on principle, wouldn’t be out of character. Their previous Stevens email told readers that his EP would be available on Bandcamp, then on “other corporate entities” like iTunes and Amazon later. Maybe they want to discourage you from buying from these corporations. Maybe they’d like to get paid a little more. Maybe they just want fans to really think about what they’re paying for, regardless of how much the label/artist is getting paid.
The Age Of Adz is out 10/12, which gives you a bit of time to mull it over.
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Interesting. Though I liked Asthmatic Kitty more when they adopted the trailblazing critc-based price structure.
http://asthmatickitty.com/news.php?newsID=372
I pre-ordered a copy via AK when Age of Adz was first offered for pre-sale, so they already made my dollars before Amazon had a chance to get to me. If they continue to snag fans earlier than the “corporate entities” and with sweet deals like an advance mp3 copy followed by the CD upon release date(with low S&H, mind you), then I’ll keep directing my credit card toward Asthmatic Kitty. (In other words, at least among fans I don’t think they have lots to worry about.)
Aren’t lattes $8?
Originally I thought he was angry about the physical release and although I enjoy Sufjan, I thought he was coming off sounding like a passive aggressive bitch (Since I still buy physical, I think $7.99 is the sweet spot for a new CD in the year 2010.) However, I see the conundrum is about digital and this brings to light something I never really deal with in my musical consumption : How much I think is a fair price for digital format. On one hand I want say to Sufjan, let’s be honest: If people are actually bothering to pay ANY money at all for music these days regardless of format, then take that as a compliment. But I think my personal feeling is that just because it’s digital, it shouldn’t be worth any less than physical. It’s a listener’s choice to choose which format they want, and if they want to pay more for something they can’t hold in their hands but supposedly has better quality sound, then let them.
The latte is a better deal. Sufjan’s one-dimensional grasp of electronic music leaves a lot to be desired.
The whole idea of digital music being sold is, in my opinion, absolutely retarded. Music can’t be pricetagged. Not even by critics. What CAN be pricetaged is the CD: the case, the booklet and the disc itself.
Get it right, Soof.
elaborate.
Oh my days, have you heard yourself speak?
another thing making me like Sufjan less. I agree with a lot of the statement regarding why music should be valued because of all that the artist puts into it…but it’s pretty lame (and not very classy) to let Amazon sell your CD at a discount, then to publicly recommend that people buy it elsewhere. You don’t have to let Amazon sell it at all…do you?
I don’t understand that either. Asthmatic Kitty is in a seller relationship with Amazon, knowing full well that they are synonymous with prices that undercut market values. If you don’t want that to happen, then don’t do business with them. I’m sure their reason is that they can’t sell music without retailers like them but I was under the impression that as a record label, you have every right to control the minimum advertised price of your music in stores and online. Maybe Asthmatic Kitty should be blaming themselves for failing to manager their pricing properly instead of just assuming retailers will do what’s best for their business interests also.
good call changing the title of this post from “sufjan thinks age of adz…” we’re talking about a label, here.
I think that’s right. To be honest, the external value of something greatly affects the way people internalize it. If you listen to an album Pitchfork gave a six you are much more likely to feel lukewarm about it than if they gave it an 8. I paid $4 for the Suburbs and enjoyed it mildly. I think for my own sake I’m willing to pop full prize for the Age of Adz for my own enjoyment (that and 320kbps vs. Amazon’s 192..)
I am a daily Pitchfork reader, but it’s just sad that a Pitchfork score decides how you feel about the music you listen to.