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New Formats

Apparently there are new digital album formats on the way - as early as November. The idea behind it is to boost album sales and not just single sales. While this is something I can get behind I am 100% sure the execution will be something that no one in their right mind wants to be involved with. The forthcoming CDX format will reportedly contain:

...a totally brand-new look, with a launch page and all the different options. When you click on it you're not just going to get the ten tracks, you're going to get artwork, the video and mobile products.

That sounds a whole lot like what we used to call "jukeboxes" that labels developed to promote an album before it's release. Here is an example - it has pretty much all the same things that are described in that blurb but it's a website, not a file format. I have zero interest in downloading an executable file for every album I want to listen to.

Enter Apple / iTunes - who are possibly developing their own rival format called Cocktail which will contain much the same thing but, obviously, integrate itself with iTunes much more.

While I can't help but think it's a great thing for labels to be pushing albums more than singles I think this is putting the cart before the horse. Why not spend some of this R&D money on actually developing an artist to make a completely incredible album? The problem with the major label music industry does not lie in the delivery format, it lies within a Singles Driven market. If they'd just put more emphasis on making an actual album and not just a series of singles with some filler and I think they'd find that sales would increase.

But that's just a theory... Via artist paid.