Latest industry scheme: flash drive records
It seems that every time it becomes a little more obvious that digital music downloads are pushing methods of physical distribution out of the picture, the music industry comes up with yet another ridiculous, wallet-raping scheme to get you to hand over money for something physical. The ethics of this alone are obvious: even if you are still a climate change sceptic, there’s no denying that selling factory-line physical products is wasteful when there are digital alternatives that are just as good (if not better).
After a four year gap, Matchbox Twenty is one of the first to support the latest record industry scam: flash drive records. For $10, you get the equivalent of a CD single plus a bit of extra content - kind of like the special features on a DVD, which of course, you’ll never look at - even though you swear you’ll get there one day.
If you thought $10 for a single was bad, Matchbox Twenty’s Exile On Mainstream goes for $35, and you can only buy it from Best Buy. Ouch. I’d buy an album on USB for US$35, but only if it had an album of high quality, lossless recordings (high quality, of course, in terms of the sound itself and the music itself) and a few film clips or good live footage.
I don’t know exactly what’s on Matchbox Twenty’s flash drive, but knowing the mainstream music industry, probably nothing worth dishing out US$35 for. A stack of MP3s and a film clip, I’m guessing - or am I being too cynical? Matchbox would do well to take advice from their forefathers in this matter.
To the RIAA, good luck with the latest scam.
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