iTunes Single of the Week: Part I (Bad Apple)

There are few ways for new bands to get recognized on a scale as large as having their name and a free track posted on iTunes for a week. Then why would iTunes use this power for bad? In a two-part piece of investigatory blogging, I plan to uncover the reasons behind what makes the "iTunes Single of the Week" such a miserable failure.

Since its rise to the height of the music-player world in the early 2000s, iTunes has transformed from a gawky list of tunes to a sleek, sexy coverflow of our music libraries. iTunes has overcome Windows Media Player, WinAmp (the pre-2002 media choice), and RealPlayer to become king of the mediaplaying world. What was once just a music player can now also allow us to download albums, preview them before we buy them, rent movies, buy movies, watch television, and access an array of free media that we can get nowhere else.

On paper, iTunes is a glorious invention for the age of overaccess (see: iPurgatory). In practice, though, there are two fundamental flaws in the user experience of the iTunes Music Store (iTMS) when attempting to be exposed to new music.

1: The 30-second preview or sample.
When you decide to explore your options before buying an album, the iTMS often allows you to listen to a brief clip of the song(s) that you are about to buy. Unequivocally, these are 30-seconds taken from the middle of the song. I admit, Apple would be hard pressed to provide potential listeners and buyers with the entire track, but it is often unfair to both the listening party and the musicians selling their music to include only 30 seconds of each song. At the same time, allowing listeners unlimited music privileges would ultimately render previews pointless altogether, as no one would bother to buy the music. Perhaps a longer preview of, dare I say, an entire minute would be more appropriate? It is hard to make judgments about songs and albums when you've only heard small out-of-context snippets. The preview already in existence is better than nothing, but doubling it might even educate listeners better before they spend their money (and what major corporation wouldn't want to do that?).

To its credit, iTMS does offer valuable news information, such as the annual 'State of the Union Address,' or Brian William's exclusive NBC Nightly News interview with then-departing Prime Minister Tony Blair, and even Stephen Colbert's revolutionary lampoon of Asshole -- er, um, President -- Bush at the 2006 Correspondents' dinner. Musically though, and music should be a priority for the iTunes Music Store, there is much to be desired. Which leads me to my next point...

2: The iTMS free weekly downloadables; most notably the 'iTunes Single of the Week' (not including the also free 'Latin Single of the Week').
Every Tuesday, iTMS gives users a wide array of free downloadable material that ranges from TV pilot episodes to LOST previews to the only worthwhile freebie, the 'Discovery Download.' The free pilots are usually pretty awful-to-mediocre looking shows (i.e. New Amsterdam, Journeyman...really any quality FOX programming), but the 'Discovery Download' is often a gem. Old school blues, experimental jazz, Brazillian samba-pop...I'll admit that I've gotten some valuable additions to my library from the 'Discovery.' However, iTMS doesn't advertise this free feature at all. It falls into the background, overshadowed by the likes of free TV shows and, especially, the 'Single of the Week.'

The Single started out as a great way for small, independent artists to get some sort of national (even international) recognition. Can you think of a better way to build a fanbase than to have billions of people viewing your iTMS featured song? There is no radio station that reaches as many people as iTunes. I can remember a time, years ago, when I consistently checked my iTunes every Tuesday to give the Single a listen or two. In fact, many may not remember this, but Feist and her song "One Evening" from her debut album Let It Die were featured on the 'Single of the Week' years before the iPod Nano commercial featuring "1 2 3 4" made her a superstar (more on her in Part II). The Single used to be worth the attention it got on the front page of the iTMS. But over the past year-plus, iTunes has severely lowered its 'Single of the Week' standards. The genres are now invariably noisy rap/hip-hop/electronic or popcheeseacoustica, as evidenced by the fact that of the Singles thus far in 2008 and through the entirety of 2007, all but 5 were able to fall under the broad and conveniently all-encompassing labels of Alternative (whatever that means), Pop, Rock (which inexplicably includes Matt Nathanson), Hip-Hop/Rap/R&B/Soul, or Electronic/Dance. Is it possible that no music has been made for 15 months that breaks the boundaries of these genres? If you've ever been to a music festival or a jazz club or a jam session of any sort, you know quite certainly that the answer is absolutely not. There is a plethora of unconventional music being played and recorded and put on stage at clubs around the world, and it is the responsibility of one of the largest remaining music retailers to expose us to it all!

I haven't downloaded a free Single from iTMS in well over a year. If you look at the user reviews, which one would expect to be quite padded by the fact that the general public has Godawful taste in music (see: Nickelback), most of the songs that I've refused to download for free (the fact that they are for free and I refuse to download and keep them should be telling enough) have been given ratings of only 1 or 2 stars out of a possible 5. With the opportunity to expose millions to a musically viable and creative new artist, you'd think that Apple would pull their heads out of their asses and give us something worth listening to.
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Part II is soon to come...