Pitchfork

[Posted Friday, October 17th, 2003 04:30:00 Pitchfork Central Time]

Will Bryant and Jeremy C. Baron report:
Matador Records, Kill Rock Stars, and SpinART all announced partnerships with Apple's iTunes Music Store this week, suddenly inundating indie-rock fans with hundreds upon hundreds of legally available downloads, with thousands more songs on the way. Apple had been courting indie labels since June, according to one label source: "Apple wasn't taking on any indies earlier because they weren't set up to handle lots of small deals-- they just wanted to launch with the big five [BMG, EMI, Sony, Universal, and Warner Bros.], whom they also assumed (wrongly) would all be better set up to deliver them metadata and content."

The timing is also fortuitous as Apple just launched its long-awaited Windows version of iTunes yesterday-- the first Apple-authored application for the Windows operating system. Early reports indicate that the Windows version of iTunes works pretty much exactly as it would on a Mac, even slavishly imitating the Mac OS X graphics and overall feel. Users must download and run the application in order to access the iTunes Music Store service, which uses the app's interface as a combination of library manager, digital file player, CD mixer, and browser. Apple has also adjusted their pricing policy, allowing users to download either individual tracks for 99 cents, or entire albums for $9.99-- thus avoiding the snafu of charging, say, $28 for Alien Lanes.

Some of Matador's early offerings include recent releases from Interpol, Cat Power, Yo La Tengo, Stephen Malkmus, Mogwai, Guided By Voices, Pretty Girls Make Graves, Pavement, Pizzicato Five, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Belle and Sebastian, Cornelius, Arab Strap, Matmos, Bardo Pond, Mark Eitzel, Richard Hell, Tommy Keene, Arsonists, and Preston School Of Industry. "In the months ahead, we hope to make exclusive materials available via the iTunes Music Store such as previews from forthcoming studio albums, outtakes, live tracks [and] demo versions," Matador posted in an announcement on the label's website.

Kill Rock Stars also jumped onto the iTunes train this week, with additions from Sleater-Kinney, Cadallaca, and Ronnie Spector among the early offerings. "Very soon the most of the KRS and 5RC catalog will be available this way," Kill Rock Stars enthused on their website. "If you are already an iTunes addict (like all of us here are) you know how psyched we are to be up there." Our search for "Decemberists" came back, "Did you mean 'Remembering'?" but hopefully more will be available soon.

SpinART already has albums from Frank Black, The Pixies, Apples In Stereo, Clem Snide, Echo and the Bunnymen, Richard Thompson, Kaito UK, and Bis on the iTunes service, with more releases being added in the coming weeks.

Indies' rush to align with iTunes coincides with a massive fee shakeup at the popular eMusic service, which has provided indie-rock fans with their MP3 fix for a $10 monthly fee for several years. Last week, subscribers were told that future downloading will be restricted to 40 files, unless users step up to a premium service which would afford 300 monthly downloads for $50.

Though the price hike has many eMusic users crying foul, indie labels are expected to continue offering downloads through eMusic and any other popular service that offers a legal alternative to peer-to-peer networks like Gnutella and Kazaa. "This is [a] good opportunity to reach people who may have heard of the bands on Matador and Beggars but haven't had a chance to actually hear them, or prefer to shop for music online [rather] than in stores," Matador spokesman Ben Goldberg told Pitchfork. "As with any label, we want to be as available as possible-- so any chance we have to have our releases more accessible, we'll take."