Spring Break
Check it Out, Vol. 6: You matter more than you realize, not for much longer
Ruben Casas
Issue date: 12/5/08 Section: Diversions
There was a time (not that long ago, actually), when you had to wait for music (gasp!) to be released. Most of us are so used to knowing that the music we want is just there - even before the artist "officially" releases it - we just have to download it.
Our parents' generation hasn't had it so good: a lot of the artists and bands they listened (still listen?) to have had a harder time crossing the digital divide. Think Led Zeppelin, Metallica, The Who, The Eagles and yes, The Beatles. In most cases, these bands have slowly but recently made the switch, none more notoriously than The Beatles.
For decades, the digital rights to The Beatles' music was some of the hardest artistic real estate to come by, so that not even monolithic corporate entities like Fox's "American Idol" could touch it. This changed when Martin "Marty" N. Bandier, the top executive at the music publishing company that owns the John Lennon-Paul McCartney copyrights, took over last year. Since then Sony/ATV Music Publishing has loosened its constraints so much that a two-part episode of "American Idol" last March featured nothing but Beatles music.
The reason for the change is simple: allowing "American Idol" to feature The Beatles' music over two nights is "a wonderful way to get this legendary music in front of an audience of 30 million people in an exciting way," Bandier said. But it's not just any 30 million people we're talking about here; it's not the 30 million people wishing they could download Led Zeppelin's IV from iTunes, for example. It's a very special 30 million people.
It's you.
It's entirely possible that (when the new season rolls around) you'll get a text message from your mom asking you who you're going to vote for on whatever week's episode of "American Idol" (or if you have that mom, telling you who you should vote for), or that you'll both chat about the performances the morning after, but we all know that the "American Idol" producers, who ironically enough are probably your mom's age - maybe they even went to school together - aren't putting the show on for her. This show's all for you, baby.
Our parents' generation hasn't had it so good: a lot of the artists and bands they listened (still listen?) to have had a harder time crossing the digital divide. Think Led Zeppelin, Metallica, The Who, The Eagles and yes, The Beatles. In most cases, these bands have slowly but recently made the switch, none more notoriously than The Beatles.
For decades, the digital rights to The Beatles' music was some of the hardest artistic real estate to come by, so that not even monolithic corporate entities like Fox's "American Idol" could touch it. This changed when Martin "Marty" N. Bandier, the top executive at the music publishing company that owns the John Lennon-Paul McCartney copyrights, took over last year. Since then Sony/ATV Music Publishing has loosened its constraints so much that a two-part episode of "American Idol" last March featured nothing but Beatles music.
The reason for the change is simple: allowing "American Idol" to feature The Beatles' music over two nights is "a wonderful way to get this legendary music in front of an audience of 30 million people in an exciting way," Bandier said. But it's not just any 30 million people we're talking about here; it's not the 30 million people wishing they could download Led Zeppelin's IV from iTunes, for example. It's a very special 30 million people.
It's you.
It's entirely possible that (when the new season rolls around) you'll get a text message from your mom asking you who you're going to vote for on whatever week's episode of "American Idol" (or if you have that mom, telling you who you should vote for), or that you'll both chat about the performances the morning after, but we all know that the "American Idol" producers, who ironically enough are probably your mom's age - maybe they even went to school together - aren't putting the show on for her. This show's all for you, baby.
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