I love our little pop-princess, but of late I’m feeling a little Jaded.
First there was the TV special “Money Can’t Buy” a couple of years back, a one off show, never to be repeated, never to go on sale. You can now buy the DVD! Sure it’s not called “Money Can’t Buy” anymore now known as “Body Language Live” and it’s out there for your money to buy.
Then there is the special “White Diamond” which Village Cinema said there would only be one showing of. That they also said would only be seen in Cinema, never to be released on DVD. Guess what. The first (and supposedly only) session sold out quite quickly, so a new session was announced, and in the next couple of weeks, Kylie’s Showgirl – The Homecoming tour DVD will be packaged with White Diamond for sale.
Then there is the one thing that I hate more than anything. Album sales and pre-sales. I’ve ranted before about the fact that in these days of digital distribution there is absolutely no reason to restrict the sale of any album from anyone who wants to buy it. The record companies are stiffing their artists trying to keep their regional businesses afloat.
I know that if the companies did as I thought they should a lot of people would be out of work. For instance Sony BMG could have just one main office for distribution rather than one in every sales region around the world. It would save them money and mean I wouldn’t have to wait for ages for music I like, or buy it from an international retailer like Amazon.
With that said and the screen shot above, you can see that Kylie’s new album “X” is available for pre-sale on the UK music store. But not here in Australia. For goodness sake she’s a freakin’ Aussie. You’d think we should get to register first.
I know that most of this is not fair to lump on Kylie, as a lot of it would be driven by her record company… but this Album is being released on her own label KBD so I guess she is running the show.
Of course the biggest disappointment for a fan is Kylie’s recent launch of KylieKonnect. A mobile-based social network which seems to be (from reading the terms and conditions) more about sending premium content at a premium rate than it is about getting Kylie fans together.
It, like having a fragrance, line of clothing and your own bottled water, are just grabs to make money from the “Kylie” brand. It’s not about the music. It’s about getting every penny you can from your fans while you still have them.
Going on this huge rant doesn’t mean I won’t buy the album when it is finally released here. I’m a fan… always have been so I’ll be one of the first in line. I just wish that artists and record companies alike would respect the fans a little more and not abuse their loyalty quite so much.