Estelle removed from iTunes

Estelle

London singer suffers chart fall after the move

Sep 1, 2008
7 Comments
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Estelle has seen her latest album, 'Shine', and single 'American Boy', plummet in the US charts after they were removed from download site iTunes in the country.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Estelle's record label, Warner, removed the releases from iTunes in an attempt to encourage fans to buy physical copies of them instead – which earn more money for the company.

'American Boy' had been sitting at number 11 in the US Billboard singles chart, but it fell to number 37 following its removal from iTunes.

'Shine' dropped to number 159 in the albums chart, after peaking at number 38.

A spokesperson for Warner said that the move was part of strategies "uniquely tailored to each artist and their fanbase in an effort to optimise revenues and promote long-term artist development".

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Comments (7)

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milo2020

Sep 1, 2008

proof if it were needed that the music industry is run by complete idiots

six6sixwitch

Sep 1, 2008

I still don't understand how people are still suckers to be hunting out deals with the majors when they do such BLATANT moves as this to FUCK their artists....

SmokeMyCorgan

Sep 1, 2008

Because, six6sixwitch, if you check most people's record collections, you'll find that financially successful artists tend to be on majors. The DIY ethic can only take you so far - even in this day and age.

FreddyNietzsche

Sep 1, 2008

Fuck Warner.

wonkeykong

Sep 1, 2008

how did the industry allow a computer company to dominate the next stage of music sales??itunes have way too much power. this time it was warner who pulled the plug but itunes know that they can fuck up any artist, any track they like by removing it from their system. gives them way too much leverage.the majors can go fuck themselves but this won't be good news for independent labels. its time for smaller digital distributors to challenge itunes position, for everyones sake

loveformusic

Sep 1, 2008

I think ALL methods of legal distribution should be encouraged and allowed to co-exist. Be they, converntional record/music stores, mail order, or online. As long as they don't ruin one or the other - I say, educate people as to WHAT they're buying then, give them the choice.Perhaps, Apple/iTunes cut of the sale is too high for Warner on this project? They may have to respect the fact that, depsite the lack of great audio quality, most music customers are happy to buy mp3s (instead of cds), these days. Sadly, they either don't relaise it's of a lesser quality or, if they do, they'd rather have convenience (portability) over sound quality. Ironic, considering the advancement in audio technology, since the cd came along 23 years ago. DVD-A, SA-CD, Blu-Ray are all more than capable of handling high quality audio. Even the recording industry are using higher bit-rates - 24/32 bit / 96Khz (to record) then downgrading to 16bit / 44.1Khz (for cd), then squishing it down further for mp3/aac/wma.My girlfriend has only just realised that the music she buys from iTunes is NOT the same quality as a cd! However, she was pleased to learn (albeit belatedly) that junodownload etc offered the option to buy .wav files. I doubt most could a) hear the difference, b) care, c) willing to pay 50p/25cents more for a .wav file. Then there's broadband speeds/isp download allowances to contend with - that's another hurdle entirely!Final though for Estelle...Richard Branson (Virgin) and Chris Blackwell (Island) would sell records and tapes out of the back of their cars. I dare her to ask the CEO of Warner Music if they'd do the same for her and other artists?!