According to Mashable, last week Live Nation and iTunes beat EMI to the digital download punch and unveiled their new live concert recordings service “Live Nation Presents.”
From a fan standpoint being able to download your favorite concerts seems like a good option to have, that is, of course, once Live Nation starts filling up their iTunes catalogue. Because, currently, the pickings are pretty slim. I imagine it’ll get more beefy in time for the holiday shopping season.
But ever since I read this story all types of questions have been popping up about the pros and cons of this Live Nation iTunes partnership.
Here’s what I’ll be digging deeper into as this story develops:
1. Since these concerts will be available in video and audio, to what extent will they be edited, or even censored in real-time?
2. Will fans be getting the recorded concert experience they’ve paid for? Meaning, since these shows are recordings that have taken place at Live Nation venues, what sort of enhancements will Live Nation and iTunes make to the recordings?
3. Will Live Nation and iTunes start offering ticket bundling packages where you could buy the ticket and the recording together all at once and once the concert is over you can go download it?
4. Is this a good thing for live music fans and bands long-term? Live concert bootlegging has a pretty storied history (good and bad), so what impact will this have on that legacy and relationship between bands, fans and record labels? What sort of recording rights are venue and bands signing up for?
5. The biggest quesitons for me on this story was wondering if this is yet another move that puts us one step closer to a monolithic live music industry. What will happen if the Live Nation Ticketmaster mergergoes through? Then will we have the largest promoter, ticket seller and music retailer all working together? Is that what we really want?
As soon as they have some more concerts to download, I’ll follow up with you on the quality and content. I’ll work on getting answers to some of those questions, too.
How about you? Have you bought any yet? Will you buy any?