Found something interesting today… an advertisement for the “iTunes Pass.”
Here’s what it is as explained by iTunes:
Now, with the purchase of an iTunes Pass, you can get new music and special bonus content from your favorite artists delivered as soon as it’s available. Ratitude is the seventh studio album (soon to be known as “the one with the dog on the cover”) from power-rock band and all-around pop geniuses Weezer. Maybe you’re already dancing in the streets to the strains of first single, “(If You’re Wondering If I Want You To) I Want You To,” but you just wait—there’s plenty more radness to come. The purchase of this iTunes Pass will give you the group’s upcoming Ratitude album, videos, live tracks, remixes, bonus tracks, and other untold riches.
From the look of the purchase page on iTunes, it seems like the pass will currently deliver two songs each week, for a three week period. 5 of these songs you can only get by purchasing the pass, which is a hefty $19.99 (considering there are 6 songs).
I dig this because it’s a digital take on the super fan album packaging deal made popular by NIN and Radiohead. Give the fans something limited-edition, exclusive, and collectible, and they will pay for it. We recently put this into effect with Jack Johnson’s latest DVD / Album pre-order for En Concert. The top end package is a steep $75, but well worth it for the super fans that want everything Jack has to offer. The $75 Collector’s Deluxe + Vinyl Package offers:
CD + DVD + 60 PAGE BOOKLET
COLLECTORS VINYL
DOWNLOAD OF THE COMPLETE ALBUM AND 2 BONUS TRACKS
(20 TRACKS TOTAL)
LIMITED EDITION EN CONCERT POSTER
(1ST 500 SIGNED BY JACK)
GRAB BAG T-SHIRT
What I DON’T like about the iTunes Pass is the ambiguity of the final product. Using lines like “other untold riches” makes it seems like they haven’t thought of what else they are going to give away yet. They just want to sell it to you now without coming up with the content, but who knows? Maybe fans want to buy a mystery box.
