COPYCENSE

“As blockbuster hits go, the R&B smash “So Sick” is hardly new territory for the 23-year-old singer known as Ne-Yo. Before crooning the song on his own album, he was a co-writer on the 2004 chart-buster “Let Me Love You” for the singer Mario.

“But there’s one big difference: even though fans could hear “So Sick” on the radio for the last two months, they couldn’t buy it at popular online services like iTunes or Rhapsody, or anywhere else for that matter. Breaking from the music industry’s current custom, the singer’s label — Island Def Jam — decided not to sell “So Sick” as an individual song before Ne-Yo’s album hit stores last week.

“There is still plenty of debate over the effect of holding off on sales of the digital single. But if the industry determines that restricting digital sales pays off with bigger album sales, fans may soon find the instant gratification of snapping up new songs online becoming a little less instant.”

Jeff Leeds. Labels Halt Downloads to Increase CD Sales. The New York Times. March 9, 2006.

CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the intersection of business, law and technology. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.