"Bonus tracks"...a rant
Posted: Mon Mar 21, 2005 10:54 pm
Alright....i've kind of had it up to here with what the record companies consider "bonus tracks". There was a time when "bonus tracks" really meant something. Remember vinyl?? Well, vinyl held less space for songs than a cassette. Cassette often, thus, had "bonus songs"...songs that weren't on the vinyl. Then, when CDs came in to the mix, CDs often had "bonus tracks"...tracks that weren't on the vinyl to entice people to either repurchase the album on CD, or pay the extra few bucks for the CD over the vinyl. Nowadays, cassettes have gone the way of the vinyl, and are disappearing from store shelves, so all that is available is the CD version. Sometimes they release a CD with a "bonus CD" of extra tracks...o.k., those are "bonus tracks". But nowadays with CD capacity reaching 80 minutes, I should be granted 80 minutes worth of songs, "bonus" or not, for my $16.98 list price (I NEVER pay more than $10.99!) And then they've got these single CD releases with the "bonus tracks" ON the CD. Ummm..."bonus" from what?? THEN...they sell CDs on iTunes with "bonus tracks" advertised...but they're about the same length as an unbonused album. As a matter of fact, I saw a few single song CDs with a "bonus track" listed...yet the price of the single is $1.98...so for the same price as two songs you get...two songs.
I think it's all just smoke and mirrors to make the consumer feel they're getting more.
I think it's all just smoke and mirrors to make the consumer feel they're getting more.