A Rant: Damn You International Record Labels!

Being the music obsessive I am, after reading all my usual blogs, devouring several art sections, and endlessly watch YouTube music videos, I go on to other random musings. Tonight something caused me to look up the U.K. top 40 chart. While perusing last week’s top 40, I started YouTubing the artists I’d never heard and eventually I came to the last band on the list at number forty, Scouting for Girls. Their song, “I Wish I Was Like James Bond” landed them in the position and it’s totally catchy (I wish I was James Bond/Just for the day/kissing all the girls/blow the bad guys away.) and well deserving of making it to the top 40—especially since James Bond premiered this week.

Indubitably, my little-British-boy-loving-heart was hooked and I wanted to see more of these euro-pop stars. Much to my dismay, YouTube didn’t want to have any of it. The next video I clicked on only resulted in the same video replaying. After a quick moment I realized there was a thin red bar that appeared at the top of the screen with the message “This video is not available in your country.” What the heck?! I’m pretty sure this is not China and British pop music videos are not meant to be restricted in America. I clicked on another video and the same red bar and message appeared. Then I clicked another, same thing. My interest for this adorable band was going to fade fast unless I saw another video.

I went to their official website and thankfully, the streaming was not blocked in America—whew. I watched all the videos and for the record, Scouting for Girls are kind of like Jack’s Mannequin with accents. Definitely worth checking out, even if only to feel gloriously pretentious that your music palate has exceeded that of American pop and you must look oversees to satiate your taste. But anyways, their videos were cute, the songs were clever and I wanted to invest in these Brits.

I opened iTunes and searched the store for ‘Scouting for Girls’. All I got in return were some karaoke and party mixes that had nothing to do with the band. I thought to myself , “How could this band not be on iTunes? If they’re top 40 in the U.K. they MUST be on iTunes!” I returned to their website and clicked on a ‘Download here…’ link. A new window popped up and asked me to ‘Choose and Application’. I chose the only option on the list, iTunes, and when the program reappeared on my screen, along with it came the message that the album I chose is only available in the U.K. iTunes store, so I must switch stores. No problem. I clicked ‘Change Store.’ The album magically appeared for £7.99. I clicked ‘Buy Album’ but was rejected immediately. A new message appeared explaining that my account is only valid in the U.S. iTunes store and that I would need to return back to the U.S. store to make the purchase. As I already knew, the album is not available in the U.S. store and so of course, I was now sad and album-less.

I sat at my computer for a moment in a state of utter confusion. Just this week, XM Radio and Sirius officially merged on the airwaves to become Sirius XM. Every person with Satellite radio now has access to the channel BBC Radio One—the U.K.’s hits played all-day, commercial free, all across America! Clearly, the music world is shrinking, yet the record labels aren’t keeping up with the times. While XM Sirius has a station specifically to spread Britain’s music overseas, my IP address is haulting me from getting in on all the fun!

Who really cares if Scouting for Girl’s album was only released in the U.K.? At least make the mp3’s available universally online. Also, don’t get me wrong, I understand that there are constraints with getting a CD packaged and distributed and having the proper American label to represent an artist. But, I’m not saying that all albums should be released the same day universally. What I am saying is that the Internet successfully connects the whole world. While digital sales stay on the rise, it might be wise to invest in releasing albums universally through digital sale sources, once they become available in one country. Seriously, as far as iTunes goes, U.K. record labels can reap in the profits all the same—no American record deal necessary.

Now that I’ve ranted out my frustration, I will close with a message to International record labels: it’s time to connect technologically, because if you don’t, and I come across that ‘This video is not available in your country’ message again, I’ll be very very sad, and I don’t think anyone really wants that.