German Heavy Metal band Scorpions November 4th, 2011 album, came and went with very little fanfare. And for good reason. Half re-recordings of their hits, half rock classic covers like "Ruby Tuesday", it was an exercise in treading water.
So why on Tuesday did it find itself on both ITunes and Spotify's new and noteworthy? It was neither new nor noteworthy, so why would two separate music delivery systems decide to give it a second life?
It would seem to me that the reason is self-evident. The marketing arm of the label gave money to the marketing arm of the ITunes and Spotify. And that is fine to me… or at least it would be, if the distributors were upfront about it. We all know about the man behind the man paying the man, we all assume it is some form of legal payola and we all guess that major acts don't have to do it.
But we also assume there is a backchannel of influence peddling going on. Maybe not ALWAYS as unimaginative and clumsy as money changing hands (though that is certainly the underlining point of PARTNERS WITH ITUNES), but exclusivity, Itunes Sessions, all that stuff is wheels being greased.
As for Scorpions… that sure smells like money changing hands to me.