I’d really like to take this back to my original point, which was just that some albums are meant to be listened to as albums – and that artists should have the right to make sure they’re sold that way. I spend a lot of time working with artists who give their all to make the hottest music they can. Sometimes this music works great as a collection of singles. But sometimes the artist puts his heart and soul into creating something that needs to be listened to from start to finish. But hey, I’m a consumer too. I use iTunes and I love it. But I also know that the iTunes model of slicing everything into singles isn’t the best approach for every album. It isn’t just about money, either. Radiohead didn’t offer their new album as individual tracks – you could only download the whole thing, because that’s how they wanted people to experience the music. But they let consumers set their own price. They kicked it the Radiohead way. I’m just saying Jay-Z should be able to kick it Jay-Z’s way. It’s frustrating to hear people saying "Gimme my singles right now!" when alot of the same folks are complaining about how they don’t hear any good albums anymore. I believe that if we give artists a little room to put records out in a way that serves their art, we can really raise the level of the game.

-JD