Get out of the Maybach, stop drinking the champagne…do you have ANY idea how people listen to music anymore?

People haven’t listened to albums from start to finish since the death of vinyl. And, even in the vinyl days, we’d get up from the couch and needle-drop to skip lame tracks, to hear only what we wanted.

But then we were released, by the CD. Sure, we might have played the disc from beginning to end a few times. Back before seventy minutes of storage meant seventy minutes of music, and it was all so incomprehensible.

And then there only WAS one good track per album. Maybe two or three. But by then we weren’t even bothering to pay, we just stole what we wanted. But, if our conscience got to us, or we wanted the artist to get paid (heh-heh), we went to iTunes, and purchased what we desired for a buck. Or bought the whole album if we were so inclined. But even then we didn’t listen to the whole album again and again, certainly not in order.

My iPod is permanently on shuffle. How about yours?

And, I get into albums track by track.

I hate being dictated to. And so does everybody else.

Wow are you out of touch Jay-Z… You even want to tell people how to LISTEN to your record? Even though you’ve got no power to do this?

Yes, the only person Jay-Z is hurting by refusing to sell his album on iTunes is himself. As a record exec, you’d think he’d be aware of the incredible percentage of sales that are now files… But no, Jay-Z wants to live in the nineties, when he still counted.

He wants back in so desperately. He doesn’t want to be a suit, he wants to be a STAR! He got inspired, he cut a new album… That’s not gonna burn up the sales charts no matter HOW good it is… Because no one generates that kind of sales anymore.

You’d think he’d take a bigger view. That it’s about footprint. Getting as many people as possible to hear your music.

Where are we going to hear your music Jay? On MTV? Like anybody watches that channel for music.

And radio’s no longer your friend. Your last album proved that.

But blame Steve Jobs. He just ain’t selling it the way people want it.

As a matter of fact, he isn’t. Everybody should be able to check out your music with a low threshold, since you’re getting no airplay or people aren’t paying attention. They need to be able to hear your music on a whim. This is called authorizing P2P. Well, P2P is already authorized, it’s just that people aren’t PAYING FOR IT!

Why does the music industry want to exclude the casual user? We need the people scared away from trading to consume. We need the people who want legal files to be able to pay for them.

Instead of this hissy fit.

Where IS your album available Jay? We’ve got to go to our nearest physical retailer? Where exactly is that? There’s no record store in my neighborhood. And I’m not going to Best Buy for one disc, my life’s too short and I don’t need a refrigerator.

Oh, I get it, I’m supposed to go on Amazon, where you’re breaking Apple’s monopoly. By selling unprotected MP3s.

Is this about money or art? Is this about the whole album or getting people to pay for the entire album?

Beating up Steve Jobs is like pressuring cassette replicators. Or Gateway Computer. Neither is the problem! The problem isn’t Steve Jobs… Raise prices at the iTunes Store, make people buy entire albums, that’s gonna save the business? Are you DREAMING!

And, like I said, people are gonna cherry-pick your album anyway Jay. Why not an edict to every radio station that they can only play the entire "American Gangster". You’re not gonna let them play a single, are you?