Ok, amazon had a major catastrophe on Monday when they gave away Lady Gaga‘s new album for 99 cents on download. The songs came one at at time over a five or six hour period. So why not do it again? Today, “Born this Way” is again 99 cents. And guess what? It’s clogged up the amazon system. I just bought (! yes bought!) the “Rise Above” download from “Spider Man: Turn off the Dark” featuring Bono, The Edge, and Reeve Carney. It’s not here, and it’s not coming any time soon. Under “Your Account–Digital Orders,” “Rise Above” is listed as “being processed.” It’s just one track! As a regular amazon customer, I can tell you this is not the way their system works.
More importantly: is this really to promote amazon’s Cloud service, or is it to pump up sales of “Born this Way”? When the charts are done on Tuesday, how is “Born this Way” going to be counted when its competitors–principally Adele‘s “21”–were priced several dollars higher? Interscope may claim a record number of sales for “Born this Way,” but hundreds of thousands will have only cost that 99 cents. “Born this Way” is going to need an asterisk when it hits the record books.
PS Both Lady Gaga and “Spider Man” are on UMG’s Jimmy Iovine label, Interscope.
