Joss Stone

I watch television every day while I'm on the treadmill. Usually, this means that I'm watching MTV or VH1 with no sound, listening to my iPod. Every once in a while, I'll plug my headphones into the treadmill's headphone jack to listen to one or two songs, but usually not. Gods forbid that VH1 and MTV are both not showing videos and are stuck in some stupid reality show bullshit when I'm exercising.

Yesterday morning I wanted to hear the words to the new Justin Timberlake song that I've seen the video for in the mornings perhaps 17 times. So I plugged in, and listened, and I'm not going to tell you if I liked it or not, since I think it will damage my street cred either way.

Right after that, a new Joss Stone song came on, and I will admit to loving her. How can you not? Anyone with a voice like that, and at her age! So I went to iTunes to get her new album. Aaaannndd...it hasn't been released yet, apparently. Just the single of the song I heard, "Tell me 'bout it." So I snagged that, of course, but I'm left wanting lots more, and I swear that's the point.

Record companies are finally getting the fact that people will buy digital music and are putting more and more of it out there, although there are a few noticeable holdouts; I read a quick news item about Apple vs. Apple the other day. If you're unfamiliar with the case, quickly, Apple Corp is the Beatles music company, and they've been involved with lawsuits against Apple Computer since 1978. Read the article I linked, they explain it so much better than my muddling.

There was also Metallica's fight with Napster, remember this? But all seems happy in the members of the band these days when it comes to digital music, because it looks like most of their catalog is available out there on iTunes as well.

But by releasing singles, piecemeal, instead of a whole album as is the case here with Joss Stone's new song, strikes me as a great way for record companies to make up some of the revenue that they've lost in recent years due to the digital revolution. Which is something I'm sure a few record company execs thought of long before I did.