No Beck For You (By You I Mean Me)

The new Beck album, Modern Guilt, came out today. I love Beck’s music, and I really want to get the album, but I have decided not to for now. I was really cheesed when they came out with a deluxe 3 disc version of his last album less than 6 months after the release of the basic version. The deluxe version was 3 discs, two of which were the original version of the album. The other disc was not available separately. And I like a lot of the Beck remixes. So they wanted us to buy the album, then come back and buy the deluxe version, with a duplicate disc, less than 6 months later. F that.

It’s one thing if they decide to do this kind of thing 12 years later, like with Odelay. But 6 months? Look, I may be dumb, and I may be an ass, but I’m not a dumbass. Release them both at the same time, and I’ll gladly pony up for the spiffy version (they did this with Guero, both versions were available on release day). Or allow us to buy the extra material separately. Or at the very least say “hey, we’re coming out with a deluxe version in a few months if you’d rather wait for that”. But don’t try to trick me into buying the same thing twice. That’s taking advantage of your fans, and that sucks.

I think this can mostly be explained as a sleazy tactic of the record companies to grab a few more bucks before they go the way of the dinosaur. And I’m really not happy that that is going to happen, because despite the convenience there are a lot of disadvantages to digital-only music (unless it’s done right, like this [multiple high-quality formats, artwork, yada, yada, whatever]). But if you treat people like crap, don’t expect everyone to just sit there and take it. I'm going to sit back for now and wait to see if a deluxe version is forthcoming. I know some of you may be thinking "Jebus, dude, it's only ten bucks you freakin' tightwad, just buy it already!" It's the principle of the thing. I feel jerked around after last time, and I don't want to be jerked around again.