Universal music NZ and 6 month release date delays for NZers

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rmt38

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# 173896 10-Jun-2015 08:15

I want to buy an album. It was on preorder in the states until yesterday, on both itunes and amazon and google play.

Picture of Amazon digital music album preorder page as of a day or so ago:

The band isn't available at all on itunes nz, and on google play it's available on preorder. Check out the date. 29th of January 2016! 6 months later than overseas. I called up google play and asked if it was a mistake and while the experience in getting to someone on their helpline was great, the guy was beyond useless.

Picture of Google Play in NZ for the album:

It's at times like these I regret closing my US bank account.

What is Universal Music NZ thinking?

This album was available on pirate sites for download way before the preorder release date in high quality mp3. As far as I understand it's legal to download here in NZ as long as I don't upload to anyone (ala torrent), and unless I want to probably pay more in shipping than I'd pay for the CD, that's the only option available to me.

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# 1320830 10-Jun-2015 08:35

How much are you prepared to pay for it? You can buy the actual CD and have it shipped here in about 10 days for $25.99 all up.

rmt38

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# 1320837 10-Jun-2015 08:44

andrew027: How much are you prepared to pay for it? You can buy the actual CD and have it shipped here in about 10 days for $25.99 all up.

I refuse to get a cd copy shipped over out of principle. If someone I know is coming back from the states, I'll get them to bring me a copy. But mostly, I'm puzzled by the logic which must go into a decision like this.

PoHq

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# 1320858 10-Jun-2015 09:08

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I thought there was no excuse for using torrents for music anymore, with it being so ridiculously cheap and readily available but in this case if they are actually releasing an album 6 months later in NZ I'd be looking at torrents to get this album and not feeling bad about it in the slightest.

rmt38

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# 1320870 10-Jun-2015 09:17

PoHq: I thought there was no excuse for using torrents for music anymore, with it being so ridiculously cheap and readily available but in this case if they are actually releasing an album 6 months later in NZ I'd be looking at torrents to get this album and not feeling bad about it in the slightest.

The band aren't exactly doing as well as they would like, I feel bad they can't get my money even though I want to give it to them without jumping through hoops. While they aren't losing money from me if I were to pirate it, they're still getting shafted by the record company preventing them from getting it until next year. Assuming I haven't lost interest by then.

Geektastic

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# 1320873 10-Jun-2015 09:19

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Until film and music companies realise that the answer to their purported 'problem' is simply to make things legally available worldwide on the same day and at the same cost in all jurisdictions, they will continue to wonder why they have a 'problem'......

Why not just use a US iTunes account?

PoHq

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# 1320879 10-Jun-2015 09:21

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I'd be looking at torrents and purchasing it once it's released to support the artist. Just my personal opinion.

kiwitrc

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# 1320883 10-Jun-2015 09:23

Why not try direct http://kingsroadmerch.com/honeyhoney/view/?id=7591&cid=2066

rmt38

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# 1320895 10-Jun-2015 09:32

kiwitrc: Why not try direct http://kingsroadmerch.com/honeyhoney/view/?id=7591&cid=2066

When I went there, it was sold out :-) The digital download was sold out. It was a real head-scratcher.. Thanks for the pointer, will give it a shot.

Bought! Cheaper than google play too.

rmt38

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# 1320898 10-Jun-2015 09:34

Geektastic: Until film and music companies realise that the answer to their purported 'problem' is simply to make things legally available worldwide on the same day and at the same cost in all jurisdictions, they will continue to wonder why they have a 'problem'......

Why not just use a US iTunes account?

I used itunes for years. It'd download updates and lacked resume, so if the download crapped out it would start from the beginning. It'd lock up while it was thinking around things. I could go on for hours how awful it was, but let's just forget you mentioned it.

I really really really do not want to install it on my computer ever again.

andrew027

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# 1320910 10-Jun-2015 09:38

rmt38:
andrew027: How much are you prepared to pay for it? You can buy the actual CD and have it shipped here in about 10 days for $25.99 all up.

I refuse to get a cd copy shipped over out of principle. If someone I know is coming back from the states, I'll get them to bring me a copy. But mostly, I'm puzzled by the logic which must go into a decision like this.

What principle? Getting something you want, while supporting the artist by paying market value for legal product?

lxsw20

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# 1320914 10-Jun-2015 09:41

Bad Suns Language & Perspective album has been out coming up a year in the states and has had radio play in NZ. You think I can find a digital copy to buy anywhere in NZ, though??

rendezvous

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# 1320934 10-Jun-2015 10:02

Well two viable methods have been suggested - use iTunes with a US account, or pay to have the CD shipped to NZ. $26 for the CD is probably cheaper than it'll sell for here! If you don't want to use those two methods based on your principles, that's fine, the release date is 6 months away!

It's available on iTunes for $9.99

lxsw20

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# 1320936 10-Jun-2015 10:04

I did try and buy it using my US iTunes account, but I got some message about how I would then not be able to change back to the NZ store for 3 months.

nzkiwiman

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# 1322034 10-Jun-2015 12:31

Geektastic: Until film and music companies realise that the answer to their purported 'problem' is simply to make things legally available worldwide on the same day and at the same cost in all jurisdictions, they will continue to wonder why they have a 'problem'......

Why not just use a US iTunes account?

Agree!

Also, how can a digital download sell out - one of the Transformers movie scores sold out digitally as well and it confused me back then as well.

rmt38

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# 1322066 10-Jun-2015 12:52

nzkiwiman:
Geektastic: Until film and music companies realise that the answer to their purported 'problem' is simply to make things legally available worldwide on the same day and at the same cost in all jurisdictions, they will continue to wonder why they have a 'problem'......

Why not just use a US iTunes account?

Agree!

One good reason to the us itunes suggestion is given in the post above yours.

Regarding music companies, in this case I have to assume incompetent management who are contriving work to justify their jobs. Or shenanigans so they can complain about all the piracy, when this thing they released half a year after it was available elsewhere in NZ, wasn't as popular as it should be. No idea!

nzkiwiman: Also, how can a digital download sell out - one of the Transformers movie scores sold out digitally as well and it confused me back then as well.

In this case it's a digital download for a preorder which has already released, so not so strange. In which case, it's a valid state for it to be in once the release date has passed, or the period in which preorders are available has ended pending the near release date. That it's changed back and I could purchase a copy, is a bonus. In theory, they should be putting a non-preorder price up now which is higher. But then Amazon hasn't increased their price post-release.

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