Money gets in the way

I read on Pitchfork today about the Smashing Pumpkin's plans for the commercial release of their new album Zeitgeist. To say that I hate this is a wee bit of an understatement. To say that this is a PERFECT EXAMPLE of why the major labels deserve every ounce of shit they're getting lately is much more accurate. To say it makes me a little sick to my stomach is, sadly, the 100% truth. Greed is a fucked up thing. It drives a lot of what we see around us everyday, and is especially present in the sales and marketing strategies of the majors. I could go on for a really long time about exactly why it's a slimy move to make someone buy MULTIPLE COPIES OF THE SAME $15 ALBUM to get all of the bonus tracks (does anyone else remember the concept of the single, and b-sides and all that wonderful stuff) but you are smart people and I'm sure you share my sentiments. Hopefully by this point in time even the hardcore lifelong pumpkins fans will realize that this amounts to nothing more than robbery and extortion on the label's part and they will go out and download the bonus tracks instead of buying 4 copies of an album. The only way things will change is if people stop going along with all of this nonsense. Don't buy it and they'll stop doing it. After all, as the old saying goes, if it don't make dollars, it don't make sense.

note: The article linked above infers that this was all the plan of the smashing pumpkins themselves and not that of the label releasing the album. I personally am more inclined to believe that it is the label's idea, so I'm going to reserve judgement until I figure out the whole story. I'll update as necessary.