Robert Smith Is Full Of Despair… Over iTunes’ Pricing Methods

noah | September 16, 2008 12:00 pm

You’d think Robert Smith would be in a pretty good mood this week, what with a new EP by the Cure, Hypnagogic States, being out and featuring remixes of the band’s new songs by young turks like Patrick Stump and an unidentified member of 30 Seconds To Mars. But he’s less than pleased–not because of the music, but because of the price point that was bestowed on his album by whoever placed it to the iTunes Store’s shelves. Which is why he penned a blog post today that began “PLEASE DONT BUY HYPNAGOGIC STATES EP FROM ITUNES FOR £7.99.” Smith’s all-caps missive to the iTunes powers that be–which features, as he puts it, “colourful language”- after the jump.

DEAR…

I FUCKING DESPAIR AGAIN

HYPNAGOGIC STATES EP IS NOW UP ON UK ITUNES…

5 TRACKS FOR £7.99? FOR FUCKS SAKE!

AND THE PACKAGE IS COMPLETEY MISSING THE EXTRA BONUS TRACK (65DOS ALT REMIX OF “THE ONLY ONE”)

SO YOU CAN BUY THE FOUR REMIXES BY 30STM/AFI/MCR/FOB INDIVIDUALLY FOR 79P EACH…

BUT YOU ONLY GET THE 65DOS “EXPLODING HEAD SYNDROME” REMIX OF ALL FOUR SINGLES IF YOU PAY £7.99 FOR “THE ALBUM”…

IE YOU ARE BEING ASKED TO PAY £4.83 FOR THE 65DOS REMIX… !!! WHO THE FUCK IS GOING TO PAY THIS AND NOT FEEL TOTALLY RIPPED OFF?

IT’S NOT A FUCKING ALBUM! IT’S A 5 TRACK EP AND YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO GET AN EXTRA FREE TRACK (THE 65DOS REMIX OF “THE ONLY ONE”) IF YOU BUY IT AS A 5 TRACK EP AND ITS SUPPOSED TO COST LESS IF YOU BUY IT AS A 5 TRACK EP THAN IF YOU BUY THE 5 TRACKS INDIVIDUALLY…

THAT IS WHAT WAS AGREED

THIS IS SO TOTALLY WRONG I REALLY DO FUCKING DESPAIR

WHY IS IT SO INCREDIBLY DIFFICULT TO GET ANYTHING DONE RIGHT?

PLEASE FIX THIS NOW

No word on whether Smith’s e-mail-long yawp has resulted in things getting fixed over in the UK, but here, you can buy the six-track EP (with digital booklet!) for $3.99:

Or you can just download it illegally somewhere, I guess. Anyway, I look forward to Smith’s next bit of ire being directed toward the user reviewer whose review was headlined “I Wish I Could Say It Was Great.” (That’s a play on words, right?)

ITUNES UK HYPNAGOGIC NONSENSE [The Cure]