Download in a Box? Apple to Sell Album-Specific iTunes Giftcards in Stores

Not content to just dominate music sales online, Apple will soon be taking up space in your local retail chain. According to Billboard, this fall, the company will begin selling album-specific iTunes gift cards inside DVD-sized boxes with album art on the cover in stores like Best Buy, Starbucks and Safeway. Albums by Norah Jones and Maroon 5 may be among the first offered, at prices said to range from $11.99 to $14.99 -- which may include bonus tracks or videos since the price is a bit higher than iTunes' ususal $9.99 per album fee. The cards could help boost sales over the holidays and introduce heartland shoppers to downloading, but may accelerate the decline of physical CD sales and hurt brick-and-mortar sales in the long run. But for the first time in a while, consumers will be able to grab something physical -- an album cover, at least -- along with their download.

• 
  MUSIC The Top 25 Teen Idol Breakout Moments
• 
  MOVIES & TV 'Game of Thrones': The Show Vs. the Books
• 
  POLITICS Matt Taibbi: Facebook IPO vs. Shareholders
• 
  VIDEOS Exclusive: Garbage Rip Through 'I Think I'm Paranoid'

Song Stories

“Smells Like Teen Spirit”

Nirvana | 1991

"Smells Like Teen Spirit," named after a brand of deodorant marketed to girls, was Kurt Cobain's attempt to "write the ultimate pop song," he said, using the soft-loud dynamic of his favorite band, the Pixies. Cobain "had that dichotomy of punk rage and alienation," the song’s producer, Butch Vig, told Rolling Stone, "but also this vulnerable pop sensibility. In 'Teen Spirit,' a lot of that vulnerability is in the tone of his voice." Sadly, by the time of Nirvana's last U.S. tour, in late '93, Cobain was tortured by the obligation to play "Teen Spirit" every night. "There are many other songs that I have written that are as good, if not better," he claimed.

More Song Stories entries »

Twitter