Apple, labels stir up “Cocktail”

As any music appreciator worth his salt knows, liner notes are essential. For some of us, it’s just plain important to know who played lead guitar on track 3, in which studio an album was recorded, or what the heck the singer is actually saying. (I’m talkin’ to you, Michael Stipe.)

Since becoming a somewhat ravenous iTunes consumer a few years ago, my one pet peeve about the service is its near total lack of liner notes with digital album purchases. Why, I thought, couldn’t I get a de facto PDF of the credits every time I laid down $9.99 at the house of Steve Jobs?

My bellyaching days may be over. Last week reports surfaced that Apple is concocting a new service — dubbed “Cocktail” — which would bundle albums, liner notes, ring tones, and music videos all in one package readily available through iTunes.

Until now, all of these items have been available online, even on iTunes, although consumers have to scour different pages and make separate purchases to get, say, an album, video, and ring tones from U2. In some cases, iTunes has devised special offers that bundle an album with a video add-on, but never anything as extensive as what Cocktail promises.

Unsurprisingly, the plan was first hatched among Apple and the four major innovation killers, er, music labels in an attempt to boost record sales. Apple actually rebuffed the idea in 2007 when Universal, Sony, Warner and EMI first approached the company about an all-in offering such as this. When they decided to take their idea to other retailers, Apple acquiesced.

So far, few details have emerged about Cocktail. It’s probably safe to assume it would cost more with so many features collected in one place, though Apple and the labels would rightly tout the service’s added value. And buyers would have a one-stop destination for all their digital needs. No more scouring the Internet for my K-Fed music/video/ring-tone fix.

But is this Cocktail strong enough to counter lagging album sales? In an age when more people think music should be free, I doubt it. Just check out Pirate Bay’s website — those dudes are still operating in spite of lawsuits, fines, and jail time.

Music labels need more than a service that simply repackages a bunch of pre-existing music applications to turn a profit. They need top-shelf innovation.