Do NOT download the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame App
Will Brinson
The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame came out with its own app on Wednesday and it features* 600 super awesome rock and roll songs from a number of different eras.
Except that asterisk is probably something you want to pay attention to, because *the songs aren’t included. That wouldn’t be surprising, ordinarily, because getting 600 classic songs for just $1.99 is kind of insane. And would never happen, given that the music industry makes the people in charge of newspapers look like Google execs.
But the press release for the app is a bit misleading:
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame app features more than 600 songs and includes a slide show that users can swipe through to experience the music from a specific decade between 1920 and 2006. Once a decade is selected, the app features an album cover slideshow to scroll through and select music. Users can then play the song sample from iTunes, purchase the song or add it to a custom play list contained within the app.
Now, they do say that users can play the song. But “features more than 600 songs” kind of maks things sound a little more like “buy the app and get 600 songs!” than “preview the music that you already know you like.”
In fact, the fine folks at 9-to-5 Mac missed the last line and inadvertently cost some readers a few bucks; they’ve since updated the post, and I’m certainly not blaming them (I almost downloaded the app myself, having seen the story there) for the post.
Instead, I’m here to warn you, because the app itself is even more misleading. There’s no mention of “paying for songs” or “purchasing anything” — the language simply reads, “Search the list of songs, learn more about the selections, hear samples and download the songs to your device.”
Want more proof that this is false advertising? About the app’s demo, which, if I weren’t more tired than I am paranoid right now, might say is purposely blurring the logo with “Download on iTunes” link.
Should the average man know that the record industry is too greedy to give away 600 heavily licensed songs for just $2. Yeah, probably so.
But the average man also shouldn’t expect that the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is either so greedy or so desperate for money that they really need to release an app that’s essentially designed to hornswoggle people into throwing away a couple of bucks.
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