ITunes gets It Might Get Loud doc early
DIGITAL: Sony's film will be available online two weeks before DVD and Blu-ray
By Jennifer Netherby -- Video Business, 11/4/2009
NOV. 4 | DIGITAL: Sony Pictures will debut concert documentary It Might Get Loud on Apple iTunes Dec. 8, two weeks before the film’s Dec. 22 DVD and Blu-ray Disc release.
It Might Get Loud is available for pre-orders now on iTunes.
The Davis Guggenheim documentary features music legends Jimmy Page, The Edge with Jack White and their perspectives on music.
“Since It Might Get Loud is a music documentary with special appeal to iTunes’ core users, younger and more avid music consumers than most, SPHE saw a special opportunity to experiment with them on a promotion for this title.” SPHE senior VP of digital distribution Jason Spivak said in a statement on the pre-DVD release.
ITunes is promoting the film as a pre-order on its just-launched Music Movies area of its movie section, where it plans to offer weekly music exclusives and bolster its catalog offerings.
This week, iTunes debuted Kings of Leon, Live at the O2 from Sony Pictures and The Killers’ Live From the Royal Albert Hall from Island Records, both a week before their Nov. 10 disc release.
None of these are iTunes’ first exclusives. Ed Burns’ indie film Purple Violets debuted on iTunes one month before DVD in 2007 and Matt Damon doc Running the Sahara also was released first on iTunes.
The music video push comes as music DVD sales fall off the charts, with sales halved in 2008 to $218.9 million. Digital music video sales were up 47% last year to $41.2 million, still not enough to compensate for disc losses.
ITunes, the biggest digital music retailer, is heavily marketing the new music section on its site and tying the films to related albums.
ITunes also started taking pre-orders for Sony’s Michael Jackson blockbuster doc This Is It in the section. This Is It will debut with the DVD/Blu-ray release, which Sony said will be in the first quarter.
Older concert releases added to iTunes Music Movies section include The Rolling Stones: Shine a Light, The Song Remains the Same—Led Zeppelin, U2 Rattle and Hum, Buena Vista Social Club and This is Spinal Tap.
