Nope, despite the title, this is not some significant theology discussion.
Last week, when I was still on holidays, I went chasing the distributors of contemporary Christian artists like Third Day and Casting Crowns to find out when their music would be in the iTunes Australia Music Store.
I started with the web-site of Provident-Integrity Distribution looking for Australian distributors. Of the two Australian distributors listed, one is no longer a distributor and I didn’t hear from the other.
So, I emailed the “international department” (email address on the FAQ page). I was pointed to Integrity Music Australasia, in particular the email address of the General Manager.
I sent the GM an email:
Can you please advise when Casting Crowns and Third Day will be in iTunes Australia?
I’d love to buy their new albums, but I’m not prepared to deal with the monopoly of Koorong. Further, I prefer to listen to music on my computer – as you know, it’s illegal in Australia to rip music from a CD.
Jim advised that I could buy the latest CDs direct from Integrity. He also noted that SonyBMG owns Provident, and as SonyBMG has only recently entered into a deal with iTunes, it may be some time till I see those artists in iTunes.
So, options? You can buy the CD (with no competition in the market, you’ll be paying $29.95 for a new release). But, under Australian law, you can’t copy that CD to your computer or iPod even for personal use.
Or, you can try one of the other online retailers, however, as you can see below, contemporary Christian artists don’t make much of an appearance.
| Online Store | Casting Crowns | Third Day |
|---|---|---|
| iTunes | One song, by another artist | Two songs on compilation albums |
| ninemsn Music | Nil | Nil |
| Destra (run the online stores for Sanity and others) | Nil | Nil |
| Bigpond Music | First album, not new album | Three albums |
So, my solution – don’t buy their music.
Updated 2 June 2007: So, now, I’ve finally been able to buy the latest Casting Crowns album, see the update post.