FIONA APPLE CD A HIT AND FANS CAN’T BUY IT

In yet another chapter in the continuing saga of dumb moves by label and artists that encourgae unauthorized downloading, Wired.com reports that "songs from Fiona Apple’s latest album are widely available on the internet and are being played on the radio, but much to the chagrin of fans, the album can’t be bought for love or money.

Apple apparently finished Extraordinary Machine in 2003 but it was never released by her record label, Epic Records. (Epic is a subsidiary of Sony BMG Music Entertainment).

Recently, a radio DJ in Seattle obtained a copy of the album and has been playing it on 1077 The End. The tracks are also available on peer-to-peer networks, and have been downloaded thousands of times.

Fiona fans are thrilled to hear the recordings but baffled that they can’t buy the record anywhere.

Apple’s last album, When the Pawn, was released in 1999. The recording went platinum, as did her debut album, Tidal. In 1997, Apple won a Grammy for her single, "Criminal." She’s also famous for calling the music industry "bullshit" at the 1997 MTV Video Music Awards…

BigChampagne, which monitors songs available on file-sharing services, found that at any one time about 38,000 users in the United States are downloading songs from Extraordinary Machine. The most popular track is "Please Please Please," with more than 20,000 simultaneous downloads, according to the company.

When questioned about the situation, an Epic representative e-mailed a statement, which didn’t address questions about the album’s availability on the radio and online. In addition, the statement indicated Apple has yet to deliver the album.

Music industry observers said the situation illustrates a missed opportunity for record labels, the fans and the artist alike.

"You can’t buy what they won’t sell you," said Eric Garland, CEO of BigChampagne. "The whole (music) migration online is still one huge unrealized opportunity."

In 2001, Wilco parted with its record label over creative differences related to the band’s album, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Reprise Records had wanted the band to make changes to the album in order to increase the recording’s marketability, but the band refused and eventually streamed Yankee Hotel Foxtrot from its website. In the end, Nonesuch Records picked up and released the album, to great critical acclaim.

Dave Kusek, a vice president at the Berklee College of Music and author of a new book, The Future of Music, said the situation sheds light on one of the pitfalls of the recording contracts that artists sign.

"You work, you deliver … and then the company decides not to release it," Kusek said. "This is something that I think needs to change. If the label doesn’t want it, the artist should get it back."

Read the entire Wired.com here.