Licensing Restrictions in the US Market

D

dj deeskwared

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Can anyone, anywhere please explain to me why so many released recordings are made unavailable to the US market? The latest in this trend is Markus Schulz' Do You Dream, released in June...

The armadadownloads.com website, on attempting to add the album to the shopping cart, displays the following message:

"Due to licensing restrictions, this album is not available in your territory."


The markusschulz.com website invites all to purchase the album at the NL iTunes Store; I'm afraid I don't speak enough Dutch to know if Do You Dream is available to the US market from there... However, from the US iTunes Store site, one is informed that:

"Do You Dream is not available in the US store."


I don't really want to take all this personally... but it is becoming difficult to understand why the US market, specifically, seems to be the object of abject discrimination... and of all people, Markus... who started his career here in the US!

Tragic...:hmmm:
 
I would contact the artists about this thing, maybe they can give you some details.
Most artists care very much about their fans esp when they are willing to buy the music, thats my experience.
 
Thank you for your suggestion, JT. In fact, I do have an email into Markus Schulz' website, and am waiting for a response. I've inquired of the armada website as well many moons ago, and never got a response. If I hear from either, I'll post the reply...

Doug

Ahh... update: info@markusschulz.com is an "unroutable address". Don't know if I can find another path to contact his people...
 
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I believe Ultra Records handles all of Markus' releases in the USA
 
Thank you, Victoria for the tip!

Ultra Records does indeed carry the Do You Dream remixes 4-track album, released in December, 2009... however, it does not list the 16-track album, all Markus Schulz recordings, released this past June, and one of the best-selling albums everywhere else but in the US.

The folks at armada have told me the same thing, that Ultra Records is the label supposed to be releasing this title in the US... I've asked them to check it out for me. I'm sure that if Markus had intended this title to be available for sale in the US, he will be upset to discover that no one here is able to buy it, due to the releasing label's dropping of the ball, so to speak...
 
After contacting Ultra Records directly on the phone, I discovered that Do You Dream? is available on the iTunes' US Store, as well as elsewhere. While for personal reasons I will not buy a track from iTunes in my lifetime, ultimately, I discovered the .mp3 album located (of all places) on Amazon following a link (a Google search revealed nothing).

The nice folks at UR apologized for their website being so far behind the curve. For the sake of artists everywhere, it appears that the distribution logistics of releasing in multiple markets needs work. In the fast-lane world of dance music particularly, a two-month delay in having a hot new release on the (virtual) shelf strikes me as disastrous...

Regardless, I have the album, albeit only through extraordinary persistence. I wonder how many others have tried, and simply given up in similar situations... Thanks to those whose suggestions moved me in the right direction!
 
Thanks for the tip, JT... about half the tracks in my (virtual) crate are from djdownloads. And I think you're right: I can't recall having run up against territorial restrictions with them. I've run up against it with Armin's Armadadownloads site, and most recently with Coldharbour's releases... but, I'm in the US. I'm guessing that Germany is in the same "territory" vis-a-vis restrictions as is the NL, and perhaps the UK as well.

Regardless, thanks for taking the time to help a Yank!
Doug
 
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