The other day I watched a couple Berklee students perform an impressive cover of “Alone Again (Naturally)” by Gilbert O’Sullivan. Gilbert is essentially a 3-hit wonder (that’s 2 more than most!) from the early ’70s. “Alone Again (Naturally)” was a monster hit that got covered by everyone from Nina Simone to Sarah Vaughn to Donny Osmond. The mind shudders to think what Donny did to the song, but I digress…
Typically, when I hear a song I like, I bounce over to iTunes or Amazon to buy it. Having just stepped up my game with an iPhone, it’s wonderfully easy to instantly get the track. So that’s exactly what I tried to do.
Lo and behold, in order to get Gilbert’s track, you had to purchase his entire album for $9.99. Now, I looked at the other tracks, and quite honestly, I wasn’t interested. Such is the life of a 1-3 hit wonder, no one cares what else you do, it’s all about that one song. For anyone debating this, check out last night’s episode of American Idol. For the “legends of disco” performance, they wheeled out Thelma Houston, Freda Payne, and KC minus his Sunshine Band. Granted KC might’ve had more like 4 hits, but you get the idea. These folks make bank on their big hit, and long ago gave up trying to top it. Nothing wrong with that, and they’re all fine people.
So there I was, ready and willing to plonk down my $0.99 to legally purchase a track that was recorded 35 years ago and instead Gilbert decided that I should really be paying $9.99. Who wins here? Do most people want this song so badly that they’ll spend $9.99 to get it? Or does he only need to sell 10% as much to make the same money? Either way, I thought it was a rather bush league move, and I refused to spend the money. While it took slightly more effort, I was able to find a used copy of his Greatest Hit(s) at Newbury Comics for $2.99 and I bought that instead. When it’s all said and done, I doubt Gilbert will see much, if any, of that $2.99. I would never want to cheat a musician out of money, but somehow this seems well deserved.
Gilbert O’Sullivan became famous for one other thing. In 1991, Biz Markee sampled “Alone Again (Naturally)” and didn’t bother clearing the rights with Gilbert. Gilbert sued. Gilbert won. Now, sampling is a far risker and costlier proposition for those not getting proper clearance. For that, you gotta admire the guy…
