March 8, 2008

we are the world web, we are the children helping sell thousands of copies of Jeff Buckley’s version of Hallelujah

File this one under holy crap!

Jason just sent me this:

It starts with clapclap, goes by way of waxy, has a via clusterflock, on to Kottke (who has a guest blogger, no less), then designing god Michael Beirut puts it in Design Observer's column, bloggies like this one join suit….and…voila: "Hallelujah" is the number one song on iTunes. Awesome.

Jason responds:

I just checked, and sure enough, Jeff Buckley’s version of Hallelujah is the #1 single on iTunes right now. Not sure it’s an exact cause and effect, but cool nonetheless.

Update: Jon writes:

I noticed the same thing and blogged a very similar post earlier today, but my guess is that the itunes ranking has more to do with the song being sung by the contestant on american idol this week and the judges subsequently mentioning their love for the buckley version — thus driving the american idol traffic to itunes. not that we aren’t the web of course but . . . .

posted by in internet, music, web sites | * | 10 comments 

comments

  1. Andrew Simone on March 8th, 2008 at 8:12 pm

    I love digital media.

  2. Deron Bauman on March 8th, 2008 at 8:27 pm

    I think my head just exploded.

  3. jon on March 8th, 2008 at 8:36 pm

    deron,

    i noticed the same thing and blogged a very similar post earlier today, but my guess is that the itunes ranking has more to do with the song being sung by the contestant on american idol this week and the judges subsequently mentioning their love for the buckley version – thus driving the american idol traffic to itunes. not that we aren’t the web of course but . . . .

  4. Deron Bauman on March 8th, 2008 at 8:38 pm

    okay, that makes a fuck-load more sense.

  5. Patrick Burleson on March 8th, 2008 at 8:38 pm

    I am in awe. Behold the power of the tubes.

  6. Sheila Ryan on March 8th, 2008 at 9:38 pm

    Hmmm. Jeff Buckley’s is my least favorite version of the song (which observation relates only tangentially to the phenomenon Deron notes).

  7. Reno on March 8th, 2008 at 10:09 pm

    Listen to K.D. Lang sing it at the 2004 Juno awards! Seriously, she blows Buckley’s version out of the water. This is my favorite version by far. (Other than by the man himself, naturally.)

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_NpxTWbovE

  8. Sheila Ryan on March 8th, 2008 at 10:29 pm

    That k. d. lang performance is some fine stuff, that’s for sure.

    I think what I just realized, though, is that I’m not all that keen on the song!

  9. Alek Lindus on March 9th, 2008 at 2:24 am

    tangentially: death of a lady’s man, chelsea hotel and famous blue raincoat; way out there but then the utube version of cohen singing Hallelujah has got to be the most embarrassing video on the net – end of tangent

  10. Chub on March 10th, 2008 at 2:30 pm

    Yeah the iTunes appearance stems from Jason Castro doing Buckley’s version on American Idol. Interestingly enough, Castro’s cover of Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy”, which won him a slot on the show, never aired because the copyright holders of the 1960s spaghetti western tune the song is based on wouldn’t sign off on it to appear on American Idol. Don’t be taken in by the “show” part of the business, theres big money involved in songs appearing on that show. The iTunes appearance has as much to do with Sony’s clout (which owns the Buckley recording and Cohen’s song catalog) and Buckley’s mother’s ability to pimp Jeff’s catalog.

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