Reuters reports that the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Metallica are among the list of bands that have refused to offer music to users of Apple’s iTunes Music Store.
A spokesman for the company that manages the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Metallica and other acts said that his clients “would rather not contribute to the demise of the album format.”
By requiring artists to offer single tracks for sale rather than entire albums, the iTunes Music Store is diminishing the artists’ creative control, according to Q Prime Management Co. spokesman Mark Reiter.
Reiter said that Apple’s financial terms were acceptable, but added “We can’t let a distributor dictate the way our artists sell their music.”
According to Reuters, Linkin Park is also among the bands that refuse to make available their music through the iTunes Music Store. (Reuters also reports that Green Day is on the list, but they have several albums available through the service.)
Apple announced on June 23rd that the iTunes Music Store had sold five million songs. 46 percent of those downloads had been purchased as albums, according to Apple.
The article was updated with info related to Green Day.