Iboga Goes Digital

I was surprised to find Iboga’s new compilation Digital Age available at Beatport today, as it seems to have been launched without any promotion or fanfare whatsoever. I remember reading about it a while ago, though I can’t quite remember where… at any rate, it’s a bit of an odd one. Three of the eight tracks are taken from recent Iboga releases, with Reefer Decree, Perfect Stranger, and True to Nature providing the material. FREq provided a track from 2003 entitled Monochrome; a rare early compilation appearance that may be interesting to fans. Two tracks are sourced from vinyl singles: Thomas Penton’s mix of More by Emok + Jokke off of Nanobeat, and Liquid Soul – Why (also available on the recently released Highway compilation). This leaves a pair of surprises: an act I haven’t heard of entitled Flow E Zeo & Audio Factory with a punchy melodic tune entitled Movin (later released on the Summer Collection 2006), and the progressive house monster Space Between from legendary James Monro.

Unfortunately, Iboga have failed to meet the potential of a digital release. With so many tracks already available on CD, combined with the lack of cover art, this is not an alluring production. The price is a major deterrent; Digital Age costs $15.92 (USD) in MP3 format, and there is an additional $8 surcharge for wave files. Compare that to the $14 standard rate for CDs at the major online shops! If Iboga truly wishes to shake things up in the digital era, they’re going to have to separate themselves from Beatport’s oppressive pricing scheme, and deliver a full-quality product complete with high-resolution cover art and primarily original content. I don’t blame them for skipping out on promoting the release on the major forums, in print, or even on their own homepage; it is a rather lacklustre effort suitable only for cherry picking individual tunes. Though I may level criticism against those involved, it must be understood that there have been no leaders in the field of digital releases as of yet. Far too many people still view the realm of pure information as an inferior counterpart to traditional physical releases – and who can blame them? No one has stepped up to the plate to really prove the value of going digital.

Update: as if it weren’t confusing enough already, it seems that Iboga or Beatport have pruned the compilation down to six tracks, removing the Perfect Stranger and Reefer Decree contributions.