Apple Teams Up With Record Labels to Revive the Album

Apple has joined forces with four major record labels on a mission to get music buyers to start buying albums again instead of just single tracks, the Financial Times reports. The project—codenamed "Cocktail"—will bundle album downloads with lyrics sheets, sleeve notes, photos, and assorted interactive features in an effort to lure consumers into buying the whole package.

"It’s all about re-creating the heyday of the album when you would sit around with your friends looking at the artwork, while you listened to the music,” one Apple exec says. The project, which pairs Apple with EMI, Sony Music, Warner Music, and Universal Music Group, is being readied for a September launch. Insiders say it may be accompanied by the introduction of a new, tablet-sized Apple computer.
(More music industry stories.)