Slightly foxed

Back when you bought proper things when you wanted music, misproduced versions of records quickly became valuable as 'bad' copies were withdrawn and replaced with 'correct' editions. It's hard to see a market developing for digital downloads that were released with flaws in the production, but who knows?

We can find out now, because SubPop have confessed to an error on one of the tracks on the new Fleet Foxes album on iTunes:

[T]he version of “He Doesn’t Know Why” from the brand-new, self-titled Fleet Foxes album that was available from the iTunes Music Store had two audio drop-outs.

The other interesting question is: how do you return a non-functioning AAC track to Apple? Is there a process like the one where you'd lug a faulty album back to the shop, and then stand there while the manager of the store plays the track in question on his deck to see if you're telling the truth?

It turns out not, so Sub Pop have come up with an adhoc solution:

We apologize profusely for this inconvenience and would like to hereby offer a free MP3 of that song to anyone who would like it. Please accept both this song and our apologies for the mistake.

It's a generous gesture, although if you'd paid for a file that didn't work and discovered that the solution is for everyone to be given it for free, you might wonder if you've been compensated or played for a sucker.

That mp3 in full, then: He Doesn't Know Why - Fleet Foxes.