Frank Zappa

[LaoTzu]

i really would like to have zappas music available is there any reason why hes not on any streaming programs like spotify or deezer or anything. all his albums cost like £25 each new.

[gubby]

Zappa's music is owned by the Zappa family trust and it is marketed by Ryko.

Either the Ryko contract is up for re-negotiation or there has been some sort of disagreement between the ZFT and Ryko. The ZFT is run by Gail Zappa, maybe they are planning a wholesale re-issue of re-masterd Zappa music, who knows?

Either way Zappa CD's are pretty much unobtainable at the moment from the usual sources, hence the stupid prices being asked.

As for Zappa's music appearing on Spotify. There are probably two chances. Fat and None.

[LaoTzu]

so what can a zappa fan do right now?

[David]

I would also like some more Zappa. However, it's most likely to be a licensing issue. You can read a little more about it right here.

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@LaoTzu wrote:

so what can a zappa fan do right now?

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Sadly it seems that a lot of it is pretty rare to pick up. I did manage to pick up a Boxed 3-Vinyl set of "Shut Up & Play Your Guitar" a couple of years back, however.

[gubby]

Sorry David, I must be missing something. I can't find any reference to Zappa in any of your links.

[LaoTzu]

can spotify approach the zappa family trust?

[David]

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@gubby wrote:

Sorry David, I must be missing something. I can't find any reference to Zappa in any of your links.

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That FAQ link is more a general example as to why some artists might not be available, rather than relating particularly to Zappa. In the meantime, why not check out ZappaRadio over on the Zappa website? 

[gubby]

Thanks for that.

Zappa Radio is a good listen. Thanks for flagging it up

[Kai]

Its not a library i would pay for without Frank

[LaoTzu]

how is it that we can get some of his classical works and not his mainstream stuff?

[mahlerfan]

Frank Zappa's complete catalog was on iTunes briefly a few years ago but pulled down. If you look on zappa.com they say that iTunes is "coming soon"
http://www.zappa.com/whatsnew/ 

[Volante]

As of August 1st , Universal music has licensed 30 albums of Frank's music. They are all available on Wimp. Why not on Spotify?

[LaoTzu]

i second that last comment spotify pull your sleeves up and get it on there.

[David]

Hello.

As stated before, we'd certainly love to have Frank Zappa's catalogue on the service. However, this may be a decision made by the artist's estate or the record label. This FAQ post may explain a little more. 

[mistrijah]

David one of the universal reissues are on spotify, the album is waka/jawaka, the rest apeer on my mobile version but the songs are greyed out, maybe they are coming to Spotify, is there no way of finding out?

[mistrijah]

his own classical releases are not on there, the ones that are were cover albums not made by Zappa himself...

[David]

Today, I'm proud to announce that a good deal of Frank Zappa's music is on Spotify. Check out our little 10 Odd Facts about Frank Zappa right here.

And of course, you can find the artist page right here. 

Initial comments may be that most of the albums are listed as 2012, and this is an artist you may want to experience in a chronological order. Our good friends at Ulysses' Classic have you covered, and they've created a playlist of albums released in order. 

[SteveBrammer]

But that's a workaround right? And doesn't fix the endemic problem that you have with Zappa and many, many other artists which is that the record labels, on the whole, provide crappy and incomplete meta-data and don't care enough about the artists they represent that they can be bothered to fix it. It's a real shame and not Spotify's fault, but just goes to show in how low esteem the record labels hold both the artists they represent, and their paying customers.

[user-removed]

Thanks for the information and clearing up this matter.

I accidently searched Frank Zappa from Spotify this morning (as I was browsing Ulysses' great blog) and only found couple albums. I was disappointed then, since had heard about brand new remasters (and I recall Spotify used to have more FZ in the past)..

As with few couple new albums from other artists, it seems that not all the albums are available right away in all countries.

But its awesome to get them few days after still...is there some reason for this or is it always like that Nordic countries get some albums day or 2 after brits etc.

Well, my worries are over as there they are...the new remasters from Frank Zappa.

[David]

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@SteveBrammer wrote:

But that's a workaround right? And doesn't fix the endemic problem that you have with Zappa and many, many other artists which is that the record labels, on the whole, provide crappy and incomplete meta-data and don't care enough about the artists they represent that they can be bothered to fix it. It's a real shame and not Spotify's fault, but just goes to show in how low esteem the record labels hold both the artists they represent, and their paying customers.

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True, it's a little tedious when you want to actually see exactly what year something might have come out by shooting off over to a certain crowd sourced website of information. People have recommended a similar crowd sourced source of information, but that'd require a certain amount of curation I should think.