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Jay-Z stands by his album: No iTunes for you!

Hip hop artist Jay-Z has taken a stand with his album, American Gangster, …

Say what you will about Jay-Z; his music is popular among those darn kids these days. This is why it will be all the more disappointing when they go to buy his new album, American Gangster, from the iTunes Store only to find that it's not there. Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter has announced that the LP will not be for sale through iTunes—not because of disputes over DRM or pricing like the usual iTunes-related complaints. Rather, he doesn't want the album to be broken down into individually-purchasable tracks.

"As movies are not sold scene by scene, this collection will not be sold as individual singles," Carter said in a statement sent out earlier this week. Instead, eager listeners will need to purchase the full album from other retailers like Rhapsody and brick-and-mortar stores.

The move is representative of a small (but growing) contingency of musicians taking a stand for the old album format. You know, the kind of album that you had to listen to from start to finish in order to really understand it, as many Beatles fans like to argue. As to why Mr. Z doesn't just sell the album as a whole (instead of individual tracks) through iTunes, well, I'm sure we all know that the name of the 800-pound gorilla in the room rhymes with "Teve Tobs." The iTunes Store makes concessions for nobody! Not even gangstas like Jay-Z.

There are a number of questions that remain: Will American Gangster have decent digital distribution numbers without the help of iTunes? Will others follow? They might, especially if the album's overall sales don't suffer. But that doesn't seem likely, seeing as CD sales continue to decline. Cutting off iTunes means cutting off the number one music store on the Internet. But does Jay-Z even care?

Channel Ars Technica