OT - Music Industry Pipedream...

[Sales Dude McBoob]

I had a nice little pipedream the other day. There recently was a thread on the forum about the best selling albums of all time. The interesting thing about the list was that most of the top selling records of all time were exactly that vinyl records. It seems obvious today that the LP will long outlive the CD format. With digital downloads taking hold, people are going to end up with these music collections that only exsist on hard drives in their media players. It seems like there may be a need to reconnect with the physical nature of a recorded album. Since record companies built their empires selling records, it seems like it would be to their advantage to start pushing vinyl again. There should be a deal where your LP would contain a code to entitle you to download a digital version of the album from the record company's website to load onto your media player, but you get the full sized LP in all of its glory to put in your record collection.

Ahhhh... pipedreams are so sweet!!!!

[nebulae]

It's not a bad idea, actually. I mean even if you have proliferation of vinyl-to-mp3 of releases, Internet digital music is finally established as what it really is - the radio of the new millenium....and as such, it's basically advertising. If people want to buy the medium, then they go get it in analog format, that you can touch, feel, and break if you want to.

[jerry123]

If only they could make them more durable. My only issue with vinyl is that it degrades.
If they could change the material and/or maybe the needle/arm, I think records would last longer and be more of a desirable item to those who are reluctant to but an item that will simply wear out and loose it sonic quailty.
$15 for a permanent version or $20 for the one that will sound like tin in after a few years of miss-use is not a great selling point.

The 'code' is a good idea though.

[hambone1]

I think that digital vinyl would give us the best of both worlds. Records would still be vinyl or a similar substrate, and the turntables use a stylus-type laser or a laser-type stylus, and the signal would be a warmer 24-bit 96kHz digital format and therefore resistant to sonic degradation, especially with plenty of oversampling and error correction.

Kinda like big, black CDs.

Nice, big sleeves with nice, big photos & graphics, inserts, and album liners, too.

[forge]

I hink it is a pipeedream though...vinyl is too expensive and heavy and awkward - not very 21st century - and mobile phones/mp3 players are becoming the same thing so it's download striaght to your mp3 player on the go.....people are going to want more of that sort of shit - and the biggest money makers will drive the market

[EnemyofSilence]

The Residents new album, 'River of Crime' contains 2 blank cd's. It's being released as episodes over 10 weeks, and the package contains a code to download the tracks as they become available. Then you can burn the cd's when it's complete.

[DeadlyKungFu]

Bring back the 8-track!!!

Dunno, I just see the music industry getting cheaper and cheaper, catering to the 14 year olds who buy most of the music. They always have limited budgets.

Either the vinyl wears out or the needle, I've been hearing about optical vinyl playback pipedreams for years though, that would be cool.

The thing with digital is that when it screws up, it sounds AWFUL.

On the other end I see things headed towards more channels, Dolby headphone for portable use, multi channel digital amps can that fit in your hand, driving virtual speakers. Either for multiple language support, multiple content or 5+ channels of audio.

kids these days...

[Anubis]

It was a nice nostalgic dream Dude but the reality is that digital downloads and iPods are the new paradigm. I doubt that current or future generations will have a touchy -feely desire to touch plastic discs of any sort. It's kinda like black and white film. Directors use it occasionally for artistic flair but you couldn't sell any B&W TV sets.

[forge]

On the other end I see things headed towards more channels, Dolby headphone for portable use, multi channel digital amps can that fit in your hand, driving virtual speakers. Either for multiple language support, multiple content or 5+ channels of audio.

kids these days...

or a laser pen you sit on the desk that uses walls, desk and windows as speaker membranes - or your skull

[DeadlyKungFu]

You know, I have one simple request. And that is to have sharks with frickin' laser beams attached to their heads!

[leisuremuffin]

It seems obvious today that the LP will long outlive the CD format. With digital downloads taking hold, people are going to end up with these music collections that only exsist on hard drives in their media players. It seems like there may be a need to reconnect with the physical nature of a recorded album. Since record companies built their empires selling records, it seems like it would be to their advantage to start pushing vinyl again. There should be a deal where your LP would contain a code to entitle you to download a digital version of the album from the record company's website to load onto your media player, but you get the full sized LP in all of its glory to put in your record collection.

Ahhhh... pipedreams are so sweet!!!!

Well, i gotta agree with you that vinyl will outlive the cd. The cd is really pointless now anyway, all it is is something that you stick in your computer, strip off the data, and dispose of. The record is so much more fun as an object.

But i dunno, i think the instant gratification factor of downloading music will eventually win out, at least for most stuff. But i like you're idea anyway! If i was going to buy music as an object, i'd rather have the record. But, i'd want to have the music as a digital file so i could actually take it with me anywhere.


It's at this point that i should let you know something. I've (barely) made a living off of selling people records for most of my adult life.

(might explain why i'm more than just a little fucked up, y'know, typical record store clerk asshole with artsy aspirations. Y'know, got a few credits, played a lot of shows, had some tiny sucess, but still probably doomed to a life of, "Here's your change, you want a bag for that?")



anyway, i love the actual object part of the vinyl record, but in the end, what do you end up with? A roomfull of incredibly heavy shit that you have to cart around every time you move. Fuck, I listen to my records *more* now that i've transfered most of them to digital files. Yea, i even use dreaded compressed formats sometimes. AAC if you must know, but some stuff i have as uncompressed pcms. I don't always listen to stuff super-intensly and aac's really aren't that bad. Well, it's bad, but i'll still listen too em and enjoy them, gotta blast something in the kitchen, y'know. Anyway, it's not like what super low quality mp3s were when they first showed up. That was fuckin bad.


Anyway, that's a whole bunch of rambling, but here's my point:

I've converted a lot of my records to files and then sold em. (well, some i can't sell, i 'm too in love with them as objects.)

Now i find i listen to them even more, and i don't have them cluttering up my space.


Fuck yeah.

which brings me to *my* pipe dream:

I keep thinking of starting a business converting people's record collections into digital files for them. Ok, sure, i know there are already people out there doing this, but i'm thinking of doing it from a nerdy audiophile angle. Unfortunately, i'm not really that guy, my turntable at home is merely a tech 1200 with some mid grade stanton cart on it. And also I'd have to charge so much for it to make any money that i think it would be a kinda hard sell. I dunno.



.lm.

[leisuremuffin]

The Residents new album, 'River of Crime' contains 2 blank cd's. It's being released as episodes over 10 weeks, and the package contains a code to download the tracks as they become available. Then you can burn the cd's when it's complete.

Ha! I love it! That's great.

They would do something like that.


anyway, genius.



.lm.

[Sales Dude McBoob]

It's at this point that i should let you know something. I've (barely) made a living off of selling people records for most of my adult life. (might explain why i'm more than just a little fucked up, y'know, typical record store clerk asshole with artsy aspirations. Y'know, got a few credits, played a lot of shows, had some tiny sucess, but still probably doomed to a life of, "Here's your change, you want a bag for that?")



anyway, i love the actual object part of the vinyl record, but in the end, what do you end up with? A roomfull of incredibly heavy shit that you have to cart around every time you move. I've converted a lot of my records to files and then sold em. (well, some i can't sell, i 'm too in love with them as objects.)

*my* pipe dream:

I keep thinking of starting a business converting people's record collections into digital files for them. Ok, sure, i know there are already people out there doing this, but i'm thinking of doing it from a nerdy audiophile angle. Unfortunately, i'm not really that guy, my turntable at home is merely a tech 1200 with some mid grade stanton cart on it. And also I'd have to charge so much for it to make any money that i think it would be a kinda hard sell. I dunno.

I used to work at Mystery Train records in Harvard Square back when I was a Bostonian. True, it was barely a living but it was one of my favorite jobs ever! It was a lot like the film High Fidelity except everything that transpired was funnier + more sublime than ficiton. We had a deal with a cafe down the street > they could borrow any used CD they wanted, they just had to bring us fresh espresso drinks and cookies. Life was good.

True, my record collection is big and heavy, but so are my books. I wouldn't want to scan them all and stick 'em in a palm pilot so I could read them on a train... actually, that'd be pretty cool, but my point is that I like having a library of stuff in my home. Lots of books + CDs + vinyl. Seeing my libraries of physical objects in my home makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. It makes me feel how real vinyl sounds.

The problem with your pipedream, besides profitablity, is that number one - you don't want to even flirt with the idea of servicing the "audiophile" customer. They are walking human nightmares. The problem with the normal customer here is that the majority of people who don't know how to convert digital files will likely not be able to manage and operate the digital files once they have them. Imagine an irate customer calling you at 8AM "That CD you made for me won't play in my RAV4!!!!"

My pipedream is a pipedream indeed. But I think this might appeal to the independant companies. I can't imagine shortsighted giants like Sony BMG buying into this, but perhaps companies like Matador that already produce vinyl + CDs on a regular basis need to address the fact that a lot of their customers illegally download their music as opposed to buying either format. My idea would be a way to entice customers to buy rather than steal > it would increase traffic on the label's website > and create an opportunity to build a stronger relationship with the customer > and it would be a way to put Leisuremuffin out of business!