is making money from albums a thing of the past

[polyslax]

Then I think there's a big chunck of people who are somewhere in between. People who love music and appreciate good quality audio, but fall short of being the totally obsessed, gold-plated-$100-cable-buying hi-fi nuts.

Oh man, you need to update your knowledge of the absurd... try $30,750 for cable... yeah, I'm serious!

For this and more audiophile absurdities, have a browse here:

http://www.ilikejam.dsl.pipex.com/audiophile.htm

[snakedogman]

Just look at beatport for example - on average 5000 new tracks added each week, 4000+ utter garbage... no idea where it will end up. What it does mean though is you have work 10 times as hard as you used to to float to the surface.

it's funny that you mention Beatport though cause I'd say that's a prime example of smart people who understood how to make an actually viable music business when music sales are falling across the board, by speaking directly to a precise target audience (dance music lovers and dj's) and making it easy for customers to find the music they like.
The time of big major corporate labels telling people what they can/have to listen to is over. Or at least it's getting less and less commercially viable. In a time where pretty much every daytime radio station plays from the same extremely limited repertoire of music as dictated by the big corporate labels, where popcharts are nothing more but a contest of who can throw the most money at an artist to get a much airtime as possible, it's no wonder more and more people are getting disillusioned with this particular way of consuming music, choosing rather for a system where they can make their own choices based on their own tastes. The internet, mp3 and p2p made this possible and it is the only way forward. It's just taken the "music industry" way too long to come to terms with this. It's time for bands and musicians to get more personal with their fans. Again the internet makes it possible for artists to communicate directly with the people who actually buy and listen to their music, without the need of any big record label. You don't need to do hugely expensive promotion or buy shelf-space in record stores in order to be able to sell music. There's artists like Prince who understand this, and there artists who'd rather complain about dwindling cd sales instead of actually getting with the times and thinking about what they could do to improve sales.

[3dot...]

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m ... i_n6183858


hey... what can I say ... I'm a longtime fan!!!

[rikhyray]

Then I think there's a big chunck of people who are somewhere in between. People who love music and appreciate good quality audio, but fall short of being the totally obsessed, gold-plated-$100-cable-buying hi-fi nuts.

Oh man, you need to update your knowledge of the absurd... try $30,750 for cable... yeah, I'm serious!

For this and more audiophile absurdities, have a browse here:

http://www.ilikejam.dsl.pipex.com/audiophile.htm

Great fun, thanks for the link, though I am most impressed with the 400$ knob my personal fav was that hollographic whatever, the pics !

[longjohns]

totally obsessed, gold-plated-$100-cable-buying hi-fi nuts.

haha

how about $14,000 speaker cables...

http://www.audioreview.com/PLS_1584_911crx.aspx

edit: oops, already beaten to that joke!!

[longjohns]

And with a much better link - funny stuff there.

[scientist]

audiophiles catalogs are the funniest thing in the entire world. check this out (halfway down the page):
http://www.royaldevice.com/custom.htm
how many people can claim the biggest problem with their stereo is that transients might move in? ha, get it?...audiophile joke.

but back on subject...so since when did independent musicians make money off of the music industry anyway? i'm with you in agreeing that the industry has slid in the last few years, but by and large the musicians are in the same position they were before. its the periferal people who are losing their jobs: record label owners, store clerks, radio programmers, etc. etc... here's a great link to a ridiculously long thread wherein steve albini answers all sorts of music (and poker) related questions. amongst the dishing dirt about asshole musicians, he has some good things to say about the state of the industry:
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/showf ... art=1&vc=1
lots of extraneous stuff but start around page 34 for some good stuff...and just read the posts from 'electrical' (that's mr. albini). and don't skip this classic:
http://www.arancidamoeba.com/mrr/problemwithmusic.html

[TITBAG]

PRINCE IS AN MIDGET HOMOSEX

[noisetonepause]

could you all just stfu?

Oi, that's my line.

Anyways, record labels are, with few exceptions, racketeers. They serve no positive function anymore. Since the whole Napster debacle, they've shown their true colours: they don't respect their customers and they have no interest whatsoever in change outside the odd format 'upgrade' which involves buying all your music again.

We should be happy that technology has made them obsolete.

[jeskola]

could you all just stfu?

Oi, that's my line.

Anyways, record labels are, with few exceptions, racketeers. They serve no positive function anymore. Since the whole Napster debacle, they've shown their true colours: they don't respect their customers and they have no interest whatsoever in change outside the odd format 'upgrade' which involves buying all your music again.

We should be happy that technology has made them obsolete.

Other than get you onto beatport i see no evidence of PR, getting gigs, merchandinsing etc etc... its a bit farsicle that so many people have to do their own promotion or sit back and watch their label post a couple of paragraphs on forums in exchange for 50%

[dancerchris]

Music needs a new paradigm.

IMO, music is going to eventually be free, downloadable and the musicians will only make money off of endorsements and performances. People still want to see the real deal. From what I understand most artists make their money touring anyway and the labels are who make the $$ on record sales.

My $0.02

[bgone]

I have to say...I agree for the most part that there is a definite paradigm shift in progress. Albums as a musical unit seem to be on the way out in favor of the single mp3 download. However, I am still hopeful that artists will continue to recognize the album as a distinct work that is still worthy of pursuing. Can you imagine Abbey road only selling as individual songs? I think that album would be ruined by that. There is still room for complete album sales, the problem is that few artists are making great albums from the first song to the last. When only one track out of 12 is any good, why would anyone choose to spend more than a buck since that one song is all they want anyway? I personally still see the album as the ultimate musical achievement. But like a novel is only as good as the chapters that comprise it, the album too is only as good as the sum of its parts. One song is merely a chapter in that book. I personally want to write a whole good book, not just one good chapter. If the entire album is good, chances are much better that people will buy the whole thing.

[downfader]

I see something else.. I see a new generation being raised to beleive that it is their right to get stuff for free. Whether this is music being exchanged and d/l'd as mp3, or clip art or public services it doesnt matter. I can walk through the high street and hear people talk to their kids in this way.

No one tells anyone what hardwork can achieve, rewards are not free, they are not a right. Society around the world has changed and it is affecting everyone. A case in point: I know people who wont give to charity because they argue "...what do I get out of the equation?!"

Personally I HATE mp3. Vile sounding format. I have masses of cds (prolly about 700) and I still buy reguarly. I guess I'm just special

[Idonotlikebroccoli]

man this forum is going down the tubes. you guys are worshiping freaking prince. his time has come and gone. and so you guys are getting your panties all wet over some dude in his late 40's because he has a new marketing plan for the failing music industry because of the net. and it perpetuates... "oh me too, he's so cool, oh yeah".

what a punch of pussies.

I don't see anyone praising his music, but his forward thinking ways.

I particularly like the "go to concert, get cd" concept. It's not entirely new, as a lot of smaller bands/artists do that. I'm not sure if it's been done so much by large bands/artists before.

---------------------

From quote reply to post:

My main annoyance by today's music industry is the lack of full-length previews. I mean.. add a 64 kbps full-length preview so no-one can be bothered to record the shitty quality. You'll get to hear the whole songs, no-one records/rips and everyone's happy. When searching music, you don't want to hear 30 seconds of a song.

[sweetjesus]

I see a new generation being raised to beleive that it is their right to get stuff for free.

+1 and it pisses me off

okay im not innocent, and i do download the odd free stuff but what amazes me is that A) these hubs where people download music and stuff are run (very well and organized) 12 year olds who do it for the 'cool' factor.. and these kids and the people who lap up their warez have the nerve to complain about the specific file transmission service that people use... it's like nothing's ever enough or good enough and even if it's free its not enough.

crazy stuff.

im not sure how the musician is supposed to make money as ive got bills to pay and the musics not cutting it.

i'll be starting a casual ableton teaching job soon and trying a few other ideas along those lines but it would be nice to actually make money from music yaknow.