The biggest thing to happen to the music industry in a while I think is a program called Spotify which we have over here in the UK. I here it's coming to the USA soon too. What it is is a program you run, you type in any artist and it gives you a list of all the albums ever made, then you just click a song or album and listen to it in it's entirety for free. There is an ad every 30mins, or you can pay $10 a month for no ads. Of course, there are a few artists missing, but you'd be surprised just how many stuff is on there. It's fucking amazing.
I can't remember for the life of me which band it was, but I remember reading a few months ago that [band name] was going to abandon the album altogether, and instead continue to add songs to a complete library from which fans can pick and choose songs from (similar to iTunes). Songs would then presumably be released independently, rather than 10-20 at a time like they are on an album. It had something to do with not making fans pay for songs they don't want to listen to, along with the ones that they do. Does this sound familiar to anyone? Or am I misremembering shit again? In other news, Ballsack listens to Rhianna. Everyone point and laugh at him (again)!
I HEAR tell we have that already. It's called Pandora. I've never bought music in my life. Last time I checked, in order to get busted for piracy an "officer" (or whatever the proper term is for internet hot fuzz) has to download the ENTIRETY of the suspect piece of internet property from you and run it. So the obvious solution is to just be a torrent dick, download but don't upload. Which is a horribly selfish thing to say, but survivalism leans towards selfishness.
I read recently that Maynard and Billy Howerdel from A Perfect Circe were again working on some tracks, but they might not ever release a new album. They are just going to release the songs via the internet. Maynard was quoted as saying, "CD's are plastic discs that no one cares about anymore." He also stated that they would probably not tour either, just make some music and release songs here or there. I hope that's not true. I could care less about getting a full album and would settle for songs whenever they release them, but I would love to see them in concert again. I appreciated when bands like Radiohead offered their album for free along with NIN doing the same. I gave both $5. That's what I feel is a good price for an album if I really want to buy it, considering how easy it is to get free. Bands I really really love, I'll shell out $10 or so for their albums as I want to do everything in my power to make sure they still keep making music. I also try to see the bands I love in concert and buy some sort of merchandise from the band in a way that I know the band will get a cut from. They have to make a living too and from my limited understanding, only the super famous high level bands are actually rich. A lot of lesser known bands might be doing alright, but could still use some support. Bands that I don't really care too much about but like listening too or bands that I know have more money than god, torrent all the way. I also still listen to Pandora quite a bit as I've developed a few personal stations over the last few years that never disappoint.
I really don't see the group of 13+ songs being lumped together going away entirely. Sure maybe the physical CD might drop by the way side but I just don't see a majority of artist switching to a complete single based writing/recording/releasing system.
I used to work in the music business, and was one of the leading techie geeks in it. I'd consult to the likes of Virgin, EMI, Sony, BMG, and developed a shit ton of technology for them, and many individual artists like Bryan Adams, David Bowie, Sarah McLachlan/Lilith Fair, etc. I was very heavily involved in a lot of industry focus groups trying to figure out how technology was going to impact the industry, and how they could best take advantage of it, and they ALL did not get it. Every single one of those record companies were set up to be commodity-based physical distribution companies. The vast majority of their revenues were in the physical creation and shipping of a CD/DVD. The concept of a digital payload that they could not force into those channels was mind-boggling to them, very threatening, and they refused to try and deal with it. The did everything they could to force everything into those channels. Long ago I said that they will have to change their model to being service-based, and they didn't get it. No longer is it about the selling of the music, it's about what the artist/label can do for the customer. The music becomes the branding vehicle for the artist. They still don't get it, for the most part, and are latching on to any legal (RIAA/DMCA) means or fantasy technological means of "protecting" their profits. They REFUSE to believe that DRM won't work. I really believe that the day of the big label will be coming to an end sooner rather than later, and will be replaced by on-line artist-services sites and real-world concert promoters.
I've always been a record buyer. It comprises about 75% of my music portfolio. I get it.... I'm old. But I like to spend hours in the music store and put my grubby fingers on the record and discover it in that medium. Insomuch, I assumed incorrectly that because of the mass theft of music by consumers that not only would the artists slowly evaporate from industry, but the art would suffer as well. Which is incorrect. The artists aren't suffering at all, just the recording industry. This is a pretty good article about it. However I don't see Record companies going completely tits up. Someone's got to give artist's seed money for their first record, or to get their project going. While they're not needed to promote or get the music to the masses, they still need to provide capitol for someone to get the art off the ground. Or is this assumption ignorant as well? Personally I like the idea of Cloud music, sorta like Zune does. You pay 15 bucks a month, and you have access to every song you could ever imagine. Its your own personal jukebox, and you can still buy the song/album if you're so inclined. So you get the best of both worlds. I don't subscribe to the service but would think its better than paying 99 cents per song on Itunes or other similar services. As for discovering music, Pandora and LastFM are steakballs.
I'm curious as to how everyone gets the music they listen to. Itunes? Limewire? Pandora? CDs from Best Buy? (Could a poll be added to this thread?) For myself, there is a handful of artists that I have been a long-time fan of and continue to support by actually purchasing their music, pretty much only from itunes. Other than that, almost everything else is downloaded from Limewire. What about the rest of you?
The smashing pumpkins are doing something like a 144 song "album" released in a series of EPs and singles on itunes. No physical album release at all. I believe Radiohead have said something similar as well, but I don't think that's actually anything solid. Others may have said similar, but those are the two highest profile bands I've heard about.
I get my music from 3 places either Itunes, limewire or the vast majority of torrent sites out there. I prefer the free methods as I'm sure everyone does but sometimes when I'm partying I'll have my Ipod out and I'll buy a song. I try to get my music from demonoid especially if I'm trying to get whole albums. I use limewire to download the individual songs when I'm just sitting around and need to update the library. Here's my list on how it all started for me Napster->Kazaa->Bear Share->Imesh->Limewire/Demonoid/Itunes. Does anyone remember any of these oldies?
I get a box of DVD/CD's every couple of months from a friend that's a music exec that I've done work for for years. I also belong to (how's this for irony?) a private music torrent site run by and for music industry insiders. I also belong to another private tracker called What.CD I'm still a firm believer in supporting music as best I can, though, so I'll still buy CD's to show my support. More than anything, though, I'll go see them in concert. That is, by far, the biggest cash that a musician sees.
I'm surprised they're still selling CDs... who buys an album on CD when you can pay less for it via iTunes and then burn a copy whenever you need one. I use piratebay and itunes simultaneously. iTunes gets it for the most part now that bands with following of every size can make their stuff available. With Ford pushing the microsoft sync package and every new vehicle having an iPod jack in it nowadays I think the CD is already obsolete. I can download any album on my Droid and sync it up via bluetooth with my car all while driving 100mph or listen to overseas radio stations and get music from bands that haven't even launched anything in the States yet. Gotta love technology
I download, but I have started to feel a bit guilty for basically stealing a product. And I love music, I want to support it as much as I can. Spending a few bucks to actually pay for something that means something to me seems like the least that I can do for what I am getting in return. I know I could get it for free, I know most others are getting it for free, but should I? So typically, I will download something, if I enjoy it and think that I will keep listening to it, I will then go back and pay for it. Seems like a fair compromise to me. I just think of all of the wonderful songs on albums (usually some of my favorites) that I would have never discovered if I had chosen to instead simply go to itunes and purchase the single that I will probably hear 100 times per day for the next month until I never want to hear it again. Then I think of all of the albums that I bought because I heard a catchy single on the radio and discovered the rest of the album was basically filler. Yep, fair compromise. I like the Radiohead concept... I downloaded In Rainbows. But then I purchased a CD for full price. It was worth it. If they go to some other concept that seems fair and reasonable to me, maybe I will reconsider, but seriously, it is $12, I can do that. I also see a fair amount of shows, where the real money for the artist is.
I wish the album would make a comeback, I really do. I know that will probably not happen, but I will continue to buy vinyl because I'm an asshole purist that way and to support a once great cause: music. I'm hoping live performances can save this industry. Concerts bring people together. Granted, sometimes you get The Rage Of Aquarius (Woodstock 99) or on occasion a trampelling, but Coachella and some of the European festivals like Wacken really bring them out, and it's a non-stop party the whole time. They need to do that so EVERYBODY can go to one. Lallapalooza used to travel when it didn't suck and there were always local one-day festivals like EdgeFest that had at least 30,000 people. Roll some good-sized joints and go to a concert, people. It's still one gathering when we usually all get along.
Shit, a lot of music purist hate festivals because it doesn't allow a majority of the bands to play full sets. Summer festivals are hugely popular these days. Of coarse there are always someone there to bitch about how Bonnaroo/Coachella is so corporate now yadda yadda. I enjoy festivals though, I highly recommend going to them.
I haven't used Limewire for a couple of years now , having moved onto Torrents and sometimes Rapidshare. Is Limewire still worth using ?
I buy CDs from Amazon when I'm bored, or most notably, from my local record shop. Every couple of months I swing by and spend a couple hundred bucks on albums, and have been building my library that way. I hate the quality of compressed music on my relatively hi-fi system. Not sure if it's just the ipod or what, but it sounds like shit compared to a CD or DVD audio format. I rip all my CDs onto my iphone, and if you were to hit shuffle you would be just as likely to get Miles Davis as CAKE, which is the way I like it. I still have dozens of burned CD-R discs from college from the old napster and kazaa days, but I never listen to that music anymore because I find that listening to singles is disjointed and not as entertaining as listening to an entire album straight through. I'm 28 and don't recognize any of the current popular artists at the grammys or MTV awards or whatever. I listen to a lot of Frank Zappa, Pink Floyd, Cat Stevens, and other cool 70's stuff. Just about everything I hear on the sattelite radio at the Gym that is "modern" music whether hip hop/pop/rock etc., seems like it would be painful to listen to on purpose without distracting yourself with, well, working out. I will keep buying physical albums and cds for as long as they are available, or until I have the cash to spend on an uncompressed digital storage system with all of the right separate components for my sound system. Even then I would still need a high quality, uncompressed source of music, so I hope that the growth in disc capacity is joined with a migration away from MP3 and other similar formats. Using a 3.5mm headphone jack connector to pump music into $5,000 worth of stereo equipment is like putting A1 sauce on a wagyu rib-eye. I enjoy music most when it is played to set a mood for a social gathering and/or to be actively enjoyed/actively listened to in a dedicated setting. I prefer to walk around the city without earphones on (unless listening to sports talk or NPR or something for entertainment) and to be aware of my surroundings. My walkabout life does not need a soundtrack, and I find that when I try to listen to music as I'm out doing errands or day to day stuff on an ipod, that I end up distracted from both the music and whatever it was I was supposed to be doing. Fuck that noise, I'm a purist, I guess.
I can't speak for the rest of the music industry but I think the model being adopted in the rap game (and to some extent the electro game) has great potential. Every rapper nowadays is adopting the web model of a certain product for free, pay for premium. In a word, mixtapes. Every rapper nowadays puts out free mixtapes that are distributed online to anyone that wants them. They stick with the album as a form of the premium content. Thus, they still try to guard their albums from being pirated. Clearly this fails a whole lot but I think a lot of people feel some degree of gratitude for the free mixtape that they are willing to pay for the album. Me personally? I started with napster, then morpheus/bearshare/kazaa/etc., and now torrents + dc++ + rapidshare/megaupload. I don't pay for any music I have because I basically can't afford it. I do go to a pretty good amount of shows though of my favorite artists so that is currently my way of showing support. Also if I like someone who is fairly unknown, I make sure to tell people about it and post a song or two on my facebook so it gets advertised to my facebook friends at least. Some day when I have more money, I'll probably transition to a a service that lets me subscribe for unlimited downloads. No fucking itunes for me. I would be dead broke no mater what my income if I downloaded albums off itunes, not to mention how shitty that program is on PC's.