I have been reading and following this thread from start to finish, which hasn't been all that easy, because as someone stated before - it's like trying to walked through a crowded room while everyone is yelling at each other. That said, here's a few of my thoughts and reactions:
It may be you see a lot more "digital only" releases in the future.
I really hope this is not the case. For me, and many others I know, digital releases =
uke:
Which would suit me fine...l rarely purchase the tangible product anymore. I think a part of the issue that most tend to overlook is the fact that today's society is extremely mobile. We simply cannot be encumbered with 1000s of CDs. But, we want to take our music with us as we bounce from city to city...and between continents. Digital files and the relatively compact storage systems allow that.
It might suit you fine, but others like me would be pretty upset. I don't download anything. Period. I don't feel burdened (or encumbered as you say) by the hundreds of CDs I have on my shelf at home. My boyfriend doesn't feel burdened by the thousands of CDs he has on his shelves. And neither he nor I ever feel burdened at ProgPower or Flight of the Valkyries where we purchased several hundreds of dollars of tangible CDs from the vendors and had to hold onto them all night, carry them back to my hotel, or transport them home. We like having a physical product and believe it or not, others do too.
There's nothing wrong with the fact that you like your media in a digital format, but please don't think you can speak for all of society on this topic. There have already been a dozen or more people on this forum who have admitted they prefer a physical product, and I would guarantee that there are more folks like us out there in the world.
Record companies & bands would like to keep their product in a tangible state. To them, it's easier to sell & market. But society has moved past the point where we must have a solid piece of this particular product in our hands to recognize value. Bands & companies have got to catch up to the market & get it to the customer in it's intangible state...the way it was meant to be.
And I would like record companies & bands to keep their product in a tangible state as well. Not everyone has moved past that point. (Someone will probably have to drag me there kicking and screaming one day.) Plenty of people still want to read the newspaper in print, purchase magazines to hold the glossy pages while they read articles (or to rip out the posters and wallpaper their rooms with them), and hold a CD Case/Book in their hands while they listen to it on their stereo. It's not to say that media in other forms does not have value or that it is a bad ides, just that a good amount of people still prefer to hold something tangible in their hands. It is that way for me (and many others I know) particularly with CDs. I want to look through my shelves of CDs, choose one or three or five to listen to, hold the case in my hands, open it, look through the liner notes and at the artwork - not just click a button on my computer or my iPod (which I don't even own at this point).
The market wasn't "meant to be" intangible. If it was "meant to be" that way than it would have been that way from the very beginning. It's great that new outlets have been created for media, but that doesn't mean that every form that came before the current has to die. Some have, but some still exists, and I hope that some, like CDs and LPs, continue exist.
If this is the way things go, than so be it, but labels, distributors and bands will still be alienating a portion of their fans/buying population by switching to a completely digital format. Those, like me, who prefer the hard copy, tangible product, will be forced to find other venues to get it - be it "bootleg" (for lack of a better term) studio releases or otherwise. The thought of those venues make me unhappy just thinking about it, because that means I'll probably be supporting the bands I love a lot less, at least in the form of music media (certainly not in the form of concert tickets, t-shirts and other merchandise).
But why alienate part of your current purchasing audience to cater to those that are downloading (stealing, not sampling) you stuff in the first place?
I understand that the market is changing, but that doesn't mean give in to the least supportive denominator. I just don't see how this helps.
I think instead of limiting themselves, what bands and labels need to do is, as some one mentioned before I believe, find as many creative outlets as possible to reach their audiences - CDs, MP3s, T-shirts, posters, Myspace, contests, magazines, comic books, festivals, etc.
As much as I don't like Ozzfest, the fact that it was free this year was pretty revolutionary. I see the music industry heading more in that direction. I'm not saying everything should be free, and I'm not saying it shouldn't be regulated if it is free, but I'm saying that artist may have to give a little on that end of the argument and recognize that concepts like that will expose them to a wider market because anyone can afford to check out something free.
OK, I think I've said enough off the top of my head while here at work. I need to go back a read through this thread a little more and collect my thoughts a bit to come back with a few better suggestions than that (because I was certainly thinking of some other ones when I was reading through what everyone else wrote over the past few days). I just really felt I need to voice my stance on the whole, end of tangible media, conversion to a completly digital age bit. I don't think it will happen and I hope (for the sake of avid fans/supporters/music collectors like me) it won't.
