Mikael Åkerfeldt;8435005 said:
To be honest, I've realized the Cd will go away, and I am not really all that upset about it. I never liked Cd's as a format. Chances of vinyl coming back to dominate are slim to say the least, unfortinately. But it has made somewhat of a return. I always spend time taking to record store owner, the few that are left. Especially in the US I spent shitloads of time (and money) record stores and all of them said Cd's sales are at an all time low, while vinyl has really taken off. Maybe it's a nostalgia trend, but the signs are certainly good.
Perhaps it's a nostalgia trend, perhaps people actually really do enjoy vinyls. I mean, when you think about it, vinyls offer so much more than a CD does in a way. Bigger artwork (that's more than likely clearer because it's probably closer to the original size rather than shrunk down). Higher quality in some cases. If everything was done by tape (in the case of 70s records etc) then there's not going to be any loss from the analogue->digital->analogue (or digital->analogue) conversions.
Maybe the ones who are buying vinyls are actually starting to realize that CDs don't offer the best bang for your buck. Personally the only reason why I don't buy vinyls is because I don't have a record player, and I don't have the money to spend (right now) on all that high quality, high tech equipment (like speakers, a good preamp, a good deck, etc.)
What I wonder is what the next format will be. I refuse to accept that the new Opeth album will be nothing more than a URL, hopefully we'll see something more refined than that, something more interesting.
Further down the line I'd think the next Opeth album would be a URL, but not the immediate next one, not by any means. CD sales may be floundering but since most labels haven't realized that they need to catch up with the times, I doubt CDs will be obsolete by the time the next Opeth album is released.
I'm talking to my colleagues about this all the time, and everyone's worried. I mean, my friends in Katatonia, Enslaved (who takes active part in a anti download/piracy campaign), Porcupine of course...we're all on the same page. None of us are wealthy by any means, but we're seriously contemplating how the hell we can continue doing what we do if piracy escalates more.
What people fail to understand is exactly what everyone who gets it, have been saying all along. Labels will advance a band anywhere from $10k-$50k (probably even more, I'm not well-versed in the specific numbers and I'm sure I'm grossly understating the amount) to record an album and do a tour. Without a label, there is no band. And without record sales (be it from vinyl, CD, or downloads via itunes/Amazon/etc), there is no label.
In this day and age when any numbskull can get a Pro-Tools rig and make an album in their bedroom, the studio aspect of an advance really isn't that big of a deal anymore (other than hiring someone or outsourcing to a Sneap or Jens or whomever may be mixing/mastering/engineering.) But that's really it - everything else, tour advances, merch, etc, depends on a record label. And that's where it hurts.
People like Trent Reznor or Radiohead can afford to give away their albums - after having been in the industry for 10-15+ years, selling millions of records and actually making a profit. But anyone who's not NIN/Radiohead/Metallica/etc cannot survive without a label, especially not a metal band.
I mean, I think that there's definitely a difference in opinions as far as actual piracy goes. On one hand, I know that without piracy I would have never gotten into many of the bands that I have (that range from Opeth to Camel to Deathspell Omega to Shpongle.) But on the other hand, I don't expect music for free - hence why I buy the albums when I can afford to, or I get a ticket to the shows and buy some merch when I can afford to. I also know that with piracy, I would have wasted a whole bunch of money on records I'd listen to once then never listen to again because they're terrible.
That's the difference that needs to be addressed imo.
For me, music and culture overall is such a valuable thing, and I refuse to reduce it to "products", which I know in a way it is. But for me it's a....religion, really. It's such an important thing for me that I could literally not live without it I think. Films, music, books, art, everything is available for free and I've yet to encounter an artist who's genuinely alright with being world famous for their art yet left with nothing.
And I agree with this. I know that if I were in a high-profile (metal) band, I wouldn't be okay with writing material for hours on end, then recording it for days on end - barely breaking even at the end of a tour, only to find out that I didn't even get many sales at all.
I found it very interesting, sad, yet amusing when the results came in regarding the Radiohead "self-cost" Cd. I wasn't very surprised that most people, fans, downloaded the album without paying anything whatsoever. Yet they we're given the choice, they could have paid £1 or even less, but chose to pay nothing.
This is sad too. And it just shows how greedy the majority of the world is, on a slightly smaller scale. Even though they grossed almost $1million I believe, it's still very sad that they could have done more if it weren't for greed.
Not blaming anyone, or pointing fingers, but the whole illegal-downloaders-self-defense-excuse about music being "too expensive" (which I don't think it is) clearly didn't apply to this case.
Maybe not in that specific case, but something also needs to be said about these cases where you walk into a store, want to buy an album, and it's...$20. Or however high it may be (which is especially prevalent in the US with all these chain stores like FYE and Best Buy.)
Even at $12 an album it'd be more affordable for people in the current economical climate, and in the long run I'd like to think that labels would benefit from that as it'd bring in more total sales.
And no, it's £1200 each which equals around 15000 SEK, minus taxes which is almost 35% I think. Generally renting a 3 room flat in the suburbs here costs between 4 and 6000 SEK a month. So as you can tell, some months it's porrage all the way baby.
Yeah on second thought, that £1200 split 5 ways was kinda low to me when I really thought about it.
Would like to hear your thoughts on the points I've raised, it's certainly interesting to talk to someone as prolific as you are (in the metal world) about these issues. I've really only talked to lower level musicians, who are on independent labels and have a full-time day job etc and they share somewhat of the same sentiments as I do.
