Opinion on Full Album Streams?

[Crazy Booduh]

Question for Ken that I'm curious about.

What's your opinion on the rising trend of bands releasing full album streams on Spotify, YouTube, Soundcloud, etc. prior to their release? I was able to listen to Zierler, Caligula's Horse, and Teramaze over a week before they are due out. As a consumer I love it because I rarely will blind buy a CD, even if it's an established band I like, but I was curious what your thoughts were as a relatively smaller store and label.

Do you feel it helps sales? Hurts sales?

 

[lasercd]

I'm basically agnostic. We use it as a marketing tool for our labels. For the labels it sort of like a "if you can't beat 'em join 'em" mentality. 5-10 years ago people were stealing music and spreading it via bit torrent.

Really for us I can't really say it hurts us a hell of a lot. Just not sure it helps a lot either.

 

[TCProgger]

It certainly helps me as a customer, especially in the case of a band/artist I'm not familiar with but would like to take a chance on. I've been burned in the past many times when buying an album based on just one song (usually the radio single) only to discover the rest of it was nothing special. I may not listen to an entire album first before buying it if it's streamed online, but I at least listen to enough tracks to make an informed decision.

 

[Chris Lira]

I too rarely blind buy CD's anymore and use my paid Zune subscription, progstreaming, etc., to screen and make better choices. And yes, it helps me to listen to things I might not otherwise hear; and I like something I buy it.

 

[lasercd]

As a consumer I'm with you guys. I see the benefits. I use free Spotify, Bandcamp, Progstreaming, etc.

I just discovered this amazing trumpet player Matthew Halsall on Bandcamp. Wound up buying two of his albums on vinyl.

From a label point of view I would prefer someone buy an album from our Bandcamp page rather than just listening to it over and over. Labels have to monetize these things or we vanish.

 

[TCProgger]

As a consumer I'm with you guys. I see the benefits. I use free Spotify, Bandcamp, Progstreaming, etc.

I just discovered this amazing trumpet player Matthew Halsall on Bandcamp. Wound up buying two of his albums on vinyl.

From a label point of view I would prefer someone buy an album from our Bandcamp page rather than just listening to it over and over. Labels have to monetize these things or we vanish.

I recently discovered Clutch the same way (through their YouTube channel), and after seeing a couple of their videos and listening to the whole Earth Rocker album I rushed to Amazon and bought several of their past releases. One of the best finds I've ever made.

I'm certainly not one to just sponge off the internet forever when it comes to music. I like to be able to put albums on my mp3 player and I'm still old-school enough that I prefer to buy all my music on physical disc, so just going back to a Bandcamp or YouTube page over and over is very unsatisfying to me, so no need to worry about that from me Ken. I will always buy your excellent product.