Soon I won't be able to buy a CD or DVD...

@ Wutzington... i already made the point that music is and will continue to be made and given away for free, and that some of it will be quite good... thing is, none of us are really listening much, despite a MASSIVE supply, to any home-made music that's given away for free RIGHT NOW, so how can one speculate that this type of thing could ever be at the heart of any kind of "future model"??... no, we are all pretty much listening to music that has been produced to high quality and high expense... signed bands on labels... and doing so overwhelmingly. So as a culture we are saying one thing and doing another, while cheating AND deluding ourselves about the whole affiar in some kind of weird display of mass, culture-level sociopathy... all trends cannot be rendered benign by anointing them as "cultural"

+1, that's pretty much a better-thought-out version of what I was saying in my second paragraph above, so I guess I was on to something :D
 
on top of downloads, you also have to realize that most music and movie purchases now are being made in digital format, thus negating the need for places like kmart to sell hard copies...
 
I still buy Cd's. I can rip them myself but why wouldn't I want a high resolution backup on the shelf?
As far as higher res goes, I've made the argument many times that the industry made a huge blunder by not pushing SACD hybrids. I said it here:
Personally I always thought the majors dropped the ball by not going all-in with SACD hybrids when file sharing first hit. For those that don't know the SACD hybrid had a layer of standard PCM CD (playable on a regular CD player) and a layer of 1bit DSD (comparable to 20bit/96k PCM). This would have greatly expanded the chasm in fidelity between MP3 and physical mediums w/o alienating current buyers the way other technology shifts had in the past (b/c you didn't have to buy a new player if you didn't want). The craziest thing to me is that Sony/Philips owned the technology so there was automatic incentive for Sony Music (Sony, Columbia, RCA, Epic, etc.) to do it but they didn't.
For example, Britney Spears sold 14mil in 99 and N'Sync sold 11 million copies in 2000-- both on Jive (a Sony subsidiary). That would be 25 million SACD's in the hands of (young) consumers.
Of course this wouldn't have stopped d/l but it could have potentially created hype around a different medium. When Napster first hit it was as much a novelty as it was a viable way to get records. That was the moment when the industry had the greatest potential to up it's game and keep some momentum. Of course this is only my theory.
 
I had no idea that format even existed at any point. Something like that would've made sense to push, I think. Instead Sony pushes new video mediums when they aren't really necessary. Sure, Blu-Ray looks better, but from my personal experience, not that much better. Nonetheless, the industry is in a real pickle.
 
not to forget you guys have ulcerate and early peter jackson movies!


For you guys into Peter Jackson and speaking of his early films, see if you can find what is one of his very first movies called 'Meet the Feebles'
Its like the Muppet show.... but with violence swearing and sex scenes lol.
I kid you not. It's the most random shit you will ever see.
I think a horror called 'Bad Taste' was his first movie back in the early 80's.
 
I had no idea that format even existed at any point. Something like that would've made sense to push, I think. Instead Sony pushes new video mediums when they aren't really necessary. Sure, Blu-Ray looks better, but from my personal experience, not that much better. Nonetheless, the industry is in a real pickle.
I was in college when Napster and the MP3 format first hit. At that time the debate in the pro audio world was whether DVD-A (supported multiple PCM bit/sample rates and surround) or SACD would win the new format war. That discussion ended within a couple of years.
I actually encourage everyone to go out and listen to some DSD playback side by side with CD. It's quite remarkable as it really sounds better (IMO) than even a higher res PCM. Some guys describe it as sounding like vinyl w/o the noise and limitations of vinyl. Regardless, it's worth knowing what you're missing.
 
i am glad the OP has some clarity of thought on this.... illegal downloading is indeed the culprit, and it's become pandemic... the largest majority of music fans are not replacing CDs with purchased downloads... no, most are now just stealing.


Thank you, James. After the first few replies I thought I was going to get slammed for what I thought was an important situation. This is far more serious than many people seem to think.
Maybe because it is New Zealand that was mentioned rather than a bigger country I din't know but the implications are still the same, it will just take longer for the bigger countries to follow, but it seems un stoppable now...
 
brain.. i had trouble following a lot of your post.. perhaps a language barrier?... but as for your last paragraph, i think a whole lot of people THINK they are making a "pro record for a few thousand bucks", but the amount of people that actually are is far far lower... if you own or rent a good acoustic space already, and already have pro gear, and already have all the necessary skill sets, and years put in developing them to a high enough degree, especially your ears... then sure, you can do it.... but most bands have none of the above, and probably shouldn't worry about trying to acquire them.... they need to write good songs, TOGETHER... in a REHEARSAL SPACE... and put their time and efforts into that. that is what makes good music, not laptop-jockey grid-love.

i'm about sick of "Laptop Metal" to be quite honest... and i think most people are, even if they don't realize it yet.
 
Looking it from the bright side, I hope piracy will shake the tree and all the rotten apples fall.
90% of the industry is full of non talented and shitty bands, so i understand that a teenager that has only some bucks to buy CD's download or listen online to the album before he buy it. The problem is the people who NEVER buy a CD.

You know what? In Spain there is a tax applied to all harddidsk, CD, DVD, camera, memory, pendrives, ipod or whatever to compensate for piracy... no matter what you will use it for, you are paying for a crime that you haven't commited. So many people here doesn't have any remorse and download music massively because "they are paying for it". Spain is the second pirate country after Korea.

I created a very succesful band which albums are totally free online. The problem is that I haven't received any fucking penny for my music yet, after 250.000 downloads I think I deserve some amount cause my albums are ion thosand of cds, pendrives, ipods... They deliver according to "sale lists and surveys", that is so UNFAIR. All those fucking rich artists in fashion are getting my fucking money.

So, fuck the world and the people who live in.:devil:
 
brain.. i had trouble following a lot of your post.. perhaps a language barrier?... but as for your last paragraph, i think a whole lot of people THINK they are making a "pro record for a few thousand bucks", but the amount of people that actually are is far far lower... if you own or rent a good acoustic space already, and already have pro gear, and already have all the necessary skill sets, and years put in developing them to a high enough degree, especially your ears... then sure, you can do it.... but most bands have none of the above, and probably shouldn't worry about trying to acquire them.... they need to write good songs, TOGETHER... in a REHEARSAL SPACE... and put their time and efforts into that. that is what makes good music, not laptop-jockey grid-love.

i'm about sick of "Laptop Metal" to be quite honest... and i think most people are, even if they don't realize it yet.

Hmm. I wouldn't say my band is laptop metal. But I would say having the ability to record the stuff ourselves is pretty vital, and having some level of know-how is necessary.

But I'm not naive enough to think what I do is on the same level as some of you guys who actually ARE professionally doing this.

At the same time - I love recording and engineering as much as writing music, and I see no reason why I can't do both.
 
Oh I know, but I was just sayin' .. I've started, so I may as well investigate it more. If I/we could afford to get someone to record and mix us properly... I'd like to do that. But I'd like to be involved on some level, even if it's just editing drums!!
 
Eddy... read the article... some good points and tips... IF you've spent nearly a decade on a major label laying the ground work like they have. they had someone funding their rise to some prominence in their genre, and now they are able to capitalize on that to go it alone. that's great for them, but i'd like to see some unknown bands, at least in any significant numbers, get very far on that route.... and the author himself gets that point:

"Still, this model isn't much use to unknown bands, since companies tend to bet their marketing money on the already established. This brings us to one part of the old record industry that no one seems to know how to replace: the bank. Even in the halcyon days, profitable labels were only successful with about 5% of their artists. Contracts were heavily tilted in favor of labels, so that the huge profits on the few successes paid for the legions of failures. Labels aggregated the music industry's high risks. Even if there are newer, more efficient models for distribution and promotion in the digital era, there aren't many new models for startup investment."
 
A couple of things to add to this:

1. an interesting thing happened when i self released a CD - i had a pretty good spike in physical sales after the album was released on torrents! so people will still give you money for music if you make them a fan, but they want the initial music for free. not saying this is right or wrong, just an observation. maybe the solution isn't in there but maybe a hint or a start of it is...???

2. we recognize things are fucked, what are we going to do about it? only people can change things. maybe it sounds cheesy but i think it's true. it has to come from both sides, it's just as much band's fault, as fans, as industry. Stop accepting $100 guarantee to play shows. Stop accepting a record contract with zero money up front and 13% of your own sales that you sweat and bleed for. No it's not all about money but if you are to survive you need compensation...

Anyway it's a huge complex issue obviously but just thinking out loud...