Thoughts about the music business
- Thread starter tuonelan
- Start date
Eurynome
Kukkahattutäti
New as it may be, the concept of VIP packages is already taking on absurd proportions. Regular tickets for Weekend Festival (a dance event nobody would have thought to continue after the first one in 2012 was total disaster in terms of organisation, or rather lack thereof) are €69 for one day and €109 for both days, but if that's too profane for your refined taste, here's your more classy alternatives:
1-day VIP ticket 149 €
2-day VIP ticket 219 €
4 person VIP-box starting from 1495 € (373,75 pp)
6 person VIP-box starting from 1995 € (332,50 pp)
The VIP-ticket includes (drumroll...):
- VIP pass & wristband (estimated value: € 1,50)
- Own wristband exchange (saves you time, I guess)
- Own entrance (how awesome is that)
- Vip-area, near the NRJ Stage (but no info yet as to how many stages there will be)
- Own sanitary facilities (same as the others, but paper may last longer)
- Vip-hosts (probably Jägermeister girls...)
- Vip-bar (...but likely enough, the beer is still watered down)
- Weekend sunglasses & pair of led sticks (estimated value: € 4,00)
- Weekend afterparty entrance (Fredan Tivoli, normal ticket price € 8,00)
- Vip-restaurant (welcome to the wonderland of Finnish festival catering)
- Vip-cloakroom (probably you still have to pay the cloakroom fee, but the lines will be shorter)
- Heat lamps (an absolute must at a dance party in mid-July
)
- Official Weekend Festival 2014 -poster (estimated value: € 1,00 but you can get them for free at Tiketti on the following day)
VIP boxes includes:
- VIP benefits as above
- 1 bottle of sparkling wine (estimated value € 9,00 - but it doesn't say whether its 1 bottle per box or one per person)
- Sofas (now that's nice, but for the VIP box surcharge I could buy two sofas
)
- Boxes are located on the second floor for best view (that's probably true)
- Food and drink served at the table (but obviously you still have to pay for everything except said one bottle of sparkling wine)
Everybody dance now! :danceboy:
1-day VIP ticket 149 €
2-day VIP ticket 219 €
4 person VIP-box starting from 1495 € (373,75 pp)
6 person VIP-box starting from 1995 € (332,50 pp)
The VIP-ticket includes (drumroll...):
- VIP pass & wristband (estimated value: € 1,50)
- Own wristband exchange (saves you time, I guess)
- Own entrance (how awesome is that)
- Vip-area, near the NRJ Stage (but no info yet as to how many stages there will be)
- Own sanitary facilities (same as the others, but paper may last longer)
- Vip-hosts (probably Jägermeister girls...)
- Vip-bar (...but likely enough, the beer is still watered down)
- Weekend sunglasses & pair of led sticks (estimated value: € 4,00)
- Weekend afterparty entrance (Fredan Tivoli, normal ticket price € 8,00)
- Vip-restaurant (welcome to the wonderland of Finnish festival catering)
- Vip-cloakroom (probably you still have to pay the cloakroom fee, but the lines will be shorter)
- Heat lamps (an absolute must at a dance party in mid-July
)- Official Weekend Festival 2014 -poster (estimated value: € 1,00 but you can get them for free at Tiketti on the following day)
VIP boxes includes:
- VIP benefits as above
- 1 bottle of sparkling wine (estimated value € 9,00 - but it doesn't say whether its 1 bottle per box or one per person)
- Sofas (now that's nice, but for the VIP box surcharge I could buy two sofas
)- Boxes are located on the second floor for best view (that's probably true)
- Food and drink served at the table (but obviously you still have to pay for everything except said one bottle of sparkling wine)
Everybody dance now! :danceboy:
It really is beyond me who would want seats and food (Finnish festival VIP food - probably the strangest and blandest thing I ate since elementary school) at a dance party. From what I've heard people just get high on amphetamines and dance themselves into oblivion. Or at least that's what they do here.
Ambulances would be more practical, imho.
Ambulances would be more practical, imho.
koivusaari
Member
koivusaari
Member
You're right Kirk, because none of us are here talking about the new music that is coming out and exchanging notes about other bands and other music. All fucking gone. Big ghost town.
Poor little rich band.
What he misses is the time when labels would rally behind bands and could control the market enough to pump up a few bands into something huge, rather than having more "small business" bands that make just enough to keep the group going. And, hey, it worked for them. Who can blame them for missing the good old days.
But in the good old days, bands like Cynic would have never made a comeback and had a second chance. How many great old band that quit the business back in the day are coming back because, while they will never make it huge, they can keep a modest niche following and make a go of it.
I am still excited about new albums and new music. Maybe not as much as when I was 15, but 20 years down the line, I still am. Call me immature, if you like...
The big difference is that now I got access to incredible amounts of music, not just because 20 years ago music was not so easy come by in Bulgaria for political and economic reasons, but because of the development of technology. It's just so easy. I got tons of internet radio stations, I got iTunes, I got Spotify, I got YouTube, I got Last.fm, I got Soundcloud, I got Band Camp, I got Amazon and thousands of other online stores, I got torrents. It's absolutely wonderful.
I guess the big problem for labels and mediocre bands is, that it's not so easy to trick people into buying whatever shit the industry wants to shove down their throats anymore. I've said it time and again, I will say it once more - they need to totally change their business model. I was hoping that over time they will figure it out, but they still haven't 10 years later. If it were for another business sector, I guess it would have been dead by now.
They just need to come up with something new.
Take Spotify for example. Since it launched in Bulgaria two and a half months ago, I haven't downloaded a single byte of music from the torrents. I suppose this is valid for the majority of music "consumers" in Bulgaria. However meager the royalties may be, it's still something. If I got it from the torrents, they wouldnt've gotten even this.
Now I want Netflix and I will become the model citizen.
The big difference is that now I got access to incredible amounts of music, not just because 20 years ago music was not so easy come by in Bulgaria for political and economic reasons, but because of the development of technology. It's just so easy. I got tons of internet radio stations, I got iTunes, I got Spotify, I got YouTube, I got Last.fm, I got Soundcloud, I got Band Camp, I got Amazon and thousands of other online stores, I got torrents. It's absolutely wonderful.
I guess the big problem for labels and mediocre bands is, that it's not so easy to trick people into buying whatever shit the industry wants to shove down their throats anymore. I've said it time and again, I will say it once more - they need to totally change their business model. I was hoping that over time they will figure it out, but they still haven't 10 years later. If it were for another business sector, I guess it would have been dead by now.
They just need to come up with something new.
Take Spotify for example. Since it launched in Bulgaria two and a half months ago, I haven't downloaded a single byte of music from the torrents. I suppose this is valid for the majority of music "consumers" in Bulgaria. However meager the royalties may be, it's still something. If I got it from the torrents, they wouldnt've gotten even this.
Now I want Netflix and I will become the model citizen.
Eurynome
Kukkahattutäti
And the big problem for Metallica is that they have become a mediocre band. With a whole lot of fresher and more interesting acts releasing new stuff on a frequent basis and charging modest prices for their live gigs, why should I waste any money on an overpriced has-been?
I was just trying to be polite and deliberately omitted "such as Metallica" :Smug:
koivusaari
Member
papajohnny
Member
I'm kinda glad I missed the Slayer concert last year. At first, I was pissed off, because well, it was Slayer, but then that whole sh*tstorm happened, then Jeff died. And they just didn't seem to care much. Not at all.
I have no interest in listening a band like that. I should've realized it a lot before.
Dave seems like an okay person though. He didn't deserve this, at least it doesn't seem so.
Either way, I don't care anymore.
I have no interest in listening a band like that. I should've realized it a lot before.
Dave seems like an okay person though. He didn't deserve this, at least it doesn't seem so.
Either way, I don't care anymore.
Slayer has always been a bit of a name-drop band for me. I've listened to them and respect their work, but I've never been in love with anything they have done.
Four Horsemen wise, I've only ever really liked Metallica and Anthrax, and I haven't cared about Metallica for a very long time. If I were looking for four thrash bands to put together, I'd probably go with Anthrax, Testament, Kreator, and either Death Angel or Warbringer. That would cut the douchebag quotient down to tolerable levels and up the musical relevance a great deal.
Four Horsemen wise, I've only ever really liked Metallica and Anthrax, and I haven't cared about Metallica for a very long time. If I were looking for four thrash bands to put together, I'd probably go with Anthrax, Testament, Kreator, and either Death Angel or Warbringer. That would cut the douchebag quotient down to tolerable levels and up the musical relevance a great deal.
papajohnny
Member
I never listened to Anthrax. The whole East Coast scene never attracted me much. I listened to some bands ocassionaly, and some albums, but I never got into them like I got into Bay Area, though over time Bay Area thrash started being a bore for me.
German scene always attracted me more - Kreator and Sodom early works have some of mine favorite things in metal, even though I wouldn't call myself fan of either band.
However, the problem with listing and categorizing early thrash bands is that they often overlap with speed metal or early black metal. One could claim that Bathory's s/t is a stripped down, dark, "necro" thrash album. The first Sodom EP is in a similar vein, being considered one of the original black metal releases etc.
Back to the topic of Big 4, I liked the rest three of them quite a lot during my early metallic days. I liked Megadeth in particular, and I still like some of their albums musically and lyrically-wise, but I find it hard to listen to them because, well, Mustaine comes up to my head and I want to punch him. So I avoid.
Slayer, I can still listen to things up to 1994, but again, not a real fan, nor I ever was (however their music, South of Heaven in particular, was a pretty important in my musical path, so to speak). One thing you gotta give to Slayer - they have managed, over the long career, to amass the most annoying crowd of dedicated fans there is.
SLAYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11111
Metallica...I never actually got much into them. They were a gateway band, now that I think about it, more than an actual band that I'd listen to regularly. I like some of their stuff still, but my roomie keeps playing their songs non-stop, so they are getting more and more annoying to me, as funny as it is.
I just realized though that Metallica, as crappy as it is right now (and for some time), are a band that, even though very famous, rarely played it safe with several albums in the row, and kept changing their sound here and there. Sure, the results may have been crappy, but they still went on with it. That's...commendable.
tl;rd
Alice in Chains is best thrash there is.
German scene always attracted me more - Kreator and Sodom early works have some of mine favorite things in metal, even though I wouldn't call myself fan of either band.
However, the problem with listing and categorizing early thrash bands is that they often overlap with speed metal or early black metal. One could claim that Bathory's s/t is a stripped down, dark, "necro" thrash album. The first Sodom EP is in a similar vein, being considered one of the original black metal releases etc.
Back to the topic of Big 4, I liked the rest three of them quite a lot during my early metallic days. I liked Megadeth in particular, and I still like some of their albums musically and lyrically-wise, but I find it hard to listen to them because, well, Mustaine comes up to my head and I want to punch him. So I avoid.
Slayer, I can still listen to things up to 1994, but again, not a real fan, nor I ever was (however their music, South of Heaven in particular, was a pretty important in my musical path, so to speak). One thing you gotta give to Slayer - they have managed, over the long career, to amass the most annoying crowd of dedicated fans there is.
SLAYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11111
Metallica...I never actually got much into them. They were a gateway band, now that I think about it, more than an actual band that I'd listen to regularly. I like some of their stuff still, but my roomie keeps playing their songs non-stop, so they are getting more and more annoying to me, as funny as it is.
I just realized though that Metallica, as crappy as it is right now (and for some time), are a band that, even though very famous, rarely played it safe with several albums in the row, and kept changing their sound here and there. Sure, the results may have been crappy, but they still went on with it. That's...commendable.
tl;rd
Alice in Chains is best thrash there is.
Yeah, I think Mustaine has that effect on everyone. I'm always genuinely surprised to find a Megadeth fan because I can't ever quite wrap my head around having that much love for a total douchebag.
I always preferred Metallica to Megadeth in the early days, and my view of Metallica is largely shaped by having been That Age (TM) during their peak years. I was in secondary school during the Cliff Burton years and early college for Justice and the black album. After that I was sort of 'meh' about all of them.
I knew Anthrax because one of my best friends in college had cousins in Jersey who were in a crossover band and he was big into both metal and rap, so Anthrax hit his sweet spot.
I was oblivious to Bathory and Venom at the time. Closest I came was probably Celtic Frost. I'd listened to a bit of Candlemass and Trouble as well, and kinda dug the doom vibe more than thrash. Then GnR showed up and grunge kicked off and I transitioned into industrial. Didn't get back into metal and re-explore the underground stuff I had missed until the late 90s.
I always preferred Metallica to Megadeth in the early days, and my view of Metallica is largely shaped by having been That Age (TM) during their peak years. I was in secondary school during the Cliff Burton years and early college for Justice and the black album. After that I was sort of 'meh' about all of them.
I knew Anthrax because one of my best friends in college had cousins in Jersey who were in a crossover band and he was big into both metal and rap, so Anthrax hit his sweet spot.
I was oblivious to Bathory and Venom at the time. Closest I came was probably Celtic Frost. I'd listened to a bit of Candlemass and Trouble as well, and kinda dug the doom vibe more than thrash. Then GnR showed up and grunge kicked off and I transitioned into industrial. Didn't get back into metal and re-explore the underground stuff I had missed until the late 90s.
Karhu
Senior Bear
Interesting note to add here -- just watched a video conversation between Dave Ellefson from Megadeth and Dug Pinnick from King's X and Dave asked Dug whether they used in-ear monitors on stage. Dug said that they had used them for a decade, but when they went to do a smaller show once as a one-off, they did not feel like lugging it along and setting it up, etc. They played a show without them and had more fun because they felt more connected to the audience. Dug said that wearing in-ear monitors is like wearing headphones that make it hard to hear the audience. What I took from this is that those sorts of systems make you listen to your bandmates more clearly, but also make the audience into a sort of background noise that's not a part of what you are doing on stage.
I know that Amorphis uses in-ears and they sound great on stage as a result, very tight, and Tomi's vocals are much more precise since they made the changeover, but I also wonder if their sense of what works best with an audience is colored by the in-ears dampening the smaller responses from older, less familiar material and making it so that only the big hits that everyone knows really cut through to the stage.
I know that Amorphis uses in-ears and they sound great on stage as a result, very tight, and Tomi's vocals are much more precise since they made the changeover, but I also wonder if their sense of what works best with an audience is colored by the in-ears dampening the smaller responses from older, less familiar material and making it so that only the big hits that everyone knows really cut through to the stage.
papajohnny
Member
That's an interesting point, tuonelan - and the more I think about it, a very likely one. Still, that's hardly the main reason why they play their "hits" mostly, but it probably contributes.
Second thing I found today that relates to this topic: Why Vinyl is NOT Going to Save the Music Industry... with a very good discussion of revenue streams and sound quality and why music listening is an experience, etc..
Karhu
Senior Bear
A 3,000 seater is warm and good.
A larger venue or open air show is hard.
No earplugs for the smaller venue, extra Large earplugs for outdoors, from a musician's point of view....psssst....hey I'm having a beer and I can hear myself burp!
Similar threads
