to JayKeeley

[JayKeeley]

I wish this thread never got 'jacked, I was hoping it could become useful with ideas and wot not

carry on

 

[MFJ]

seriously! what have i created????

 

[JayKeeley]

Does the F in MFJ stand for Frankenstein?

 

[Ars Magna]

I wish this thread never got 'jacked, I was hoping it could become useful with ideas and wot not

carry on

Anything I can do to help you out, let me know. I'm obviously no huge label, but I have worked with a couple of others prior to starting Ars Magna and I have decent contacts at other labels.

I think you are heading down the right path. There is nothing better than a good release with cool packaging!!!

 

[JayKeeley]

Oh yeah, there's no way I'm venturing into this without consulting with the likes of you my good man

 

[MFJ]

Foster, btw

 

[Demilich]

Back on topic: Keeley, you will release my demo if I have to drive to the Jersey shore or wherever you might happen to be living the American Dream and shove it down your throat! Cheers!

 

[JayKeeley]

oh alright then!

disclaimer: this is not binding

 

[MFJ]

hahahaha

 

[Demilich]

plus if you're doing it it i'll try extra extra hard to make it worth releasing!

 

[Ars Magna]

Instead of the standard packaging I think you should have it wrapped in goatskin and hand-numbered in blood.

 

[Demilich]

Instead of the standard packaging I think you should have it wrapped in goatskin and hand-numbered in blood.

my my aren't we original this morning


hey i know while we're at it lets paint our faces white & black and wear spikes and leather!

 

[skyrefuge]

quite a miserable human being aren't you?

You don't know the half of it!

And since artists and fans are alike

That sounds like a pretty dangerous assumption to me.

everyone likes the sentiment of collecting something that looks cool on a shelf (and this goes for books, DVD, etc). Unless of course you're someone who watches movies on the computer or downloads text from novels and thumbs through it in Adobe

People mostly like collecting stuff because they've been sold the idea by the media companies, who are laughing all the way to the bank. Music, film, television, and literature were considered forms of art and paid for and enjoyed long before they could be packaged in permanent take-home form for consumers.

I *am* someone who watches all my movies and listens to all my music "on my computer". But my "monitor" is a 34" HDTV in my living room, and the sound is played through $2000 worth of amplification and speakers. The idea that the "computer" is something separate from the "stereo/home theater" will soon be antiquated. I have also read books on another computer (a sub-notebook about the size and shape of a thin hardcover book that I can curl up with in bed), but it's not a great user-experience; once dedicated e-book hardware becomes affordable and standardized however, I'm sure I'll get one of those.

Obviously I'm at a far-flung extreme...I do understand that more "normal" people have an attraction to physical objects. But I think the young'n's here at RC who still collect CDs are the exception, not the rule. And they'll become an even smaller exception as time goes on. Eventually, CD players will disappear, and then will people still want to buy an empty box with some liner notes to complete their experience?

I wish this thread never got 'jacked, I was hoping it could become useful with ideas and wot not

Sorry. I actually intended to be on-topic by giving ideas for starting up a label. Just because they aren't the same ideas you already had doesn't mean they aren't ideas. But yeah, proposing ideas that are diametrically opposed to your initial conception is probably not exactly what you were looking for.

I guess I'd just be wary of how far you can extrapolate the ideas/behavior of the RC community beyond the RC community. IMO, one of the main functions of a label is to provide the business sense that artists tend to have a severe lack of. And some of your ideas seem pretty pie-in-the-sky to me. So the question would be, what value are you adding the differentiates you from what the artist could independently do on his own?

you mean when we bought out all of Ars Magna's stock?!

The point is that you *already* thought the music was great before you bought out the stock, thus illustrating that none of you need packaging to think that music is great.

Neil

 

[Ars Magna]

my my aren't we original this morning


hey i know while we're at it lets paint our faces white & black and wear spikes and leather!

Holy shit!!! I think you're on to something here! If we add swords and a torch, it will be the best!!!

 

[Demilich]

*takes notes*


while we're on the topic of cool packaging

who is the schmuck here who traded me their 'n Crugu Bradului A5 digi for my regular jewel case?
i love you!

 

[Ars Magna]

But I think the young'n's here at RC who still collect CDs are the exception, not the rule. And they'll become an even smaller exception as time goes on. Eventually, CD players will disappear, and then will people still want to buy an empty box with some liner notes to complete their experience?

While this is definitely true to some degree, the same was said about vinyl and cassettes. I believe that there will be a market for cds for quite some time. While downloading has definitely changed things, I don't see the cd dying any time soon. It might fall off for Beyonce and shit like that, but there will always be a hardcore audience that is looking for something that speaks to all of their senses. Yes, ALL...I, for one, still lick each cd before I play it. Are ya with me guys? Anyone? Anyone?!?

 

[skyrefuge]

I'm not concerned with where my money goes.

Well ok then, fair enough.

Sorry for causing offense; I had been under the impression that nothing anyone said at this board would offend anyone else, so I've been making no effort to be diplomatic. I'll try to improve that. I was unfairly combining a few peoples' posts into one, so I didn't intend my comments to be directed solely at you.

That said, your statement implied that me, as someone who doesn't buy packaging, is a somehow a lesser fan who doesn't get as much value out of music as you. I'm not offended by that, and maybe you're right, but I don't know where you could have gotten the data to make that claim.

I understand "the ritual", and performed it for many years, so just like you, I thought I might miss it if it went away. But instead of just speculating, I ran the experiment. I started buying mp3s a few years ago, and found that I still got a huge level of enjoyment out of that stuff, so either I didn't miss "the ritual", or the other benefits outweighed any loss I felt. So with that knowledge, I stopped buying physical CDs, and haven't looked back.

From reading some of the posts from other RCers, several seem to be really close to that all-electronic tipping point, so that's why I have some doubts about the viability of plans like JK's.

Neil

 

[Reign in Acai]

Page 2 Rocks! BRB, going to go read Page 3.

I'm not concerned with where my money goes. When I buy music, I want a physical, tangible product in my hands. It's not a matter of "fetishization," but rather a combination of a larger musical experience than merely the music, and of course base consumerism. My comment, which you so unjustly tagged as some sort of "tr00ism," is with regards to the aesthetic of music as art, and rather not simply sounds that go into your ears. There is a far greater level of appreciation of the music and the total experience with the ritual of the CD or the LP, the sitting down with the cover art and the lyrics, etc., that is so very obviously lost in merely purchasing sound files on the computer. If I was going to revert exclusively to mp3s, I would just illegally download all of my music, because there is no other incentive to buying the officially sponsored mp3s.

Your mp3 idealism is an admirable one and may work for some, but the particular breed of Metal fans that I am referring to (not tr00 Metal warriors, but rather active listeners who gather more from the music than merely the music) will not accept mp3s for various reasons, some of which I pointed out. You completely misrepresented my statement, and frankly, did so in a quite dickish and arrogant way, so for that you can F.O.A.D., but aside from that, if you're content with buying mp3s, that's fine, but there are a lot of people who are not, and regardless of the reason, this scenario makes releasing this type of music exclusively in mp3 format incredibly impractical.

If it was truly exclusively about the music, the artists would release the music in mp3 format for free download themselves, like Against Nature does.

I LOVE MATT!!! BTW - Skyrefuge FYI, you come off as an arrogant prick in pretty much every post I have seen you compose.

Back to reading...

Ali, you need to sign Noltem first and foremost!

 

[JayKeeley]

I actually intended to be on-topic by giving ideas for starting up a label. Just because they aren't the same ideas you already had doesn't mean they aren't ideas. But yeah, proposing ideas that are diametrically opposed to your initial conception is probably not exactly what you were looking for.

Exactly. You nailed it in one.

And some of your ideas seem pretty pie-in-the-sky to me.

Well, yeah. It's a thread, not a business plan I'm submitting to a bank loan officer. Plus I even said that I was just "thinking allowed", a Skyclad reference that you missed.

The point is that you *already* thought the music was great before you bought out the stock, thus illustrating that none of you need packaging to think that music is great.

Knowing the music was great was the EXACT reason why we all went out to buy the actual physical media.

Plus people like to shoot the breeze, it's not necessary to deconstruct everything to its molecular state.

 

[dorian gray]

I dont dl anything. For one I have dial-up but even if I had cable or something, I would still buy CDs. It might be because of my age. I dunno. I don't see anything wrong with dl, as long as you pay for it, but it just doesn't suit me.
J. and I are failry similar in this regard but I do have an mp3 player with which to listen to while lifting, running, and the occasional hockey game on the radio.