Why buying CDs/demos is essential to metal

[prozak]

The fact that metal music is no longer found exclusively in physical media removes much of that precious ‘aura’ that can accompany physical art objects. Demo tapes were exciting and mysterious objects because one had to ‘work’ to track them down. In the 1990s, I remember hearing rumours that there was a Pakistani metal band who had released a demo, something that seemed impossibly obscure and exotic at the time. I tried and failed to track down their tape, but I did track down others from faraway metal lands like the Phillipines and Peru and there was always a delightful frisson when tapes from distant lands finally arrived in the mail. Today, there isn’t much frisson to googling something and finding it. Stripped of the aura, rare and obscure metal recordings become much more mundane.

Keith Kahn-Harris, "Too Much Metal," Souciant, November 29, 2013.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

Why buying CDs/demos is essential to ANUS's enjoyment of metal

 

[Vamos]

Can't agree with this one. The fact that today it is easier for you to find stuff from a band is a positive thing for metal and with tools like Bandcamp and YouTube, today bands can reach a wider multinational audience in a far less expensive and time consuming manner than ever before. It also easier to cut down the middle man (Labels) when it comes to getting your music to fans.

At the end of the day, what is essential to metal is that the bands get their music 'out there' and gain an audience (and with today's technology it is easier than before to do it), not how much mental masturbation you can do as a listener because you managed to get your hands on a CD of an obscure demo noone has heard about. Or how klvt you think you are because you got your hands on it.

 

[crimsonfloyd]

I disagree. Buying physical copies of music doesn't necessarily correlate to a greater appreciation. While I try to own all my favorite records (including the rare and out of print ones) I also find myself buying second-rate albums by bands I like to fill out my collection. Sometimes I'll also buy albums I'm not crazy about to fill in my collections of certain eras or movements.

However, there are downsides to digital as well. While I agree with everything Vamos said, I do think the sheer amount of material we have access to now can incline us toward snapshot judgements, like listening to one song or half a song and deciding a band sucks. If you actually buy an album you're likely to give it at least a few spins before passing judgement.

 

[I-TEND-TO-DIE]

I just love to collect rare items and especially out of print albums - It's an obsession. Iam not really satisfied with getting just a cheap download of an album. It's enjoyable for a certain time but I turn off with it really fast when I get the physical copy. Each to his own I think. I don't judge people who download the albums but for me you can only really enjoy the music when you get the lyric sheets, artwork etc.

It's for me like being sunken in a different world. Of course Youtube has also artworks and lyrics of the band included but it's only visual.
I think it's because I grew up with listening to albums in full.
Also not to mention you do the band's the most favour.