Dr: Unfortunately, you are giving most musicians far too much credit. While giving musicians an independant electronic forum is something sites like MP3.com and others certainly do for upcoming artists, it is simply another version of a record company. Most artists know nothing about promoting themselves. The business of commerce to a legitimate musician is unimportant in general. To be honest, I don't really worry too much about the rock and pop or r&b and country musicians. Their demographics and knowledge of the business has grown by leaps and bounds. The real musicians I worry about are the fringe players - jazz, blues, folk, etc. These are genres that record labels don't really need to survive. Most have them as a matter of pride but not as a matter of income. Indy labels can be fairly successful but a jazz CD that sells 250,000 copies is like a pop CD that sells 5 million. You can imagine what impact the digital music world would have on many of those artists who simply cannot afford or don't have the time (you try ripping MP3's while your on the road 300 days per year making a living!) to promote themselves. They rely on the traditional method which is being directly undermined by the electronic process. Some musicians and artists, especially in r&b and rap, will probably have very good success with MP3 and downloading. Pop and rock will come around. Even country may eventually make it online, but, with its traditional audience, I doubt it will be anytime real soon. But, how do you get a jazz artist or a classical composer or a blues guitarist to promote themselves in a medium like the internet which requires hours of work and effort (not to mention, the knowledge of how to do it and make it stand out among millions of other things) when they are struggling just to survive and make music? It just isn't possible. Besides, I haven't even bothered to address the concerns of what MP3 sounds like. Ick! If I had just spend $150,000 on my CD, you can bet I wouldn't want the first listen of it done in the form of a squashed down, ultra-compressed MP3 download!!! But, that's a topic for another day. ------------------ Save Our Rockets and Comets SaveOurRockets.com
Jeff You say that MP3s sound bad? It depends on the bitrate. I have downloaded some older songs that I NEVER would have been able to find and burned those to CDs and they sound amazingly clear. 128 is CD quality. The internet is making it EASIER for the fringe groups to make a living. I have heard about so many new bands from around the US that I NEVER would have heard about before. Once I hear a few people saying how good a certain band is, I usually try to download some songs from them. If I like those songs then I buy the album. They made a sale off of a guy that they wouldnt have if it wasnt for Napster. Yes, there are some people just burning their own CDs off of their MP3s... HOWEVER, those people doing that NEVER would have bought the CD in the first place. If a person is a fan of Metallica (I used them due to their stance against Napster) then they will buy ANYTHING that band releases. And if you want to know the truth, a band harldy gets sh*t from the record sales. That is why bigger known groups like Prince, Motley Crue, etc.. have left their record labels and started their own. Prince changed his name because the Name Prince was under contract to Warner Bros until 1999. This year he changed it BACK to Prince. He said that he was getting 14% of CD sales, AFTER the Promotion, etc.. That comes out to near nothing. He felt that 100% of 1 million CDs is better than 14% of 8million. NAPSTER and the internet give ALL bands a chance to get their music into their fans hands and SKIP the greedy record labels. Their a MANY ways a band could ensure selling CDs. One good way is to make an enhanced CD that a person NEEDS to download extra stuff off a bands official site, etc.. sorry if I am confusing, but I just woke up. ------------------ "Her Box Started Buzzing Ever Since She Heard The CRÜE"
The ability of a band to allow fans to Download songs gives a band the ability to make Much more money. The way the record companies are run now is crazy. Listen to the band HOLE talk about how the money they get from CD sales. Listen to TLC talk about how they went BANKRUPT because of their record label. Listen to Nikki Sixx of Motley Crue (who has sold 40million albums) when he says that LAST year was his biggest money making year EVER! and that was WITHOUT a CD to promote. (Just back catalog CDs off of his label) Unknown bands can now upload songs and sell them at $1 a piece to their fans. They get more money this way. They need NO distrubution. NO marketing. NO artwork. ------------------ "Her Box Started Buzzing Ever Since She Heard The CRÜE"
Jeff are you starting a Saveourmusic web site? You are beginning to sound like a music executive This is the future, there can be no turning back now. With the invention of Napster and others, consumers have voiced their opinon. The music industry is now taking notice. (finally) They are scared of exactly what DUDE said. Bands will no longer need them to promote their own CD's. And bands will make a hell of a lot more money than they ever did. This is scaring the hell out of the "industry." It is exciting that "new" bands have an even playing field now. I agree that it is illegal to download music for free, but, in the long run it will be the best thing to happen to music. The "business" will change for the better. ------------------ "Don't think twice, its allright"
Jeff, Most MP3's that are encoded at 192kbs bitrates don't lose much in the way of sound quality. At least not discernible to most human ears. Most MP3 rips are being made at between 128kbs and 192kbs. I'm not an audiophile who can discern tonal quality down to its most minute changes, but I can rarely tell differences between the original music and the ripped mp3's when they've been encoded at either 160kbs or higher. Most people even consider 128kbs as being CD quality recordings (although I'd say that starts at around 160kbs). ------------------ Just shut up and post
Dr: Tell that to a band or producer who just busted their a** to get a guitar part right that isn't even audible because of the compression from MP3. I'm not saying it is bad. Compared to previous versions, it is damn good. But, even the radio is better and the radio is TERRIBLE on recorded performances because of the added compression from bandwidth constraints and the use of studio FX DJ's have no business using. Bob: I have no interest in protecting the music biz. I hate it. Believe me, artists already promote themselves individually, but without videos, national airplay and write-ups in magazines, no one hears of them. There are a million bands out there working to promote themselves. Many of them are very deserving of being heard. Unfortunately, self-promotion is a difficult and thankless job. Musicians and bands are not businesses. Just as artists need benefactors, movie-makers need studios and writers need publishers, musicians are stuck with the record industry for better or worse. MP3 may help some, but it will no doubt be incorporated into whatever else they do and have minimal impact on how the rest of the world views them. Tell me this. How many unknown and unsigned bands have you downloaded lately? How many of those have you liked well enough to buy a CD? It is like a needle in a haystack. People buy CD's because it is on the radio or on MTV or VH1, not because they search all over the net to find their favorite band. And, once they've found them, it becomes like brand loyalty. Once a Hendrix fan, always a Hendrix fan, eh? ------------------ Save Our Rockets and Comets SaveOurRockets.com
Jeff, I have bought over 100 CD's on independent labels. Many of them I never even heard a song before I purchased the CD. Some are disspointing, but most of them have been surprisingly good. I also buy anything and everything by local blues musicians in this area. I very very rarely listen to the radio, so I have no idea of "who's hot" or "who's the latest buzz" other than what my family or friends tell me. ------------------ "Don't think twice, its allright" [This message has been edited by BobFinn* (edited July 30, 2000).]
Bob: You are DEFINITELY the exception! But, that doesn't surprise me a bit. * ------------------ Save Our Rockets and Comets SaveOurRockets.com
