Downloading

Vibrationbaby wrote: I wish you guys lived through the seventies when you had to go out to the store to buy music rather than sitting at a stupid keyboard. It was so much fun. You would actually meet all kinds of freaky people face to face and  the store owners were really cool and actually knew their stuff. The internet is killing the spirit of music. For example, in the jazz section in Sam The Record Man ( which is no longer there) there was this old guy who knew everything about jazz, I mean everything. He arranged the jazz section himself. He deliberately put the fusion section in the very rear. People would come up to the second floor where the jazz section was located wandering around looking for a Stanley Clarke or Spyra Gyra album and more than once I heard him say that " It`s in the back there although I can`t understand why you would want to listen to that crap but it`s there in the back". He was more of a purist. But my point here is that back in those days the music stores were full of characters. I actually learned a lot about older jazz from this guy who sadly passed away a few years ago. Fortunately we have one store left here in Montréal, Beatnick Music,  where you can still go to and meet all kinds of record freaks, musicians and the owner, a former local professional musician, can find anything through his many contacts. And believe it or not there`s even a prog section with both vinyl and CDs both new and used! I dunno, c`mon Duke let`s go out to the porch and watch the sun go down.

Well, VB, aren't we those record freaks/ musicians here at PA ? I still get the face to face at the local Indie shop, the music instrument stores. But even better, with the web, I can share my enthusiasm with those who have the same interests or tastes as me. Before the internet explosion, that was something that was hard to do if you lived outside a major city. I mean Moncton New Brunswick does not have too many RIO/Avant-Garde fans. Our metro area has some 110,000 people. So being a fan of a small niche genre means you might be a pretty lonely soul.

Add to that the ability to search AND find those rarities. I still get a thrill discovering a group like Leitmotiv through PA, and then being able to legally download their album (and directly pay the artist) and enjoy it right away. The same as I did when I was buying LPs at Oasis records in the late 70s, the used record shops in Moncton & Toronto in the 80s/90s/ 00s, and now also through the internet.

So nowasays, a music freak like myself isn't restricted to what a local store might stock, no matter how extensive their offerings are.

Frank's Music, which was the local Sam the Record Man franchise is still around and carrying a great selection of music. But they are often unable to even order such groups as Le Orme. Even an american group like King's X can be difficult to get. I've had their latest on order for two months now. The store does have 4-5 of their earlier albums, but not this one. So  - ITunes, Amazon.com and others come in handy. Along with the Specialty shops that a guy stuck out in the sticks would only know about through the internet.

These are glorious times to be a musician and a fan. The answer is in finding ways to help satisfy both groups.

And that's where the subscription model works. Pay $20  a month. Unlimited downloads, no DRM. Each musical act gets paid based on the amount of downloads. Heck in Canada, if you assume a million customers, that's $20 million a month. If an act like Jelly Fiche gets $500 each month from this service, it must beat getting a few thousand a year from CD sales, not counting the manufacturing costs.

There are those who will download tons of music. Most will not. And there will still be some who will steal the files online. But security and convenience at a good price will draw most in. Even Steve Jobs has argued that 99 cents a track is too much. Check out Amazon.com. They have daily sales on certain MP3 albums. $1.99 for an old classic jazz album ? Woohoo.

There are also those who will download the same music several times over the course of years. Why ? Well, why use up memory space on your PC if you know you can always get the same music again later. Best of all, the artist gets paid again. The CD you burnt is damaged, lost or whatever ? Download & burn it again. And with such products as Sonos, you can access the music on your computer in any room in your house.

You prefer the physical product ? There will always be LPs or CDs , or some other form of concrete hold in your hand thingy to own. Chances are that more groups will be able to issue them because of revenue from the internet.

So it's not exactly a bad scenario all round. IF and when it happens. But it will happen.

Edited by Negoba - February 17 2009 at 11:53

Hello i find this topic interesting

Ivan_Melgar_M wrote: Dean wrote: A stolen copy is a stolen copy regardless of whether it was shoplifted from Borders or copied onto a CDR - reselling it is effectively scenario-3, not scenario-2.     Not exact Dean, if you buy any item:   From a legal source (E-Bay is a legal source) The Cd is original The guy never tells you it's stolen. You are acting legally, because you don't have to know if this guy has stolen it. As a fact the artist has already received  his payment when the album reached the store, because the stores get the album and pay the price to the distributuion company. Of course the seller is a crook, but you have no responsability.   Iván

Wilcey wrote: It'll only be "Free" when you don't mind "Dark Side of the Moon" sponsored by duracell torch batteries, or "The Tall Ships" sponsored by seasickness pills or whatever........... the very idea makes my toes curl, I can't even listen to commercial radio without screaming, this (music) is about something more spiritual than that surely?

I agree that it will probably take a few decades until we can listen to Dark Side of the Moon for free, and without advertising -  the rights are owned by a major label. But today there are already some artists who give away their music for free, and maybe that catches on. I'll definitely try to compile a list of those albums at Progfreak.com - they need all the support they can get!

Keep on downloadin`. It`s already killed music anyway. Just like parts of the rainforest have been killed by overlogging.

^ well, it's up to the artists to untangle art and economics. Maybe we'll see more and more artists resorting to a model where they keep their day job at least to some extent and make music in their spare time - like Shadow Gallery (RIP Mike).

^ you can upload your music on last.fm - there people can listen to it for free, and you'll get a share of their advertising revenue. Also, providing your music as free downloads doesn't mean you can't still sell it on CD or vinyl. Remember, people are already downloading music illegally ... it can't be helped. Why not give it to them as mp3, and if they like they can also purchase the "physical version"?

Why can't one have just a reasonable day job, create and play great music, hopefully break even on it, and leave the fame and riches to other fools?

Negoba wrote: Why can't one have just a reasonable day job, create and play great music, hopefully break even on it, and leave the fame and riches to other fools?