[kj] OT: Music industry - decline in CD sales

[fluke fluke]

"I agree about missing the old days - sitting
on a bus, poring over the artwork of the goodies in your bag on the journey
home from the shops."

   I have some good news for you Janean. Buses still run. Shops still sell C.D.sThere is nothing to stop you jumping on a bus, buying a C.D. and then looking at it on the bus on the way home, theres nothing at all to stop you doing that .
   There's no need to miss the old days .



Date: Fri, 30 Jan 2009 15:56:38 +0000
From: Janean.Lancaster at hopwood.ac.uk
To: gathering at misera.net
Subject: Re: [kj] OT: Music industry - decline in CD sales






















That pretty much sums up how I feel about
it too.  I download in order to hear stuff, and my favourites are bought on CD. 
Only because I want to be able to re-rip at higher bitrates as my hard drives/ipods
increase capacity.  I’ve not paid for very many downloads.  

 

I agree about missing the old days - sitting
on a bus, poring over the artwork of the goodies in your bag on the journey
home from the shops.

 

I too spend much more on gigs.

 

If album downloads were lossless and included
a nice PDF of artwork/lyrics/credits/whathaveyou that you could print off to get
stuck into while listening to the music, I would be glad to see the back of CDs. 
And I would have so much more shelf space at home.

 











From:
gathering-bounces at misera.net [mailto:gathering-bounces at misera.net] On Behalf Of Brendan Quinn

Sent: 30 January 2009 15:28

To: 'A
 list about all things Killing Joke (the band!)'

Subject: [kj] OT: Music industry -
decline in CD sales



 

Do we have many people who work in the music industry
on the list? I wanted to voice an opinion about the decline in CD sales. 

 

I read these articles all the time, on tech sites and
general news, about the *terrible*
decline in CD sales revenue and how it’s affecting Sony and Time Warner
and Geffen and all the other music companies. And then I get into the comments
section, and the thing that strikes me is…people seem to take the problem
seriously. But I can’t really see a problem?

 

Haven’t we all been bitching about record
companies since the day dot? Artists and consumers alike? Aren’t they the
toll-booth between legitimate artists and people who would benefit from their
art? Don’t they artificially ratchet up the prices to consumers and down
the prices to the artists, didn’t they charge more for CDs than cassettes
despite cassettes costing more to make (50% premium is the price I remember
paying in the late 80s / early 90s in NZ, $30+ vs $20). Don’t they develop
these shit Britney Spears and boy bands that have no artistic merit whatsoever
and pollute our youth with mediocrity and perpetuate these negative
stereotypes? Didn’t we have to pay a small fortune to change the media
format of our collections from records or cassettes to CDs, despite having
– surely, already purchased the rights to the content? Why are they
complaining that we’re getting a free ride in the current conversion?
Haven’t the artists been complaining about being ass-raped by these guys
ever since Motown records, or before?

 

Okay, so piracy is illegal, a whole generation is
getting stuff for free and artists are losing out. But are they really? Are
they artists that tour? Because while my CD spend has all but dried up to a
flaccid husk of its previous self, my gig spend has at least compensated,
probably moreso, esp considering I have more disposable cash than when I was a
destitute student and buying CDs. And if it’s a tough 5-10+ year
transition into the digital age…well if we do away with the record
company tax / toll-booth that sits in between artists and their audience
– who cares? What did these guys do anyway? Did they scout talent that
now won’t come to light? Ever heard of the internet? If I can hear about
fucking ThumbMan (which admittedly brightened my life for a good 45 seconds),
then I’m pretty sure I’ll her about the next Radiohead without
Subpop telling me all about it. 

 

To me the main loss is the kids who are getting all this
music for free and therefore fail to appreciate what it’s like to work a
shit job and save up for a few weeks to get the latest Led Zep or to flesh out
their Sabbath collection, walk home with a record burning a hole in their bag,
and then listen to it the whole way through while looking at the artwork and
smoking some oregano their mates sold them as hash and having the single best
day of their lives until the lose their virginity, but I digress….

 

People losing jobs isn’t nice to see, but
that’s a whole different debate.




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