I know it's not IDM but I think this is perhaps the best idea from a
record label in a long time.
If you go to
http://www.folkways.si.edu they have their ENTIRE catalog
available -- popular titles are kept in print as manufactured CDs with
artwork, and everything else is available on a burnt-to-order CDR.
And to veer from my original topic a bit, I may be old fashioned, but
an MP3 file, no matter how good it sounds, doesn't have the same value
to me as the actual item -- CD or Vinyl. MP3 files lack a certain
Ding An Sich-ness, or sense of artifact. And no matter how they were
encoded, it's not the original music.
And I don't think I'm alone, I have two sons who have had their own
computers pretty much since they could read (and used mine before they
could read) and MP3 files have second class status compared to the
real thing. More disturbing, music downloaded might be entertaining, but
they value it at or near the price they paid for it. As a musician
I'd like it to have more value than that.
Digital revolutions in distribution are fine, but I'm afraid it has,
to some extent, devalued what musicians do, and makes it more difficult
to make a living with music.
On the upside, internet exposure has been a real boon to people who have
a talent for live performance. They can expose potential fans to their
music on line, offer them direct access to purchase music without the
dreadful mall-record-store middle man, and keep them up to date on their
touring schedule. In fact (and I think Chuck D was one of the first to
point this out) one's ability to perform live is the one thing a record
company -- or the internet -- can't take away from a musician.
Sucks for those who can't figure out how to make a show out of their music.
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