At 05:04 PM 7/17/2002 -0500, you wrote:
quoted 7 lines Yes, but, how many people also used a P2P to get a sample of>Yes, but, how many people also used a P2P to get a sample of
>the album, discovered they liked it, and then went out and
>bought it? It can also be seen as free promotion to the
>artists, especially those who do not get much (if any) radio
>support. I use kazaa to sample things I *may* like, and if
>I do, I go to the store and purchase it. I have done this dozens
>and dozens of times, and I doubt I am alone.
I would pick up more cds if they didn't cost so much in stores. I just
can't bring myself to spend 20 bucks on a cd, and since a lot of this stuff
is obscure, you can't find it at local stores so you have to have it
shipped to you, which tacks on another couple bucks to the lower price, so
it's still 17-19 bucks even for the more independent stuff.
I downloaded the mp3's to the first Latin Playboys cd (a side project of
david hidalgo and louie perez from los lobos, with mitchell froom and tchad
blake, blah blah blah) and liked it so much that I wanted the cd. But no
one around here had it, and that was even on a larger label (from '93, but
still!). So I was looking around online, and the cheapest I could find it
for was 15 bucks. Well, I like it, but with shipping it would've been
around 18 bucks. So I picked it up off ebay for 5.50 and paid 8 bucks for
it. Well, that's cheaper than a nice meal out, so that's no problem.
But that's me; perhaps I'm a cheapskate. Even if I wasn't downloading
music occasionally, I'd still be hunting around for cheaper deals. And I'm
not one of those yahoos on soulseek who needs to get releases the week
before they're released -- I'm happy reading reviews if the only way to get
mp3's are to deal with geeks that only want "hot trades" :D
rant rant rant. I still think they cost too much. A cd costs nearly as
much as a DVD -- sometimes a lot more -- and there's a LOT more production
going into movies and the like compared to your average album. I love
supporting the little guy, but, you know, I'd rather see an artist having a
simple web page with a "help me make my next album -- donate!" button on it
than pay $20 for a cd.
Maybe that's just my pie in the sky. If I could give boards of canada some
money to help them make their next album, I'd be all over it. Is that
being a sell-out? Maybe it is... But if you're so worried about making
money FROM your fans, doesn't it follow that you should try to please your
fans? And what better way to please your fans than to find out what type
of music they want and make that so they buy your stuff up instead of
downloading the mp3's? Look at all the people that didn't buy Autechre's
"Confield" but downloaded the mp3's and decided "nah, too out there" Would
they have had more sales if they had repackaged tri-repetae and passed it
through some low-pass filters with the resonance on random? Perhaps. But
then they might have lost other fans who said "i already own this CD -- I
don't want to buy it again."
I think the reason certain artists are popular is because they make music
for themselves that they like, yet there are other people out there that
like it as well. Would boards of canada, autechre, marumari, cex, and
others still be making music if people didn't buy
*anything*? Probably. it may not be as snazzy or interesting, but they'd
still be doing it regardless of how much they sold or made.
blah blah blah. nevermind. you continue making your music, and I'll
continue thinking about buying it even if there are mp3's or not. I
haven't downloaded anything but 1 or 2 songs in the past 3 months and i've
bought about the same (maybe 3 cds and 1 12"). So you're not losing money
off me -- so perhaps my opinion doesn't matter?
derek
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