A big thanks to everyone who replied! Response was overwhelming (and
surprising):
61 Total Respondents
3 Only downloaded Caustic Window .mp3s
16 Only purchased Caustic Window
23 Downloaded, then purchased Caustic Window
7 Only downloaded Autechre Peel Session .mp3s
20 Only purchased Ae Peel Session
26 Downloaded, then purchased Ae Peel Session
Some sample comments:
quoted 2 lines I definitely couldn't stand to have MP3 as the only version of music I>I definitely couldn't stand to have MP3 as the only version of music I
>liked.quoted 1 line The mp3s just don't do the original [Ae Peel Session] justice..>The mp3s just don't do the original [Ae Peel Session] justice..quoted 4 lines [Caustic Window .mp3 download only] That's mostly to do with my opinion>[Caustic Window .mp3 download only] That's mostly to do with my opinion
>of the stuff that's on the album as opposed to available through MP3.
>"Popcorn" and "R2D2" are pretty good, the other stuff is pretty dodgy.
>And I own J9ii.quoted 9 lines First I downloaded the Caustic Window .mp3 files>First I downloaded the Caustic Window .mp3 files
>Then I purchased the Caustic Window comp
>Then I downloaded the Autechre Peel Session .mp3 files
>Then I purchased the Autechre Peel Session
>also did the same for BoC's Music has the right to children, Autechre's LP5,
>all of Aphex's albums, all of Mu-Ziq's albums etc...
>Things I've just gotten MP3s for, never bought: some early SKAM releases,
>hard to find Aphex Twin releases, early BoC (I.e. stuff that I couldn't buy
>even if I wanted)
My interpretation:
While IDM probably isn't representative of the record buying public as a
whole (how many Macarena trainspotters are there?), I'm fairly sure that
the list's collective actions are the same as those of Warp's more profitable
customers (i.e. those that buy albums & singles by different artists, not
those that just buy an occasional single for one song). Therefore, I
wouldn't use the results of this poll to make blanket statements about
the impact of .mp3s on the record industry as a whole. But it should
yield useful data for interpreting the impact on small electronica labels.
More people both downloaded and purchased. This suggests : 1) some people
would have purchased anyway, but were forced to download due to commercial
unavailability; 2) some people downloaded, liked what they heard, and decided
to buy; 3) some people downloaded, did not like what they heard, and did
not buy; 4) some people downloaded and liked what they heard, but chose not
to purchase. I'm sure they have their reasons. I bet they're not spending
any less money on music, though.
Che
Original Poll Questions:
A quick poll:
Have you:
[] downloaded the Caustic Window .mp3 files
[] purchased the Caustic Window comp
[] downloaded the Autechre Peel Session .mp3 files
[] purchased the Autechre Peel Session
X any that apply. Please reply to me only, and please be honest. I won't
tell anyone if you've been naughty, but I will post the totals grouped
according to download only, purchase only, and download & purchase.