I often hear or read different opinions about digital singles/albums vs cds, single vinyls/albums, etc., as well as many saying it is much easier for artists today to get discovered, because of the easy accessibility to the internet, and downloading their own songs, with the possibility of reaching a global audience, much quicker than waiting for some record label exec to discover and promote them.

But with so many music lovers, also downloading music for free or even stealing music, I find that it's harder for many artists to make a profit because of that.

On a related note, regarding digital singles/albums vs vinyl records/singles, cds, digital, well for the most part, digital singles reminds me of vinyl singles, without the B-side and is basically what I refer to as 'invisible' purchases, which is explained in the next paragraph. Only difference between digital music and the days of vinyl records, is you don't have to leave home to purchase digital music, compared to waiting for the record store to open or standing on line overnight, when news of a popular artist's album or single is coming out.

I often refer to digital music (singles/albums) purchased on the internet, as invisible music, because they're not physical copies. You can download it on your computer of course, and it becomes part of the computer, which is then often copied to a cd, then later transferred to a music player, and downloaded on a cell phone. That artist's music later has the possibility of becoming a 'sharpie-marked' labeled, copy on a cd, that will be your version of that artist's album for storage on a shelf somewhere, unlike being purchased as an original album or cd complete with cover art/liner notes/tracklists. A filing system somewhat similar to the way you(if you're an old-schooler) or your parents stored their original, vinyl singles and albums, but theirs was less work because information about the artist and the single/album, already written there for them, so all they had to do was store it away--no sharpie, copying or downloading.

One thing you couldn't do with vinyl is copy it to another vinyl and share it with your friends, that was one way musicians/artists could prevent their music being stolen, well unless you recorded the music on a tape recorder of course. Now today I find it hard, for up and coming artists to sell their music, even established ones, with the digital age making it easy for many music lovers to steal music.

So with the digital age making it so easy to access music, what do you think of this current digital age of music and how the music is being disetrbuted digitally, by independent artists, record labels, by way of services like itunes, and do you feel there's a difference in the sound of the music, when listening to it on a cd on a like on a stereo vs on a computer/music player? Share your thoughts.

[Edited 8/26/12 20:06pm]

I think the biggest problem is "the leak" because no one can wait for the official digital or physical copy to arrive, and the first thing available for a new release is the illegal download.

Cinny said:

I think the biggest problem is "the leak" because no one can wait for the official digital or physical copy to arrive, and the first thing available for a new release is the illegal download.

And the leak is most likely done by the label the same way "promos" were done for CD's, but perhaps to ensre the artist stays indebted to the label by making it harder to break even or profit. If they can't then they have to stay for a few more albums or get dropped. THese labels aren't stupid. They're quite aware that an artist who's sold 15,000 copies can do just the same now independently and keep most the profits. The ones who DON'T know that? The artists.

Labels take advantage of their artists by leaking their music before it gets out. I don't even believe that a person who don't work for a label actually knows how to hack that type of information. We gotta be wary about who's doing what.

So people steal the music, yes, but only because evil labels leak it first.

Somehow they want people to illegally download the music instead of buying the albums at the stores

Sorry but still don't get it

PANDURITO said:

So people steal the music, yes, but only because evil labels leak it first.

Somehow they want people to illegally download the music instead of buying the albums at the stores

Sorry but still don't get it

How else do they get it then?

2elijah said:

I often hear or read different opinions about digital singles/albums vs cds, single vinyls/albums, etc., as well as many saying it is much easier for artists today to get discovered, because of the easy accessibility to the internet, and downloading their own songs, with the possibility of reaching a global audience, much quicker than waiting for some record label exec to discover and promote them.

But with so many music lovers, also downloading music for free or even stealing music, I find that it's harder for many artists to make a profit because of that.

On a related note, regarding digital singles/albums vs vinyl records/singles, cds, digital, well for the most part, digital singles reminds me of vinyl singles, without the B-side and is basically what I refer to as 'invisible' purchases, which is explained in the next paragraph. Only difference between digital music and the days of vinyl records, is you don't have to leave home to purchase digital music, compared to waiting for the record store to open or standing on line overnight, when news of a popular artist's album or single is coming out.

I often refer to digital music (singles/albums) purchased on the internet, as invisible music, because they're not physical copies. You can download it on your computer of course, and it becomes part of the computer, which is then often copied to a cd, then later transferred to a music player, and downloaded on a cell phone. That artist's music later has the possibility of becoming a 'sharpie-marked' labeled, copy on a cd, that will be your version of that artist's album for storage on a shelf somewhere, unlike being purchased as an original album or cd complete with cover art/liner notes/tracklists. A filing system somewhat similar to the way you(if you're an old-schooler) or your parents stored their original, vinyl singles and albums, but theirs was less work because information about the artist and the single/album, already written there for them, so all they had to do was store it away--no sharpie, copying or downloading.

One thing you couldn't do with vinyl is copy it to another vinyl and share it with your friends, that was one way musicians/artists could prevent their music being stolen, well unless you recorded the music on a tape recorder of course. Now today I find it hard, for up and coming artists to sell their music, even established ones, with the digital age making it easy for many music lovers to steal music.

So with the digital age making it so easy to access music, what do you think of this current digital age of music and how the music is being disetrbuted digitally, by independent artists, record labels, by way of services like itunes, and do you feel there's a difference in the sound of the music, when listening to it on a cd on a like on a stereo vs on a computer/music player? Share your thoughts.

That's why I have never felt that I truly owned a song unless I have it on vinyl. I never liked cassettes because I could make a cassette myself. Even before CD burners and recorders, it just didn't seem like a CD was something to take the place of vinyl because CDs were so small. Plus, those CD cases reminded me a lot of cassette cases so that was a turnoff to. To me, something smaller could never take the place of something that used to be previously bigger. I like everything bigger....bigger houses, bigger cars, bigger stereo systems,.....and bigger uh..... I could never be satisfied with a format that I could record myself such as cassettes or CDs. It just seems like a waste of money to buy something pre-recorded on a format that you could have recorded yourself and had a copy to carry with you for portable devices and also have the original vinyl at home for the big sound system. And vinyl sounds better anyway.

As for how I feel about people "stealing" music these days by downloading it illegally, if the music scene was still great, I wouldn't like it because I would know that if an artist doesn't make money, they no longer continue to record and release albums. But considering that the music scene these days is the dullest that it has ever been in music history, I'm 100 percent for illegal downloading and encourage everyone I know to do so because today's so-called artists ain't shit and don't deserve the money. Keep on downloading, break the labels, and send the no talent artists back to McDonald's where they belong.

.

.

.

[Edited 8/25/12 15:38pm]

vainandy's Coprophiliac Theory: Today's music is shit, so people, go and download it illegally.

...cause everyone loves downloading shit, right?

I think it's great, it allows artists who wouldn't have had the opportunity otherwise to have their music disetrbuted digitally.

PANDURITO said:

vainandy's Coprophiliac Theory: Today's music is shit, so people, go and download it illegally.

...cause everyone loves downloading shit, right?

lol thing is I think you have to like the shit you're downloading. Why would anyone download shit they don't like already?

spacedolphin said:

I think it's great, it allows artists who wouldn't have had the opportunity otherwise to have their music disetrbuted digitally.

Well that's what Bandcamp and Soundcloud are for...

The pluses of each:

Digital Music- Very portable and incredibly easy to get for free (there's many artists who's music I wouldn't have otherwise)

CDs- Somewhat portable, can be put in cars, and I love the bookets

Vinyl- Big and smells old

aardvark15 said:

Vinyl- Big and smells old

What if it's new? I have the new Van Halen record and it doesn't smell old at all.

MickyDolenz said:

aardvark15 said:

Vinyl- Big and smells old

What if it's new? I have the new Van Halen record and it doesn't smell old at all.

I didn't think anybody still made vinyl records

aardvark15 said:

MickyDolenz said:

What if it's new? I have the new Van Halen record and it doesn't smell old at all.

I didn't think anybody still made vinyl records

Jack White makes them all the time.

Timmy84 said:

aardvark15 said:

I didn't think anybody still made vinyl records

Jack White makes them all the time.

Who?

aardvark15 said:

Timmy84 said:

Jack White makes them all the time.

Who?

Timmy84 said:

aardvark15 said:

Who?

[img:$uid]http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110114064610/glee/images/8/8e/DID_I_STUTTER_BITCH.PNG[/img:$uid]

aardvark15 said:

Timmy84 said:

[img:$uid]http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110114064610/glee/images/8/8e/DID_I_STUTTER_BITCH.PNG[/img:$uid]

That was Jack White I posted.

Timmy84 said:

aardvark15 said:

[img:$uid]http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110114064610/glee/images/8/8e/DID_I_STUTTER_BITCH.PNG[/img:$uid]

That was Jack White I posted.

Jack White's a woman?

aardvark15 said:

Timmy84 said:

That was Jack White I posted.

Jack White's a woman?

[img:$uid]http://imgboot.com/images/EYEdentity/denzelcant.gif[/img:$uid]

I'm done with you tonight lol

aardvark15 said:

MickyDolenz said:

What if it's new? I have the new Van Halen record and it doesn't smell old at all.

I didn't think anybody still made vinyl records

They do, but they're costly. The Van Halen album cost me 36 dollars, and it's red vinyl. Some record companies still make cassettes, my mom buys them from a mail order catalog. Occasionally, an act will even get an 8-track release. There's a local record store that sells new release vinyl.

vainandy said:

2elijah said:

That's why I have never felt that I truly owned a song unless I have it on vinyl. I never liked cassettes because I could make a cassette myself. Even before CD burners and recorders, it just didn't seem like a CD was something to take the place of vinyl because CDs were so small. Plus, those CD cases reminded me a lot of cassette cases so that was a turnoff to. To me, something smaller could never take the place of something that used to be previously bigger. I like everything bigger....bigger houses, bigger cars, bigger stereo systems,.....and bigger uh..... I could never be satisfied with a format that I could record myself such as cassettes or CDs. It just seems like a waste of money to buy something pre-recorded on a format that you could have recorded yourself and had a copy to carry with you for portable devices and also have the original vinyl at home for the big sound system. And vinyl sounds better anyway.

As for how I feel about people "stealing" music these days by downloading it illegally, if the music scene was still great, I wouldn't like it because I would know that if an artist doesn't make money, they no longer continue to record and release albums. But considering that the music scene these days is the dullest that it has ever been in music history, I'm 100 percent for illegal downloading and encourage everyone I know to do so because today's so-called artists ain't shit and don't deserve the money. Keep on downloading, break the labels, and send the no talent artists back to McDonald's where they belong.

.

.

.

[Edited 8/25/12 15:38pm]

Vain, I have to say I miss the vinyl record days. Even though putting that little disk in the center of the '45s' was a pain in the ass. I used to love the colorful vinyls, like the ones another orger posted on this thread. The only vinyl I own right now is the Purple Rain vinyl. My sisters have about 3 crates of 7 inch vinyl records, they refuse to part with. I mean I think the digital age is cool, but not the same as having the physical copies, B-sides, and the creative work that went into the album covers of vinyl records. I am not that fond of cds, but deal with them becasue they're the closest thing to having a physical copy of an artists's music.

As far as independent artists taking the reins and promoting their own music, rather than depending on record labels, there seems to be many options open to them, but then there's a lot of work in self-promotion, and getting booked into clubs, especially when many don't have the funds to heavily promote. So options like youtube, myspace, Facebook, and social media sites open the doors for exposure, in comparison to musicians/artists before the 90s, who basically depended on recordl labels/execs to give them the opportunity for exposure.

I do think however, with the state of the music industry, we will not see as many musicians/artists become legends like the Prince/MJ/Madonna/Hendrix/Santana/Rolling Stones/Beatles/EWF, etc., because like I mentioned, many music lovers can obtain the music for free and copy it for their friends. Not to mention the bootlegs. As far as radio, well, it's not like they promote up and coming artists today, at the rate they did back-in-the day, and all the music basically sound the same The Rihannas, Beyonces, Katy Perrys, all sound alike, and most of the mainstream pop music, have that electronica, noisy sound, nothing magical, interesting, inspiring or different. Even though there are some artists whose names are known, radio isn't playing their music, that's what's the difference between yesterday's music and today. About 7 years ago I took to myspace and other social media sites to find various music, that didn't 'sound the same' as what the radio was playing. I found some interesting independent artists, whose music I still listen to, through myspace, when myspace was on the roll. Now I may go to youtube, and other sites to do the same, and have had some friends recommend some artists to check out on youtube. You'd be surprised at the many independent artists on those sites, whose music is worth playing on radio.

Anyway, thanks to all who contributed to this thread. You've all made some interesting point. Please continue to share your opinions.

Timmy84 said:

PANDURITO said:

vainandy's Coprophiliac Theory: Today's music is shit, so people, go and download it illegally.

...cause everyone loves downloading shit, right?

lol thing is I think you have to like the shit you're downloading. Why would anyone download shit they don't like already?

There are plenty of reasons to download music that you don't like. If you have friends that like bullshit music, you can download it for them and burn it onto a blank CD for them. You can download it for nephews or neices. A parent can download it for their kids. Hell, if a perfect stranger on the street likes bullshit music, do a nice gesture for him and download him some of the bullshit music he likes. All these things help prevent those people from going out and buying that bullshit music because the goal is to break the bullshit artists and prevent them from making money. You can't stop people from liking bullshit music but you can help them to not buy it so the bullshit artists won't make any money. Every little download helps.

.

.

.

[Edited 8/26/12 8:18am]

2elijah said:

I often hear or read different opinions about digital singles/albums vs cds, single vinyls/albums, etc., as well as many saying it is much easier for artists today to get discovered, because of the easy accessibility to the internet, and downloading their own songs, with the possibility of reaching a global audience, much quicker than waiting for some record label exec to discover and promote them.

But with so many music lovers, also downloading music for free or even stealing music, I find that it's harder for many artists to make a profit because of that.

On a related note, regarding digital singles/albums vs vinyl records/singles, cds, digital, well for the most part, digital singles reminds me of vinyl singles, without the B-side and is basically what I refer to as 'invisible' purchases, which is explained in the next paragraph. Only difference between digital music and the days of vinyl records, is you don't have to leave home to purchase digital music, compared to waiting for the record store to open or standing on line overnight, when news of a popular artist's album or single is coming out.

I often refer to digital music (singles/albums) purchased on the internet, as invisible music, because they're not physical copies. You can download it on your computer of course, and it becomes part of the computer, which is then often copied to a cd, then later transferred to a music player, and downloaded on a cell phone. That artist's music later has the possibility of becoming a 'sharpie-marked' labeled, copy on a cd, that will be your version of that artist's album for storage on a shelf somewhere, unlike being purchased as an original album or cd complete with cover art/liner notes/tracklists. A filing system somewhat similar to the way you(if you're an old-schooler) or your parents stored their original, vinyl singles and albums, but theirs was less work because information about the artist and the single/album, already written there for them, so all they had to do was store it away--no sharpie, copying or downloading.

One thing you couldn't do with vinyl is copy it to another vinyl and share it with your friends, that was one way musicians/artists could prevent their music being stolen, well unless you recorded the music on a tape recorder of course. Now today I find it hard, for up and coming artists to sell their music, even established ones, with the digital age making it easy for many music lovers to steal music.

So with the digital age making it so easy to access music, what do you think of this current digital age of music and how the music is being disetrbuted digitally, by independent artists, record labels, by way of services like itunes, and do you feel there's a difference in the sound of the music, when listening to it on a cd on a like on a stereo vs on a computer/music player? Share your thoughts.

Very good views and thoughts and i know people LOVE the ease of digital and the fact that they dont have to buy a huge rack to store their cds or albums or even tapes anymore, so i think people are missing something in all this.

I recently saw an interview with Richard Marx while he was promoting his latest work, and i think the interviewer asked them the question that every artist OLDER gets asked, what do u think of how music is put out now. Well Richard replied in a way that was from a genuine music lover, not in angry way that was "MUSIC IS GETTING STOLEN" because there are still sales and touring money made, if you put the stuff out yourself there is profit. But Richards answer was "When I was a kid, music was LIKE THIS (meaning a big album)" then "When i was recording and getting into the business and having my own kids, music shrunk to THIS (meaning a small disc), NOW "Music has almost disappeared its this little box picture on your ipod of mp3 player" and he also continued to say "That music had lost its meaning in peoples life because there is so much to compete with in other forms of media etc.." and referenced something I THINK we all can identify with he said " you know i love the Foo Fighters and if they have a new record I'll buy it first day, but i may not listen to it right away" now that is a perfect sum up of how music has lost its meaning BECAUSE of the ease of getting it and not even knowing you have gotten it.

lastdecember said:

2elijah said:

Very good views and thoughts and i know people LOVE the ease of digital and the fact that they dont have to buy a huge rack to store their cds or albums or even tapes anymore, so i think people are missing something in all this.

I recently saw an interview with Richard Marx while he was promoting his latest work, and i think the interviewer asked them the question that every artist OLDER gets asked, what do u think of how music is put out now. Well Richard replied in a way that was from a genuine music lover, not in angry way that was "MUSIC IS GETTING STOLEN" because there are still sales and touring money made, if you put the stuff out yourself there is profit. But Richards answer was "When I was a kid, music was LIKE THIS (meaning a big album)" then "When i was recording and getting into the business and having my own kids, music shrunk to THIS (meaning a small disc), NOW "Music has almost disappeared its this little box picture on your ipod of mp3 player" and he also continued to say "That music had lost its meaning in peoples life because there is so much to compete with in other forms of media etc.." and referenced something I THINK we all can identify with he said " you know i love the Foo Fighters and if they have a new record I'll buy it first day, but i may not listen to it right away" now that is a perfect sum up of how music has lost its meaning BECAUSE of the ease of getting it and not even knowing you have gotten it.

Thanks for that. I agree with him. As much as it's cool to purchase a song off the internet. I just always feel something is missing. To know it's just left on my computer, and then later I might copy it on cd in case of computer issues down the road, then transfer it to my music player, where it remains, with no album cover, history of the song, etc., etc

I mean I think the digital age is great for new artists being able to market themselves, and reach a broader audience, rather than waiting for a record label or rec exec to discover them. But then let's say they obtain a major audience on their own through the internet. When it comes to booking in clubs/venues for live performances, wouldn't they still need the help of promoters or record label execs or the backing and promotion of an already, established musician to back them up? I am wondering how it works from there, since there are so many artists doing self-promotion, but when it comes to getting actual booking in clubs/venues to further promote, don't you think it becomes more difficult at that point, if they don't have good financial backing from a major promoter or someone in that league that could help back them financially?

fuzion said:

Cinny said:

I think the biggest problem is "the leak" because no one can wait for the official digital or physical copy to arrive, and the first thing available for a new release is the illegal download.

And the leak is most likely done by the label the same way "promos" were done for CD's, but perhaps to ensre the artist stays indebted to the label by making it harder to break even or profit. If they can't then they have to stay for a few more albums or get dropped. THese labels aren't stupid. They're quite aware that an artist who's sold 15,000 copies can do just the same now independently and keep most the profits. The ones who DON'T know that? The artists.

That's the part I don't get. I see that as a downfall. It takes the fun out of the anticipation of it when leaked. Why leak the whole track before it goes on sale? If they did a snippet of it, then that would be smarter, but I would prefer 'no leak', and wait for the actual release date. I think the 'leaking' process interferes with sales. Sadly, though I don't see how 'leaking' or 'stealing music' can be prevented in this digital age of music.

MickyDolenz said:

aardvark15 said:

I didn't think anybody still made vinyl records

They do, but they're costly. The Van Halen album cost me 36 dollars, and it's red vinyl. Some record companies still make cassettes, my mom buys them from a mail order catalog. Occasionally, an act will even get an 8-track release. There's a local record store that sells new release vinyl.

Wow, just looking at those vinyls makes me want to start creating a new vinyl collection. I'm actually thinking of purchasing a stereo set with a record player included.

vainandy said:

Timmy84 said:

lol thing is I think you have to like the shit you're downloading. Why would anyone download shit they don't like already?

There are plenty of reasons to download music that you don't like. If you have friends that like bullshit music, you can download it for them and burn it onto a blank CD for them. You can download it for nephews or neices. A parent can download it for their kids. Hell, if a perfect stranger on the street likes bullshit music, do a nice gesture for him and download him some of the bullshit music he likes. All these things help prevent those people from going out and buying that bullshit music because the goal is to break the bullshit artists and prevent them from making money. You can't stop people from liking bullshit music but you can help them to not buy it so the bullshit artists won't make any money. Every little download helps.

.

.

.

[Edited 8/26/12 8:18am]

2elijah said:

Wow, just looking at those vinyls makes me want to start creating a new vinyl collection. I'm actually thinking of purchasing a stereo set with a record player included.

On the record version of this album, there's a couple of tracks that's not on the CD.