New blog post

[Duarte]

The point is that the opportunity for people to get to see these great bands is declining

It's not declining though. I have been to 2 gigs this week, both of which were completely packed out, and I bet people discovered them on the internet and not by just buying a random CD in the record shop. There's more bands now than EVER before, and because less money is being made from record sales, bands are touring more because that's where the money is. It's so easy to record music and get it out there now - you just need to find the audience.

Bands like Radiohead have cottoned on and released their album for free - giving people the option to pay what they wanted. It was a massive success, and lots of people payed... everyone needs to think outside of the box like this. Much like BP's "1950s seperation anxiety" theory, I think that this is the exact same thing.

It's changing for the better. I'm 100% sure.

 

[shakinbacon]

Sad. He just needs to move on. Misunderstandings are always a two way street. We need to look back and see how we got ourselves there. Hope he makes peace with himself soon.

As for the post. The ticket pricing has been insane. A few years ago I wanted to take my wife to see Sade who we both love. The prices were so outrageous that we did not get to go. This is definitely a live show killer.

--Ant

I don't understand what the side story here with somb is. Sorry he's gone

Anyway, I agree that ticket prices seem really high lately. I'm willing to bet the artist isn't driving this nor is getting the extra change. I love playing and listening to music. I likely will never break even on my investment of instruments, sheet music, CDs, etc. However, I've made a profit in terms of my personal well being, enjoyment and state of mind.

 

[stu42]

the isp is the same and so is the gmail account.

I am not aware of the info you have but as far as I've known him his email account has never been with gmail.

Plus, it doesn't really look like his style of writing. SOMB always used proper capitalization and sentence structure etc - even using bold, italics and colour to emphasize words. This guy didn't even capitalize the word "I".

 

[tommixx]

I am not aware of the info you have but as far as I've known him his email account has never been with gmail.

Plus, it doesn't really look like his style of writing. SOMB always used proper capitalization and sentence structure etc - even using bold, italics and colour to emphasize words. This guy didn't even capitalize the word "I".

LOL...He obviously has all the info he needs...he does own the place after all...

As far as the original post goes I live this every day. I am an engineer and a bass player and I play full time. I actually looked at a studio yesterday. My partner has an in with a big ad agency that is looking for a place to do all their work. When we looked at the place we figured we would not being a lot of live bands due to the fact that most bands now days don't see a need for a proper studio. Unfortunately there seems to be a "good enough" attitude prevalent in the industry. That is what is killing most professional studios that are still left...Once again you are right on BP!

Peace,

T

 

[cellkirk74]

I think BP's point was not that there are not a lot of great bands out there or that the goal is to be a Michael Jackson or whoever. The point is that the opportunity for people to get to see these great bands is declining and that the music industry is becoming a void instead of the dream inspiring and fulfilling machine it started out as. I think there should be an option for there to be another MJ or other great talent as opposed to not having the option.

As for kids' dreams; I have friends whose kids think that playing video game guitar is the same talent as making real music. If they can ever make the leap from video games to real instruments then there is hope. This may be like the Time Machine, we may have to lose it all before we can rebuild.

--Ant

True and I did not want to disagree a BP's point at all. The industry chose the wrong way back in the nineties when they turned away from diversity, closed down all their small side labels, ended a lot of contracts and concentrated an the mass market / Top 40 / Gangsta Rap -Thing. Instead of investing in new artists and presenting a wide variety of musical styles to the customers, they pushed it all through the great equalizer, homogenizing tastes. This may have been a result of the consolidation of the big media companies and the effort of the (not musically educated) management to make more profit for the shareholder. But I do not think that they ever wanted to be a dream fulfilling machinery for kids in the first place. They had to feed their overhead.

Now Rock and Metal is hip again in the last year and they want a piece of cake back they threw away by themselves. But their business model outlived itself. IMHO the decline of the value of recorded music started with the invention of the CD, which itself feels (at least to me) a lot less valuable than a vinyl record. Also with the CD, the ritual of listening to music changed dramatically. You had to really take care for a record to not scratch it, turn it around on half way and there was some solid artwork in a noticeable size on and in the cover. With the invention of the mp3 and portable digital players the disembodied the music completely.

On the other hand, some things that were very expensive for decades, especially recording, got ridiculously cheap. The main reason for record contracts for bands had been to fund the production costs. The need for this declined. And this is not bad because now it is a lot cheaper and easier to get a decent sounding demo than ever before.

I remember when I first recorded, it was still on tape, fully analog and the material and studio time was very expensive. A weekend session at a low rate was as much as the price for a new professional HD-Multitrack-Recorder today.

I think that Duarte is right when he says that this is the real chance today. You have the possibility to broadcast yourself as easily as never before while staying independent. So in that point, the kids may even be closer to their dream (if that is playing live with moderate success and a little fame) than back in the 70ies or 80ies, when the producers ruled.

Radiohead were not the first nor the last artist to go new ways by taking the pressure out and distributing a low res version of their music for free, offering real values with the shop versions. Pennywise, George Michael etc. did the same.

Sure it would be great if we had supportive record companies, willing to take risks, sign newcomers and put out all kinds of music an midprice CDs. Maybe there will be new labels to do this again, but I doubt the big old ones will.

There are more good tools for being creative than ever, wen should talk about getting the kids to use them.

(sorry for the long post, but it wanted to get out)

 

[Movielife]

Interesting blog, and things are definitely changing.

I dont really know anyone who 'buys' cds like they used to. I would buy a HELL of a lot more vinyl if I could find what I wanted.

 

[danny-79]

It's not declining though. I have been to 2 gigs this week, both of which were completely packed out, and I bet people discovered them on the internet and not by just buying a random CD in the record shop. There's more bands now than EVER before, and because less money is being made from record sales, bands are touring more because that's where the money is. It's so easy to record music and get it out there now - you just need to find the audience.

Bands like Radiohead have cottoned on and released their album for free - giving people the option to pay what they wanted. It was a massive success, and lots of people payed... everyone needs to think outside of the box like this. Much like BP's "1950s seperation anxiety" theory, I think that this is the exact same thing.

It's changing for the better. I'm 100% sure.

There is a lot of sense in there.
The Internet has made music more accessible with the attitude of the option of "Here is my music, have a listen, an if you don't like it don't buy it kind of thing"
Ware there is a Pro there has to be a Con, there is lots of undiscovered music out there just waiting for that break of being in the right place at the right time an the Internet helps BUT!! theres still something magical about taking a gamble on buying a CD, parting with you cash on a recommendation that its a good listen, I'm not a gambling person but theres something cool about that , well for me anyway, like going to a gig an coming back with a demo/CD rather than a flyer with a download address on it .

 

[drTStingray]

Nice blog - thanks. V thought provoking - I'm thinking you'll have those astronauts in blue suits!

 

[Big Poppa]

SOMB Has communicated with Bovine and says that someone else that may have been banned here that SOMB corresponds with has hacked into his IP's server and that he fears tHAt I am in danger. If this is the case then I extend an apology to SOMB but it is coming still from his ip address....we have some pretty sophisticated IT people at EB and on the forum.

Will be pretty easy to deduce who is behind it....SOMB defended this person and look what he gets in return...The FBI also takes online threats to people pretty seriously...thats the next call.

Case closed.

 

[tkarter]

BP thanks for the blog post. If being a rock star is out. How does being a country star sound?

I am getting old but the dream just can't die before I do.

tk

 

[TheAntMan]

I am getting old but the dream just can't die before I do.

I think we will have to be video stars as that seems to be the trend.

One day it may be that you will have on-line concerts using webcams pointed at your band with direct audio feeds into a computer.

Keep the dream alive

--Ant

 

[tkarter]

Never seen a bass player in a video for more than a second any way. I can act for that long and look pretty.

tk

 

[Big Poppa]

OK a banned former member thinks that Im blaming him. IM not I just said banned.
The facts are that the offending posts come from SOMB's ip. We all agree on that.
Chewie's past life is with an ISP so he knows the ins and outs...we will find out who is making SOMB uncomfy and perstering this forum.

Please SOMB and Fran relax we will find out who is behind this......

now back to my thread.

 

[T-bone]

now back to my thread.

Thanks BP. I'd much rather read your blogs and postings than rants from banned members.

And speaking of your blog, I have a couple of comments as I was a part of that world for a long time.

Not only did Sony have the largest music catalog, record company, artists, etc..., they also bought the IP rights from Philips for CD-Rom manufacturing. So, as a replicator, I paid Sony a royalty for every CD we made. Not just for music, but every CD we made. This includes all the M/S, Intel, HP, and every other high tech company we did business with. So it most certainly was in Sony's best interest to keep CD's alive.

Then along came the internet, Napster, and Diamond Multimedia who produced the very first MP-3 player (I actually assembled and fulfilled the very first ones). And the rest, as they say, is history.

So the real question, as you pose at the end of your blog, is how to monetize the right people. I've wondered that too, but since we shut down the replication plant 2 years ago, I haven't really cared much about that industry.

One of my old business partners, however, is now the COO of CD Baby. We've watched that model for the past 5+ years now, and they just might have something. Check em out and let us know what you think.

tbone

 

[shakinbacon]

regarding mp3s

A lot of interesting topics in this thread. I wanted to focus on mp3s...

I think we are quickly closing in on the ability to have uncompressed music at 16 bits (probably more) cheaply. One of the main reasons mp3s are popular is that they occupy a lot less space than their uncompressed counterparts.

However, disk drives and memory will continue to drop in price. We will get to a threshold that (I believe) we might as well store uncompressed music. Saving 100,000 songs in mp3 format vs 5,000 uncompressed might not make a difference to the casual user. In other words, 5,000 songs may be plenty for the casual user. Thus the "perfect copy" of a song holy grail could be on the horizon.

I think in the 70's and 80's cassette copies of songs were allowed, perhaps because they were considered "flawed" copies by the recording industry.

 

[cellkirk74]

I think in the 70's and 80's cassette copies of songs were allowed, perhaps because they were considered "flawed" copies by the recording industry.

As far as I remember it, there was a campaign by the british Phonografic Industry back then called 'home taping is killing music'.

It looked like this:

 

[danny-79]

Theres defiantly a big place in my heart for tape copy's, the Sony Walkman an the sound of new battery's dying in a matter of minutes ! memory's
MP3 that holds 80g of music, more music than most people own will run for over 24hrs on a single charge off the mains with virtually zero sound degradation ! never saw that coming !
Never bothered with a CD Walkman for the reason of it not being to good to walk with, went straight to mini disk an what a waste of cash that was! but can see ware they were going with the idea !

 

[danny-79]

As far as I remember it, there was a campaign by the british Phonografic Industry back the called 'home taping is killing music'.

It looked like this:

Havent seen that in years !!!!

 

[cellkirk74]

I had it on my mind instantly since I had the Dead Kennedys 'In God we trust Inc.' EP in my hands just last week.

Save the vinyl!

 

[danny-79]

Did used to feel kind of guilty, like i was doing somthing wrong when would say to a friend .....
" If i give you a tape will you make me a copy of ... etc
Burning Cd's was unheard of at that time period