MP3s (1 Viewer)

[Gav]

I'm sure this issue has been aired on here before so tell me to stop if it has.


But it seems inevitable that MP3s are going to be the primary source of music in the next few years. I think that having music to download for free definatley helps "small" bands to spread their music to people who would otherwise not be able to hear them. But it certainly hurts the "bigger" bands.

I was reading an interview with the singer from Pitchshifter who said that they aim to cut out their record lable entirely and give all their music away free on their web site. They would make their money purely from advertising on the site. Hence the more music people download, the more they can charge people to advertise on the site.

Thoughts please..|..| .|..|

 

[rumpus]

hhhmmm interesting...

I think it might be a good way to get known...but the effect of the advertising is something I'm not sure of...where it might lead...

but, hmmmm

and there is still the debate on the quality of mp3 versus CD or whatever...


I'd love to see and contibute to one big online database of Irish band MP3s (yes I'm that lazy).

someone slap me if that already exists.

 

[hop]

possible problem - lots of big companies advertise on your site, you make the money and are 'sucessful'

what happens if you want to be offensive on a record and your 'sponsor' doesn't like it and they pull the cash unless you curb your artistic freedom.

its a bit knee-jerk i know, but if a band is relying on advertisment on a web site the same corporate shite will eventually take over as it has with the current record industry (to whatever extent)

 

[Anthony]

It's not gonna happen here while internet speeds are so shit. I actually have a subscription with an mp3 site and i hardly ever use it because the prospect of downloading is too daunting.

Anyone with a super connection who wants to use it let me know and we'll sort out a deal. Something along the lines of, you can download as much as you want but you have to give me copies of anything you download (and I can check up on you y'know)

 

[snap-apple]

Originally posted by rumpus
and there is still the debate on the quality of mp3 versus CD or whatever...

yip - hi-fi quality just isn't there with mp3's - they's grandest for getting the gist across in a radio or video stylee but they don't sound the bestest through a good quality hi-fi setup.
that said, the future will almost definitely make use some sort of digital format and will allow artists to bypass several middlemen. you'll go into the record store (phyiscal or on-line) and pull up some sort o' menu on-screen and choose your tunes and burn/copy your selection onto CDR/DVDR/minidisk/minicd or whatever the portable format of the time is. bandwidth won't be an issue for physical record stores who'll have it all on local fixed disks. some places in japan do this already apparently.

 

[Dan]

A few things,

I don't know how the advertising thing would sit with me. I mean advertising for companies is as bad as making loads of money for a large label. If it would be possible, it would be better to give the music for free and make the money from playing gigs, for a lot of bigger bands, thats where the real money for the band members is anyway.

Also I like getting my music in a physical form. Finding that record you've been looking for for ages in a record shop can't be compared to finding it on an internet search.

 

[egg_]

Originally posted by Dan
playing gigs ... thats where the real money for the band members is anyway

I'm not so sure you're right there Dan. I seem to recall reading that songwriting royalties tend to be a band's biggest source of income

 

[egg_]

Originally posted by Gav
give all their music away free on their web site. They would make their money purely from advertising on the site

But Gav, advertising is the enemy of art

I wrote an essay on that very subject once and it used to be on thumped but now it appears to have gone missing. Pete?

 

[figs]

I think it's ok for established bands to say that in the future all their music will be given away free and they wont need a record company, as people know about them already, but it would probably be quite difficult for new bands to get much exposure without a record company - who would be doing all their promotion, etc.... Also I don't know about y'all, but how many bands have people gotton into through a bands website (not napster, audiogalaxy, etc)? I can't think of any that I have - usually when I see a band placing a link on thumped or somewhere similar I dont bother checking it out , but maybe that's just me. A solution might be sites like mp3it.com or epitonic, where tons of bands place their mp3s , and you're usually sure of a certain high level of quality. If you like the sample mp3s you find there, then you could check out a bands website and buy their mp3s. If there were a number of sites like that for each musical genre, everyone would be happy...

 

[Gav]

Originally posted by hopper


what happens if you want to be offensive on a record and your 'sponsor' doesn't like it and they pull the cash unless you curb your artistic freedom.

its a bit knee-jerk i know, but if a band is relying on advertisment on a web site the same corporate shite will eventually take over as it has with the current record industry (to whatever extent)

I know what you are saying but do advertisers really give a shit what the music is like so long as lots of people are seeing their adverts.

Egg_ I agree to some extent, I would have moral problems with a many many certain companies advertising to people downloading my songs.

And I agree with Figs too, however I don't think I have ever bought an album after seeing them on MTV or seeing them being promoted on posters Etc. However many times I've been to see a band aand found the support act to be really cool and got into them that way.

 

[Gav]

Originally posted by Dan

Also I like getting my music in a physical form. Finding that record you've been looking for for ages in a record shop can't be compared to finding it on an internet search.

Yeah me too, I like the idea that I am supporting my bands and I like getting the whole package, with art, extras, bit of video etc.

 

[snakybus]

I know this is getting off the point but sure that never stopped anyone here before. I'm not sure if you can truthfully say that you never got into a band because of a poster, a video on MTV, a web site or whatever. these things all contribute. When people say to me, why put up a poster for this gig, noone goes to a gig of a band they've never heard of - true, but if you keep seeing a band's poster, six months later you might go, ah whatever, I'll give it a try. Same with web sites, mp3s etc. Or if you never check the band out, someone might ask you about them at some later time and you might go "Yeah they're kind of well known" which is a recommendation in itself of the most powerful kind - word of mouth.

The Internet has been great for me, because I've got to check out loads of new bands that I might not have got into otherwise. But MP3s will never take over records because recorded music fluorishes in an affluent society. And affluent societies are posession-centric. Which means that you can't watch your friends go wow at your music collection when they're all MP3s. You can't hold them in your hand. You can't sell them at second-hand stores. You can't look at Q magazine retrospectives of classic album covers because there aren't any. These are things that shouldn't matter, sure, but the fact is they do, for a lot of people.

 

[IFF]

that sounds cool about pitchsifter., i'v eonly heard their songs on mtv2 but tehy are good and i'm syure if it took off it would become very profitable for them and other bands

tghe great thing about badns who have a couple of mp3s on their site is that you can see whether their good or not which is awesome and lets you decide whether you want to buy their albuj or not

 

[Sprite Boy]

Originally posted by Gav
They would make their money purely from advertising on the site. Hence the more music people download, the more they can charge people to advertise on the site.

So they are not gonna make any real money on their music?

how do they expect to pay the rent

 

[Alex]

Well, I think this scenario of websites with free music and money made on advertisement is not unlikely...
As MP3 did with wave files, I reckon there will be better quality music compressed files in the future. Besides, with new technology, the internet connection speed is going to raise so that it won't take anymore 20 mins to download a 4 mins song. If then you can buy an MP3 (or new format) player with storage capacity of ten hours music for 100 euros...
I think all of these developments are quite likely in the next future and, in this case, the role of record companies and dustributors could become less important.......... (dreaming, always dreaming.... )

On the other hand I wouldn't enjoy some smart ass to use my music to advertise the last innovative hidden spy cam to be installed in the lady's toilet..... thing that's gonna definitely happen unless you have already a good bargain power........

Would advertising companies take the place of labels then? Jaysus, even worse wouldn't be?

 

[nine]

How can anybody be a xenophobe with this guy around??!!
Where are you from Alex,italy i'm guessing,but what part?

 

[Alex]

Well, I do hope there are no xenophobes around here... !

I'm from Milan but have been living in Ireland in the last 18 months and it looks like I'm gonna stay here for a long while, Ireland rocks Big Time! .|..|

 

[nine]

Milan has the coolest train station in the world,without a doubt.
Who is your favourite italian artist alex.....pavarotti....eros ramazotti?

 

[Alex]

Oh please be serious, even my granny thinks Ramazzotti sucks! There are still a few good Italian bands though, this is not too bad, check it out:

http://www.subsonica.it/index2.htm

Get the Mp3s (Unfortunately there's no English version)

However, I guess we should continue this conversation somewhere else because the folks here who wanted to discuss about MP3s probably won't give a damn!

 

[Gav]

Good example of MP3's helping to spread the music to people who otherwise would not get to hear it.

I agree with Alex that Advertising companies could be worse than record companies. But it would be a tough job. Plus advertisers should never has as much control, the advertising contracts could not include the same level as control over the band as a recording contract. At least I would hope not.