The Death of the Record Collection

Yeah lack of liners is one drawback to the gimme your hard drive pleasekthxbye scenario. But even there, the more adventurous files include them as pdfs.

i'm glad there are liner notes out there for people who are into liner notes.

how many listens-per-track do you think that'd take you?

just one. the ratings aren't set in stone. if i hear a track again and don't agree with my own rating of it, it's just as easy to change it.

Oh, absolutely -- but again, it just highlights the differences between us all in the way we listen to music, I guess. Perhaps it's a throwback to when I was so skint I'd go to a record fair and only be able to afford one 7", but I'm conditioned now to need multiple listens before I can really make my mind up. (Not that this has stopped me shooting my mouth off on ILM, and subsequently thinking, bollocks, wish I hadn't said that: the most recent example being the last SunnO))).)

It definitely has changed the way I listen to new music. Must. Rate. I find myself slightly tortured trying to decide whether something is a 3 or a 4, then I snap out of it and realize it's both! neither! If you view it merely as a handy organizational tool rather than a FINAL JUDGMENT on a work of art, it's great.

i could probably download all the music i desire over the next few hours but i dunno, i'd rather just relax and not worry about it and pick up physical copies when the chance permits rather than deal with a glowing screen for any longer than i really have to. i spent a lot of time downloading stuff and in the end i don't listen to much of it, since having so much music is maybe having too much music.

What happens if I sell all my CDs and Spotify goes bust? No music! :(

I'm personally going to keep all my CDs - in 20 years they'll be as retro-cool as 8tracks and vinyl.

that's why i give them my library xml file and the other metadata folders for iTunes. all you have to do is launch iTunes and hold down Option, then select my library and voila.

I was thinking about you and your metadata, and wishing everybody else paid the same attention, when I added those Le Hammond Inferno files earlier on. No fields filled in except the track names ... which were mostly wrong. Grah.

haven't read the whole thread (sorry, at work). but since i wrote my comment at the top of the thread (as next grozart), i've had a chance to check out spotify and yeah it's really good. i don't have it at home because my "music" pc isn't attached to the net and i refuse to play things through crappy laptop speakers...

but as i say, i did attend a house party where instead of playing cds they just had spotify running and people got to pick the tunes they wanted, which i thought was great. of course you did get the same stereo-hogs you always get at parties, but it was a great way to run things.

the only problem was when i got round to choosing songs, i had nothing to work with. i was presented with a blank screen and for the life of me i couldn't think of anything to put on.

that said, i do understand there are ways to share playlists and stuff, so that's probably a mitigating factor.

it is interesting though, to think that in five years i've managed to sell off or get rid of 90% of my CD collection, and soon my HD full of music that I've lovingly compiled and categorised since the age of ten will soon be completely redundant. CDs won't have the same resale value as vinyl and MP3s aren't worth anything at all, so i can't see why having a music collection that isn't on vinyl would be worth anyone's while.

Couple random thoughts here:

Lately, I've been very happy with artists/labels who do the buy the vinyl, get a free download deal. I think this is a great compromise as it satisfies my need to collect, but I can still dump it on the iPod.

I was recently given a $10 gift certificate for iTunes and it posed me with a real challenge: I had a real hard time picking an album that wasn't so great that I needed to have a physical copy of it, but that was good enough to justify spending $10 to download. I finally chose the new Dirty Projectors, which seems like a just-right choice.

i've never had any sort of record collection. except about 1000 classical music cds, but only for learning and uni. most classical music just doesn't transfer well to other formats.

until audiogalaxy/napster i just copied everything onto cassette/vhs(!) from a family friend who was a pretty serious collector.

i think a lot of critics, writers and you guys will have an interesting role to play as tastemakers. personally, i can usually tell if a few people on here really like something, i should check it out. some writing on the internet makes for fantastic 'liner notes' to compliment the music. so music still has this great community/shared thing, it's just on a smaller scale.

i guess my shopping/crate digging equivalent is those times, perhaps once a week, when i'll spend the night on the net hunting down new stuff. to me, that's more exciting than browsing the racks at a record shop. i get to sample everything and its a great feeling when i finally find what i might not have known i wanted.

i don't use spotify though, too much freedom, like dog latin said, i can never think of anything interesting when confronted with that much freedom. i organise my mp3 collection by month these days. if i can't remember the name of something i'll usually remember roughly when i heard it. i also love the random function. skipping through a library of stuff, coming across something and thinking "wow where the fuck did this come from, this is ace."

i do love dance music on vinyl, there's something engrained in the culture there. so anything that i think i'd want to play out in a dj sense, i'll buy. but i'm not a collector, i'd rather have a small collection out of which i can make a good set and then just let that grow and shrink as and when my tastes change.

sometimes i feel a bit guilty about getting so much for free. but really, i couldn't give a fuck about the majority of musician's getting paid for their recordings. i've said this before on here - most of the musicians i know that actually put in a 40+ hour week are pretty good at what they do and get paid well for it. they might teach, get arts based funding, play lots of shows, do corporate functions, session work, play in an orchestra, sell cds/merch/downloads/records, dj on the side, busk, produce/engineer for other people, do workshops etc. there's a good living to be made in a combination of those there.

it's hard work doing a bunch of stuff like that, but hey, you're getting paid to do music for a living, the thing you love, don't complain. i get the feeling the folk that do complain make an album, record it, tour it and expect to be raking it in. shit has only and will only ever be like that for a select few, work towards it, sure, but don't expect it.

painting comparisons always seem to fail, but painters don't spend 2 months on a painting, put a picture of it on flickr and expect to be paid 2.99 for it. for me its the same with music, you're always getting a fake no matter what format. i'd happily pay a tenner to hear/see something as the artist intended though. like a listening party with an incredible sound system, or y'know, a gig.

anyway just some of my thoughts

death of the music magazine link on death of the record collection thread:

http://www.slate.com/id/2223381/pagenum/all/

i didn't know that blender went out of business! shows how much i pay attention to things.

i blame ilm

>>but as i say, i did attend a house party where instead of playing cds they just had spotify running and people got to pick the tunes they wanted, which i thought was >>great. of course you did get the same stereo-hogs you always get at parties, but it was a great way to run things.

Sounds like a tupperware party. Seriously, the host should get a commission. Which makes for a good etiquette question - should the guests change the hosts' music? Personally, I like going to a party and listening to someone else's music for a change.

until they start playing the postal service

*obv i have no idea what the oh no lol pedestrian taste band is anymore

it is a joy to visit a friend's house who doesn't even own a computer, has a fantastic jazz, funk, downtempo, deep house collection, makes a great brew, a lovely dog, some nice plants, a generous nature and a lot of weed. man, saying that, when i grow up i want to be that guy.

some people who host parties have crap music taste, or are two busy running around making people aren't throwing up all over the stairwell walls to want to worry about changing cds on the stereo.

making sure people aren't throwing up...

fuck my writing is plummeting to new depths.

at my wedding reception i had iTunes DJ set up and since all my friends are dorks, they all had iPhones that could connect via Remote to my library and request songs/vote for other requests etc. it worked out great.

i've never had any sort of record collection. except about 1000 classical music cds

okay lol

hee hee

I bought some CDs and records today.

did you take an autogyro to the store?

some people who host parties have crap music taste, or are two busy running around making people aren't throwing up all over the stairwell walls to want to worry about changing cds on the stereo

Well, you wouldn't go to that party to hear music, and if you did, it wouldn't be a major tragedy.

i don't go to parties to hear music though...

i go there to throw up in the stairwell.

sometimes i feel a bit guilty about getting so much for free. but really, i couldn't give a fuck about the majority of musician's getting paid for their recordings. i've said this before on here - most of the musicians i know that actually put in a 40+ hour week are pretty good at what they do and get paid well for it. they might teach, get arts based funding, play lots of shows, do corporate functions, session work, play in an orchestra, sell cds/merch/downloads/records, dj on the side, busk, produce/engineer for other people, do workshops etc. there's a good living to be made in a combination of those there.

would like to point out my huge objection to this, but also really really dont want to derail this thread with that because weve talked around it a billion gazillion times already.

Well yeah, it's pretty much been well established that modern society thinks that musicians are slaves.

lol there's a good kind of shitty living to be made in a combination of those there.

It's established that modern society thinks that if musicians aren't slaves already, they should be. "LOL now they have to work for a living like me, boo fucking hoo". Anybody who says 'it's good that live performances are the main revenue source' can fuck themselves. Going to gigs sucks and so does playing them. Anyway, music is now worthless so in a few years we won't even be talking about it.

xp

Well yeah, it's pretty much been well established that modern society thinks that musicians are slaves.

no way! they enjoy their work, therefore people shouldn't feel bad about not paying for it! no person who enjoys his work should be paid jack shit imo

hey jjusten:

dude is it cool if i hold off on paying for getting my bass head repaired until i have busked for enough money....also i have applied for an arts grant. *fingers crossed* : )

xp good thing i don't enjoy my work!

Well yeah, it's pretty much been well established that modern society thinks that musicians are slaves.

not to be a broken record on this subject but pre-modern and relatively ancient societies pretty much felt the same way

SERIOUSLY LOCK THREAD NOW

m@tt otm

not to be a broken record on this subject but pre-modern and relatively ancient societies pretty much felt the same way

OH WELL THAT'S OKAY THEN

xpost: come on guys, you really want to watch Shakey and me have the same argument again; I'll even through in my "punk sux" challops as seasoning

many ancient societies also thought it was cool to just throw the contents of your chamberpot out the window. as a musician I demand that when I empty my chamberpot onto the street below, someone pay me for my performance

I like how everyone's suggestion for making money in a post-album-selling world is like: live shows (which is a BIG MONEY MAKER!!!! and always feasible for everyone) or, like, sell tons of merch, ie. something that does not relate to your presumed music-making skill.
(although I think the real answer is probably licensing/making music for things that pay royalties, like films/ads/games whatever else)

"I call this one 'A Good Morning's Effort', you uncultured bastards"

let's go back to talking about binders pls.

no problems with them since I increased the fiber in my diet

wtf why did I type "through" instead of "throw"

video game companies have about 1 zillion major label bands hustling them for soundtrack placement for every one song slot available.

sometimes record companies even PAY to have songs placed, and most newer bands get jack shit or nothing to be in a game...yeah like the beatles or something like that will

rock band downloads you could actually make money on though

I find the life of the professional jingle writer fascinating, actually!

Buckner & Garcia were jingle writers before they did Pac-Man Fever!

basically the new success in the music industry is either be Buckner & Garcia or Insane Clown Posse

hmmm... I wonder if I've got a Barry Manilow "State Farm Insurance" song in me