From: "Cyborg K" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
If you are selling CDs now, I think you have to accept you are selling
packaging, pure and simple. You have to accept that people can find mp3s
of your music for free, and you have to give them a product that is cool
enough that they will want to buy it despite having the mp3s.
With vinyl it is a little different. I'm sure there are plenty of vinyl
freaks like me out there, who just really want to own things on vinyl,
regardless of the availability of mp3s
i think the difference lies in the audience you're appealing to. i think
most of the people on this list are freaks [yes i'm looking at you!] and
will continue to buy vinyl or cd's. either to support the artist, or just
from a collectors point of view.
the music you see on mtv or vh1 on the other hand, [mainly artists backed by
the major recording companies] is available because through marketing a
'need' is created by those same recording companies. the 'need' to own the
music as a consumer good. in that case it doesn't matter to the consumer
whether it is an mp3 or a cd. so the need for the 'packaging' -as you put
it- will disappear.
and by not providing a legal way to download mp3's, the recording industry
is only hurting itself.
From: Jason Hogans [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Mmm Hmm. I've thought about ways to make a physical recording appealing
enough to buy. Maybe even making the recording a secondary item bundled
with something desirable enough to purchase? Limited edition Jason Hogans
boxers and panties. Or some seriously cool packaging, like Radiohead's
Amnesiac or Ghostly's Disco Nouveau.
that's one way of getting people to buy your music, but do you want to sell
cd's/vinyl, or do you want to sell your music? why not offer them the chance
to download your music from a website? sure, not everyone wants to pay for
downloads, but would those people buy the physical copy?
Regardless of what anybody says, there's too much good music out there for
most people with an average income to purchase everything that they want.
true, brings me back to the legal mp3's; the reason you're downloading music
illegally is partly because there is no legal alternative. you might even
reach a bigger audience by providing a legal alternative. to illustrate this
a message from a couple of weeks ago:
From: "henrique casanova" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
i wish i could get those vinyls too. hood is maybe my favorite techno
artist. but it is geting hard buying records down here in Brasil. the
price of the "12 here is unbeliaveble. its $42 Reais and the brazilian
basic salary is $200 Reais per month. i mean you cant buy 5 records with
the money. can u beliave it? with $42 Reais here you can eat in a good
restaurant for seven nights, or buy your self >>an expensive clothe, or go
out to expensive club tree times.
im just posting this for your curiosity. vinyl will soon desapeear here i
think. me and my dj friends dont buy records no more. or we get one 12"
per month.
.
its really sad. i am being forced to give up geting records.. : /
there's tons of people that would gladly pay for music, if only it wasn't so
expensive. the internet gives you the oportunity to distribute your music
yourself, and therefore provide it at a much lower price.
Its crazy competitive right now, almost as many labels as there are
artists! Hey, that's the future. No large (or even medium sized?) record
labels, just musicians who know their business. A zillion little rhythmic
CEOs...Heavy.>>>
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
That's where the issue lies. There's not enough musicians who know their
business well enough to really know how to move units. Or willing to cough
up the dough to hire a team who does.
not every artist has it's own website. and even if they did, how can they
ever reach an international audience, without some sort of promotion or
other form of network.
this is where the future of record labels and specialised record stores
lies.
record stores/distributers like submerge, hardwax or rushhour can serve as
an online recordstore: recommend songs, basically inform the customers about
the music that's on-line available. record labels can serve as a promotional
tool.
for individuals there's too many labels around to have a complete overview
on what new music is available every week. [just imagine having to surf the
internet for all your favorite artists and labels every week, just to see if
they've got something new.] and on the other hand there are way too many
artists for a distributer or record store to have an overview on what might
be interesting to provide to their customers, so a label can serve as some
kind of recommendation.
most of this will only work for the music discussed on lists like this, but
i think that the internet might be beneficial to true artists, and give diy
artists a bigger opportunity to get 'discovered'.
what the future of the big recording companies will look like is much more
of a question to me. on the one hand their profit will drop drastically,
something they're trying to compensate by new rules in the contracts of
their 'money-cows'. on the other hand there will always be a demand for
consumer arts, just look at programs like 'idols'.
only the future will tell i think...
jurren
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