hmm, the music business may in fact be dead.

[Morgana]

Originally Posted by Macfanforever

I remember the day of vinyl.buy the whole lp and get two to three good songs out of the lp and the rest are duds.At lease today you can cherry pick the hits out of an cd instead of plucking down $13.00 dollars for the whole thing.

A foot note at the end of Stevie's shows when she says please save the music biz.

For those of us who are, "Old School" and, "Back in the day" LP's 45's, cassettes, and 8 tracks were the way to go and as they say nowdays, "The Bomb!" If I remember right, and as I am nearing Stevie's age, " brain burps" happen....but you bought 45's for 2 songs, the front & back. There is just something nostalgic about that.

[Richard B]

Physical media is dead. It servers no purpose other than to accommodate old schoolers, nostalgia and I guess to some degree, a tactile experience.

The faster we do away with all the physical media, the better it will be for everything. At least I will never have to make space for something that just sits there, year after year after year, untouched and serving no purpose. That to me is extreme waste.

Funny how the record companies are crying as digital media takes over, I wonder if book & magazine publishers will also cry the same tune? I love my books and magazines provided digitally, on my ipad or iPhone or computer. In fact one of my magazines is now selling more annual digital subscriptions than to the physical magazine.

As for Jordan Sparks...she has fallen under the AI curse after winning: who?

[bucklind17]

I don't think the word "dead" is even a question. The music business has been struggling since the advent of digital media to figure out a way to stay in control of consumption and provide ways for artists to measure success but nothing has improved. Record sales are only going to continue to fall, and they are SO much lower than ever before. Part of this is the way major record labels have operated for years and continue to. There's a definite corruption in the industry, especially as far as radio and major promotion is concerned.

A lot of independent artists, either on independent labels or their own labels, have been encouraging the actual purchase of their albums by creating unique packages that include an added benefit to buying the album, but in most cases, that is only going to appeal to actual fans of the band and not necessarily a new listener.

It's too easy to steal music. Way too easy. It's like walking up to a produce section in the supermarket and taking a bite of every thing available before you decide if you want to actually buy it, only you actually get to keep it and continue using it, so you choose. Everyone has downloaded music that they haven't paid for. Some people make good on it and later support the artist financially by legally purchasing an album or buying concert tickets or merch but a lot of people "sample" to see if it is "worth" their money and this is just something that never could have happened before the dawn of digital media. If the amount of music stolen digitally was stolen in hard copy form, from a record store, there'd be a lot more people in jail.

Annnd, I didn't intend to rant THAT heavily in this thread, so feel free to move this elsewhere if necessary.

[HighPassion]

Originally Posted by Richard B

Physical media is dead. It servers no purpose other than to accommodate old schoolers, nostalgia and I guess to some degree, a tactile experience.

The faster we do away with all the physical media, the better it will be for everything. At least I will never have to make space for something that just sits there, year after year after year, untouched and serving no purpose. That to me is extreme waste.

Funny how the record companies are crying as digital media takes over, I wonder if book & magazine publishers will also cry the same tune? I love my books and magazines provided digitally, on my ipad or iPhone or computer. In fact one of my magazines is now selling more annual digital subscriptions than to the physical magazine.

As for Jordan Sparks...she has fallen under the AI curse after winning: who?

It's things like this that scare me. I wouldn't say I'm "old school" cause I'm only 21, and I have mixed feelings about digital music. I like I-tunes for those CD's/songs that seem impossible to find, unless you order them online and have to pay an arm and a leg for them... And, for browsing songs. But getting the physical copy of a CD and skimming through the book and the first listen being a "surprise" is something I feel a whole new generation is missing out on, which saddens me.

However, the whole thing about books and magazines now being on I-pads etc is just rediculous... Looking at a screen that much can't possibly be good for someone's eyes. A major reason why I think books are good to keep around is because it takes people away from the screen.

I think people in general are just getting too carried away with this whole technologically advanced thing... Plus the fact that they're so expensive you could probably buy an entire library with that money. Oh wait, charge it onto the credit card -- duh. Who cares about debt?


I don't know, when I think about even thigns like this ---maybe we are living in an apocolyptic/end of the world age.

[APerfectLie]

The music business is not "dead" and it has infact grown over the past ten years. Record sales are whats failingz but those are not indicative of the music business as a whole. Physical records and record labels are becoming obsolete, but that is just the evolution of the industry.

[Macfanforever]

The product sucks today.These days with the glut of rap.hip hop.dance.teeny bopper tunes .the Icons like Stevie,FM and and rock performers from that generation will have to work their a$$ off to get noticed on the charts.as we Stevie with her IYD cd.Some newer rock groups are getting notice like Train which I like are geting notice.one thing that I'm happy with is more of the country artists are crossing on to the mainstream charts.

[jellyman10]

Originally Posted by louielouie2000

Indie artists are in the biz because they love making music, not necessarily because they want to rake in the big buck$. Folks can run around screaming "the sky is falling! The sky is falling!" But I'm loving it!

I agree. I think we're already looking at something like the Tusk tour, and all that high-living rock n roll, in much the same way that we look at the court of Louis XIV. A decadent and theatrical expression of an idea of how rock n roll royalty was supposed to behave. It was loosely relevant to the music, in that people would write about 'the road' etc., but really it was a lifestyle that squandered extravagantly the huge amounts of money that flowed from the fans who, as well as buying the music, may well have also bought into the spectacle.

Now, though, and in the future, the wealth is/will be more polarised. There will always be a few acts who transcend to global prominence in a way that makes them hugely wealthy. But it's a mistake to think that huge wealth as a necessary condition for sustaining an artistic career. And, in fact, most artists don't. Most artists would be happy to make from their work the same kind of income that a middle manager in a bank makes - but they can't, because people steal their work.

Loz

[HejiraNYC]

I have a problem with paying for downloaded music, and I am sure I am not alone. It isn't that I don't believe in the concept of rightfully paying for and supporting music that enriches my life. For one thing, I get a bit of cognitive dissonance here- paying for something (for about the same amount of money that I would pay for physical media) that I can not touch, see or smell. Call me old school, but part of the music collecting experience for me is about the physical manifestation of the music. Secondly, there is no backup plan when it comes to these MP3 or AAC files; one dead hard drive or freak accident of nature can wipe out thousands of dollars worth of music in an instant. At least with physical media, you have something that is stable, relatively secure and can serve as an archive.

My prediction about the future of music is that the technology that destroyed music will come back and save it. The existence of music-only devices is dead. Everything in the foreseeable future will be based on the smartphone platform, i.e., the iPod, iPhone, iPad, etc. At some point there will be a convergence of standards/platforms, as well as breakthroughs in connectivity that will allow devices to communicate with each other wirelessly and effortlessly without the need for computers and software. At some point albums will be purchased and used like a smartphone app. This will help to alleviate the problem of having a disaster back-up since all purchasers of the "album app" will be registered and can re-download music as-needed. The album app will enable the incorporation of multimedia such as text, pictures, video, games, puzzles, etc. And best of all, the album app will be dynamic- it can be updated and enhanced over time, just like smartphone apps today. So, for example, at any given moment, all registered users of a particular album may receive a free update of live bonus tracks or a new music video or even blog entries and concert tour announcements, etc. Everybody wins- the consumer gets an enhanced musical experience, the artist gets paid, the record labels get paid and the cost of distribution is much lower.

It is a shame that Apple hasn't started up a music label division; they currently have dominance in the smartphone/portable music playing arena and all of this technology is within reach. It's a totally lost opoprtunity!

[PenguinHead]

Some of the songs that I love the most are not hits or the obvious ones, but deep album tracks. I didn't get instant gratification from them, but began to appreciate them for the fact that I heard them in the context of a group of songs (an album). These are songs that don't hit you right away, but grow on you over time. With iTunes, songs become an instant gratification prospect, and other songs are instantly cut, dismissed and ignored. It's a detriment to the experience of music as a whole. iTunes radically changed how we process music. It''s great fo commerce, but horrible for artists, and people who truly respect artists' work.

I can never read a book on a Kindle- just sterile words on a computer screen, and have the same intimate experience of a physical book and its presence: the image on the cover, the turn of the page, the smell and tactil feel of the entire package. It's similar to an album: holding it in your hands, the imagery giving it context, reading the liner notes etc... The digital age has destroyed the concept of a body of work, and caters to an obsessive self-selection indulgence. Granted, it has made music more accessible, but the losses are immense and grave.

I suppose if I buy a digital book, I can edit out all passages that I don't like right away, re-arrange the chapters in a sequence that I find more preferable. I'll make it just like I want it be for me, me...and me!

[KarmaContestant]

Digital books and music might feel less tangible, but the emotions of the songs or words - the music or story - the experience the artist wanted you to have is not diminished in any way by a digital product. Any perceived loss of experience is, well, imaginary.

The real experience is still there when you play those tracks, in order, and feel that album - it's the same regardless of cassette, CD, digital or record.

The ability to buy individual tracks, I agree, has diminished the album concept, but we've always been able to buy 45s, cassette and CD singles - so it's not really a new concept, it's just different in that more than the single is available from an album. The remedy lies with the record labels - they could disallow the distribution of single tracks and make album purchases mandatory, which I would support wholeheartedly - but then again I always buy full albums anyway so I have nothing to lose or gain by this.

I am a mixed bag...I prefer paper books, but when it comes to music I'm equally happy with a CD or a digital purchase. I'm a collector at heart, so if it's an artist I collect (there are only 5-7 of these) then I always go for the CD or record. Everyone else is a digital purchase.

The environmental impact of a material versus a digital purchase is massive, from the oil used to make the plastic CDs and cases, to the fuel used to transport the product and the energy used to light the stores and pave the parking lots where the stores are located. In most cases, a CD is just not worth it.

The one downside mentioned by HejiraNYC is the potential to lose your entire collection due to something beyond your control - but even this is not new to the digital age - Fire, flood, tornadoes and hurricanes pose as much risk as a hard drive crash. As a precaution, get an external hard drive and copy your entire music collection to it - let it run over night. Keep that external drive stored somewhere safe and back it up again at least twice a year. Additionally, the iPod is a backup of your music collection as well. If you have a computer, an iPod and an external you're dealing with three copies of your whole collection that are far more manageable than moving and storing hundreds or thousands of records and CDs which, like it or not, will eventually end up in a landfill somewhere.

[markolas]

Originally Posted by HejiraNYC

Secondly, there is no backup plan when it comes to these MP3 or AAC files; one dead hard drive or freak accident of nature can wipe out thousands of dollars worth of music in an instant.

Speak for yourself. All my files are backed up.

[justdreamin]

Everything in this world is in a constant state of flux. Governments, business, technology, perceptions and definitions of (name it; morals, sex, religion, politics, money...) One good solar flare could wipe out electricity and corrupt digital files for a part or the whole of our planet. Mother nature always wins, right?
I remember very distinctly when CD's came out I swore I would never buy a player or a CD. Same with DVD's... I have 100's of CD's now, though I still prefer vinyl, but I'm all about DVD's over VHS!!
You can't worry about what you can't control... and how many things can we really control? Maybe the music industry will have to make some big adjustments as we all have over the years and change how it awards unit sales. Out with the gold, platinum etc. album sales and in with a different kind of measurement. Who knows...just an opinion.
One thing I really hope though, is that we can always try to be as honest as we can, not just about downloads, but in all we do. (Not preaching I promise!) I really dig this forum, BYW...always makes me smile.

[Macfanforever]

As everybody knows on here.I love the old school media,Vinyl,Audio Tape{what ever shape and size},Video tape ,same as audio tape what ever shape and size.Since Since I do have an other life then Stevie and Fleetwood Mac.like my friends always say I dont.I do have about 35 years of experience in the electronics profession.I do know the digital thing is in today.like one little thing goes wrong with a digital device.or media of DVD,CD,CDR.flash memory,Hard drive or builtin memory on devices like mp3 players.cell phones.cameras ,camcorders.and other digital devices.
At that moment will we say its a goner.of corse it can be send out to a data recovery
company with a big fat price that could pay for a several of Stevie FM concerts including travel.Yes I do backup all of my files onto those ext boxdrives.I dont burn backup no more onto cdrs.Like it was mentioned before if a emf wave comes .it could muckup everything.at lease my 4 dozen copies of Rumours lp's will play.

[bucklind17]

Originally Posted by HejiraNYC

My prediction about the future of music is that the technology that destroyed music will come back and save it. The existence of music-only devices is dead. Everything in the foreseeable future will be based on the smartphone platform, i.e., the iPod, iPhone, iPad, etc. At some point there will be a convergence of standards/platforms, as well as breakthroughs in connectivity that will allow devices to communicate with each other wirelessly and effortlessly without the need for computers and software. At some point albums will be purchased and used like a smartphone app. This will help to alleviate the problem of having a disaster back-up since all purchasers of the "album app" will be registered and can re-download music as-needed. The album app will enable the incorporation of multimedia such as text, pictures, video, games, puzzles, etc. And best of all, the album app will be dynamic- it can be updated and enhanced over time, just like smartphone apps today. So, for example, at any given moment, all registered users of a particular album may receive a free update of live bonus tracks or a new music video or even blog entries and concert tour announcements, etc. Everybody wins- the consumer gets an enhanced musical experience, the artist gets paid, the record labels get paid and the cost of distribution is much lower.

Isn't this the general basis of the cloud technology that Apple is currently trying to perfect? I agree with you that this will be the best way for digital music to be consumed and likely regulated. I don't have an issue with paying for digital music because like another poster, I back it up and also, if your hard drive DOES crash, Apple will, on a case by case basis, allow you access to your purchased media for your new computer or hard drive. Ideally, though, once actual computer files are no longer necessary, people will need to pay to have access to the music on the home base through their own subscription or what have you and there will not be files floating around for consumption that can be "stolen" and artists will be fairly compensated for their work.

[KarmaContestant]

Originally Posted by Macfanforever

.Like it was mentioned before if a emf wave comes .it could muckup everything.at lease my 4 dozen copies of Rumours lp's will play.

There will likely be no electricity in that scenraio - so your LPs won't play unless you have an old hand-crank Victrola you can play them on.