How we are going to save the music industry

[BioMichanical]

I'm not entirely sure if I agree with this post, I mean yeah, there are some good points, but to be that biased means your not seeing the whole picture. I honestly see for the very first time garage bands, and small unknown bands have more power to make it into the music business than ever. It's a matter of marketing - that's what every business relies on. It's not who you are, it's who knows you, brand recognition. I think with the new age of networking, you can either whine about the problems it created or use it to your advantage. Band's who were signed by large record companies were getting screwed badly. They would get a 80 thousand dollar check, go and blow over half of it on the recording and the other half on gear and drugs. And the only chance a small band had to make it was to "get signed" and then get screwed.

Now small bands if they are wise, can adapt to the marketing power that is available to them, with iTunes, musicians freind, even free peer to peer file sharing, can get their name out. And with a bazillion home recording studios opening up, the cost of recording has dropped significantly. All a small unknown band has to do is find a studio with fairly decent rates, make a killer album, and then promote themselves in every possible nitch they can find. History proves that no matter how bad you suck, people will like you. Small indie bands, if done right can sell as 10,000 copies. Do the math, 10,000 x $10 bucks a CD that's a hundred grand. Maybe not millionaire's but enough to get buy and do what you love doing while making money at it. That's not including money you get paid for doing gigs, which has always been the band's bread and butter, not record sales. The artist who were signed to large record companies has always gotten pennies on the CD sales. Now your band can sell Mp3's WORLDWIDE without them.

Dude, it's a new age, the only way to move forward is to adapt, those who can't and just want to live in the past are going to become old and bitter. If it weren't for the Internet, small companies such as new egg, musicians friend, would have never had the opportunities to become as large as they are now, and give the larger corporations one hell of a run for their money. Competition was small in comparison to what it is now - the difference is the smaller guys took advantage. I think it's a good way to give larger record companies a nice loud rude awakening. Because your right....

A lot of music to day SUCKS! I admit it has gotten better since the dreadful 90's but what I hear anymore is one band gets popular and everyone coat-tails off of "their" sound, mostly because their producer tells them how to make this "cut and manufactured" sound that will get them big. Where is the variety people?!?!?!? We love variety, not copy-cats.

There are still lot's of really great musicians out there, who can impress even the most critical minded people, and now they have the opportunity to promote themselves without the marketing prowess of large record companies, and become successful at it. They no longer have to impress the producers, only the audience. And if the audience loves you, at your show, they WILL buy your CD! Just give em something incredible and quit trying to emulate someone else. I think the problem with current music is that people are trying to emulate emotions into their music, rather than put down how they feel on wax. Make it real, because I can tell when your faking it! Then you will have a great CD that sells.

believe it or not, people will buy, and iTunes proved it, to the record companies who refused to even consider that the Internet existed for any other reasons than to pirate their CD sales, it was after they adapted did they finally realize there is a way to make a profit through digital downloading.

Oh and one last thing, giving away free music - to an extent is also a way of marketing. People do love free stuff, and if you can somehow restrict it to a small amount, like say give em 3 free songs they can download, chances are, they will be back for more, and tell others about you as well. This creates popularity, which also creates "tada" opportunity! You cannot control the consumer, only try to understand what they want, and then find a solution that works for both them and you. I think that a lot of people just want to be rich, and make it big, and make lot's of cash doing it, both musicians, and producers, so they look for the easy way out. But that's crap! It takes hard work and dedication to do anything worthwhile.

[djwayne]

The cost to produce and market a cd is becoming prohibitive, people don't want to spend $25 for a cd. Downloading is the most inexpensive, most cost effective method of music delivery.

After looking into CD Baby, I was surprised by the costs to make a cd available. I'd have to sell quite a few just to break even, and then there's no guarantee of that.

[tropicalhotdog]

Who gives a flying fahooey about the music industry? Let it choke on remnants of it's own stinking necrotic flesh. The only relevant question (in my book) is how do artists get compensated for their creations? And you know what - not all of them will! The ease, affordableness and ubiquity of recording technologies has resulted in huge tidal wave of recorded music out there from countless musicians, and as in any defined system with a huge influx of actors, the vast majority of the output starts to cluster around the middle of the bell curve. In other words, there's a lot of mediocre shite out there. That's okay though - you add 100 new artists every second, maybe 80 of them are going to be forgettable, 10 will be humorously bad and 10 will be original and mindblowing.

But since the labels are dying, there's fewer actors playing the editorial role of deciding who's worth putting out there and who isn't and so it's up to the artists themselves (or their micro-labels). As has been pointed out enough times, once something is digitized, it's pretty darned hard to keep it from being pirated. So artists have to:

1) Be ARTISTS - find their own voice! I've run a small label and was crushed by how many young bands just try to create a look and a sound (in that order) focused only at getting a deal. No voice. No originality. No soul. But I digress.
2) Record themselves! Read GearSlutz and learn how! Gearlust is an ugly mistress, but a great sounding DIY recording is worth the price.
3) Figure out how to be heard among the fray (raise a flag over the massive crest of the bell curve, so to speak). Quality music isn't enough. Artists have to be able to find their audience in creative ways. Indpendent touring for baby bands is almost impossible anymore (for rock/punk anyway, which is all I know anything about), with how little bars and clubs pay and how expensive gas is. Work the net. Build a local following. Send bios and demos to EVERYONE you can afford to.
4) Find as many income streams as possible - gigs, merch, publishing and whatever they can get from sales of physical product as well as downloads/streams.

The industry does not serve artists. The industry makes (or rather, made) money from artists. Let it die. Computers may have killed the music industry, but they only help musicians.

But MTV killed music.

[Mitch97]

Ok lemme just tell everyone that maybe it's too much to ask to have a hard fixed medium of distribution. Did it work in the past? Yes. Does it work for all other manufactured goods? Yes.

So, moving forward with the whole internet download thing.

I will pay for a good subscription or download service that offered uncompressed audio. 44.1, 16 bits at least. Or better yet 44.1, 24 bits. That will be a hell of a long download time though.

I'll admit it. A large part of me is bitching about this situation because a lot records to me these days sound like ass. Over-edited, compressed, lifeless, especially the popular stuff. I am changing with the times. I recorded my professional-sounding demo on my laptop that has opened many doors for me. Am I proud of it? Yes. Does it sound like something from Abbey Road? No.

[big country]

the romance of being feed intravenous would get old after a while

[big country]

/\

Originally Posted by dangoudie

That's why people love it

/\

[Mitch97]

Lemme also pose the question...

What's the current state of the recording industry if bands no longer have the support to make great recordings, especially if you're a band that doesn't have multi-platinum potential?

[andychamp]

We should do what we can to make recorded music something special again, rid it of that aural fast-food image.
I realize this isn't an option for many of us, but how about refusing to record bad music when we hear it?
Dare to send the band back to the rehearsal room for 6 months.

[djwayne]

Originally Posted by Mitch97

Lemme also pose the question...

What's the current state of the recording industry if bands no longer have the support to make great recordings, especially if you're a band that doesn't have multi-platinum potential?

I talked with a major record label about 30 years ago, they told me they weren't interested in anybody who wasn't already a big seller. They didn't want the expense of artist development not only with me but anybody. They only wanted to sign bands like the Moody Blues, ect....so not much has changed since then, except that now artists have the ability to reach millions of potential fans thru the internet, which wasn't available 30 years ago. So now artists have that option. I think it's great !!

[narcoman]

Originally Posted by ramjac

how many of those 500 million were by contemporary artists? how many were re-issues? and when was the last time your jaw dropped when you heard a tune for the first time?

Last week.

There is great stuff coming out every week - its just in the minority - most is dross, but a small percentage of it is great.

I get sent probbaly close to 60 CDs a week to potentially license out to other media. Most IS poop or boring. But I can certainly say, once a month, a GREAT CD will come through the door. There is a lot of good music, just a lot more dross!

Bands/acts that have knocked me for six over the last few years include (some old, some new): The Dirtbombs, Amy Winehouse, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Ludacris, Domes of silence, Six Ray Sun, Clutch, QOTSA, Eagles of Death Metal, José González, Blood Red Shoes, Racanteurs, Kanye West, Kelis, Detroit Cobras, David Okuniev, Winnebego Deal..... and that's just off the top of my head.

[djwayne]

Originally Posted by andychamp

We should do what we can to make recorded music something special again, rid it of that aural fast-food image.
I realize this isn't an option for many of us, but how about refusing to record bad music when we hear it?
Dare to send the band back to the rehearsal room for 6 months.

The problem with is, music is subjective, meaning one person may like it while somebody else hates it. So who's to be the judge ?? The audio engineer, or the artists ?? Music also has a way of becoming popular over time and many listens. Not all songs become popular at first listen, sometimes it takes a while to catch on.

[joelpatterson]

Originally Posted by Mitch97

Lemme also pose the question...

What's the current state of the recording industry if bands no longer have the support to make great recordings, especially if you're a band that doesn't have multi-platinum potential?

The good new is that the band doesn't need "support" to make a great recording. Great gear is available widely, and great talent to make the most of that gear is not uncommon, either, and the costs for both are dirt cheap! Although, I haven't checked lately, the dirt market is probably seeing some inflation, like everything. It's never been easier to do. This opens up the playing field to everyone.

A "band" is no longer like a mighty airplane that needs to be scheduled into airports, needs a vast ground crew to keep it running, and needs to fill every seat to break even.

A "band" is much more like a golfer. You buy your own clubs, as fine as you need and can afford, then you show up at the tournament and start competing.

[JesseJ]

Once upon a time, two shoe salesmen, from different companies, were
sent to an African country to explore the market for shoes.

The first shoe salesman hated the assignment and wished he didn’t have to go.
The second shoe salesman loved the assignment and saw it as a great op-
portunity for advancement in his company.

When they each arrived in the African country, they studied
the local market for shoes. Then they both sent telegrams back to
their head offices.

The first salesman, who didn’t want to be there,
wrote, “Trip has been wasted. No market in this country. Nobody
wears shoes.”

The second salesman, who saw this as a real opportunity and be-
lieved that he could make something of it, said in his telegram, “Won-
derful trip. Market opportunities unlimited. No one wears shoes.”

[Jules]

Originally Posted by Mitch97

Hi all,

I wanted to start a thread dedicated to discussing solutions to what seems to be, by many people's standards, a crisis in the music industry. Record labels dissolve or get swallowed by corporations, and music, while may have the same strength of writers of the past, are sounding worse than ever. Please don't flame me for the exceptions to this rule like Coldplay and Radiohead. I'm talking about the majority of the stuff that gets released, especially the artists that are below the mainstream radar.

While listening to one of my favorite bands, Type O Negative, I was comparing the sound of their previous works on Roadrunner to their latest on SPV. There's no doubt the sound of the record from SPV is way underpar to their previous works. Whether this is the case or not, it hit me that while artists hardly ever made a dime from record sales, hot record sales is a snowball effect of positive influence. First of all, in my opinion there are fewer and fewer good-sounding records out there. A good and original-sounding record will boost tour sales and TOUR SUPPORT from the label. This benefits both the artist AND label. Second, hot record sales boost mechanical royalties and demand from companies to use a song in multimedia, thus boosting publishing royalties. This then effects publishing companies positively. And last but not least, the budget from labels, enabled by record sales, trickles down to the engineers, producers, mixers and writers that inhabit this forum.

I've been studying this changing musical landscape for some time now, waiting on the sidelines to see where exactly I can fit in and actually make a living at it. I'd like us all to put our heads together and come up with a solution to turn this thing around, and allow artists to make GOOD SOUNDING RECORDS AGAIN. At least let's give it a shot.

This presumes that all artists actually want to make 'good sounding recordings'.

I was getting some bands handing me a pile of CD's (very processed / generic sounding rock) and asking me to replicate the sound of their favorite CD's EXACTLY..

That sort of BS is purely ARTIST DRIVEN.. and in this scenario engineers and producers have their creative hands tied, as its basically copy cat or 'cookie cutting' work..

Some artists just want that 'sound de jour'.

If you tell a 19 year old in the studio to record, wanting to get the same sound as their fave CD's "hey how about trying something with your own sound?" - sometimes all you get back is the kid sitting there blinking, blank faced, 'whut doo you mean....?"

You can lead a horse to water, but you cant force it to drink.

[Jules]

Further..

For SURE when the Beatles hit there were a LOT of copy bands, Hair Metal - a lot of copy bands, Punk etc etc ..........its not something that you can legislate against..

Once in a while a new artist or movement will come around and be innovative, thats the cool evolution of pop music..

[marcher5877]

People will always listen to good music.

So make good music. (I know, I know easier said than done, but that really is the answer)

Let the marketing dept worry about 'the industry.' As a muscian and part-time recording engineer, I consider it my job to make great sounding songs. Sometimes I do better than others, but I am still learning and hope I will be for a long time. I don't really care where the industry is going, I just want to make great sounding songs.

Thats my focus and thats what I hope will get me more jobs in the future.


Some people will say the sky is falling. Others sell umbrellas.

[Kenny Gioia]

Originally Posted by Jules

I was getting some bands handing me a pile of CD's (very processed / generic sounding rock) and asking me to replicate the sound of their favorite CD's EXACTLY..

That sort of BS is purely ARTIST DRIVEN.. and in this scenario engineers and producers have their creative hands tied, as its basically copy cat or 'cookie cutting' work..

I don't know about PURELY.

TRUE. A lot of Artists are just trying to replicate their heroes but I've seen a lot of very innovative Artists come thru the "system" over the last ten years only to be handed to all of the usual suspects who are being hired by labels to do "their thing".

It is amazing to me how easy it is to turn something truly original into something totally derivative.

[Jules]

OK I agree, A&R guy craps himself about losing his job and feels he must make sure his records sound like all the other records..

Both ends of the artistic hot dog are getting bitten off

[lucey]

Under 30s have lived not only with computers their whole life, have been marketed to like never before, and have had more structured childhoods than ever before with less chaos and less demands on them for self-starting ... they live with and under media like a parent, so close to them that they don't see it's influence. A band will often musically self-compromise, castrate itself for 'commercial' ideas that sneak in unknown, ideas that ultimately undermine it's commercial potential. The audiences are the same way, follow the leader is the motto, be it following radio or MySpace buzz. Dane Cook is not a funny comedian, but there he goes again, making you think he is. My Space works ... sorta. I asked a girl about a band I had never seen just before their show ... she was way into the up and coming Modest Mouse, a super hip and seemingly smart chick ... so I said "what does this band sound like" ... and all she could tell me about the music was, "they're very important." What about the music? Do they sounds like this or that? Drums? Keys? What ? "They're very important."

Hip hops beginnings as well as rock's 60s, punks 70s, and even the cut/paste 90s grunge era were built on fuk the system youth, not follow the leader youth. Music is what's important, not the scene ... the scene is what might follow if you connect emotionally. Individuality is not an outfit at the mall, or a new look to your MySpace, it's a way of relating to power. The next big thing used to have substance beyond media, and can still, but it's more likely to want to follow.

Success is still possible. Why are the Black Keys on a world tour right now and your band is not?

The computer has played into it, but it's been rolling down for 30 years. How many great artists would never had a chance post 1983 visual dominance? MTV, visuals and marketing dominant, top down, not bottom up music. Lawyers in the 80s mucked it up, A+R trust fund kids ever since, wannabe players looking to exploit the scene for a hot chick and a quick fix, not make a scene from scratch. There are exceptions, but individuality is not the rule, it's the exception.

The ownership of artists work by labels was not meant to work well forever ... it's exploitive and dehumanizing effects are invisible often, but toxic almost always. Vision, courage and the like are not to be found at conglomerates. Music is not a widget.

Marketing to younger and younger people has obviously failed to grow the music business by any real amount and has alienated people over 40, people with money, who are just as savvy if not more so than the 20s that think they own the scene. Thanks to the marketing of their whole youth and their fortunate upbringings, plus growing up attached to computers/media/marketing, there is a sense of arrogant power and also a lack of individuality in many young people. CEOs will tell you the same thing ... to many expectations and not enough initiative.

Why do young engineers often worry more about sample rate than the actual sound of a converter? Because numbers are the thing they can judge most easily, not the substance of the device's sound.

Get back to work!

[ALL*MYTEE]

If the price of all cars had been fixed at $9999 for ten years, no one would ask why the quality was sh&t. And no one would question why American cars were worse than Korean ones. (Try finding someone to work for $1 an hour in the US).

Recorded music doesn't pay. It's just expensive marketing for tours and t-shirts and now soda and clothing lines.

A lot of people want to do it--and will do it for free--so we still have large quantities of music being made, but as even successful bands only make profits touring and on merch, that's what most of their time and energy gets spent on. Heard a great song from the Rolling Stones lately? The bigger you get, the harder it is to make good music. Except in hip-hop, where you buy your beats from someone else and just do the vocals. (They still have money making money, but can make some bangers after they're famous.) The big rock bands that make decent music--and they are very rare--often live and think like indie bands--and likely make very little money relative to their cultural importance.

The only solution is to do what is done in every other industry worldwide--raise prices for more popular music.

It's just math.

I know people will say that then people will just steal more but that's not true. People steal software and they still charge market rates for retail sales. The only industry where they don't figure the cost of marketing, promo and theft into the price of their goods is in music, film, tv, magazines and books. This is why the quality of our music, films, tv, magazines and books is so low relative to the quality of plasma televisions, bread-making machines, tennis shoes, golf clubs, grass seed, plastic containers, closet storage systems, and just about every other product we make or sell--industries that don't turn a profit can't attract talent as well, can't compete as well, can't keep talent and can't get credit.

You can say that the Strokes aren't like the Jam, or that Vampire Weekend isn't just a re-heated Feelies, but there's not as big and exciting a difference as between The Jam and The Who or the Feelies and VU (or as between a 1980 phone and a 2008 phone, a 1970s loft and a 2008 loft, a Chrysler LeBaron and a hybrid Lexus). The bottom line is that people spend money on what excites them, what appeals to them. And music isn't very appealing compared to electronics, cars, clothes, etc. It's falling behind.

I used to spend a huge percentage of my budget on music--and would spend every weekend combing record stores for old soul, new punk--anything that spoke to me. Now, I don't really care. I still keep an ear out, but all I really get is slightly better old stuff. Reheated 80s or 90s. No one had ever heard anything like De La Soul--I can't say the same about The Cool Kids, Lupe Fiasco or The Knights of Caberia (or whatever they're called). It's not that they're not good, they're just not bringing me many new ideas. There are, of course, a few wonderful exceptions, but good music used to come out every week.

Fixed price, or socialized industries, can't produce products that are as appealing to consumers as industries where the market sets prices. This is why socialism (and other fixed price systems like fascism) have failed all over the world.

The people I know spend lots of money on couches, cabinet knobs, rugs, massages, yoga, tattoos, clothing--all sorts of stuff--but they've given up on music because it's primarily boring, juvenile, depressed, angry and recycled. The Shins ideas and feelings aren't as new as Sebadoh's were. Finding something they like takes most people too long. And these are people who loved music for years and years--at shows four nights a week, huge obscure record collections.

But they grew up and music didn't. For music to grow up, it will have to pay adults to make it. Adults with mortgages, kids with braces, cars that run reliably and who won't go without dental insurance. It can't pay just to tour, because lots and lots of people have no desire in doing that. What adults that you know would hit the road for two years just to make $20,000 and maybe get a record deal that paid $10,000. Or even $100,000. After taxes and expenses, that's still $30,000 a year for living in a van away from everyone you care about.

For music to grow up, musicians will have to admit that they want more money and ask for it in the products they sell. Until then, what are we going to do? Put them up in public housing? They have a monopoly on a very valuable product--like holding a deed on an oil well--why should anyone do anything for them just because they're afraid to negotiate what they're worth in the market? Everyone else has to.

[redvelvetstudios]

Originally Posted by Mitch97

Lemme also pose the question...
What's the current state of the recording industry if bands no longer have the support to make great recordings, especially if you're a band that doesn't have multi-platinum potential?

Originally Posted by Jules

This presumes that all artists actually want to make 'good sounding recordings'.

I was getting some bands handing me a pile of CD's (very processed / generic sounding rock) and asking me to replicate the sound of their favorite CD's EXACTLY..

That sort of BS is purely ARTIST DRIVEN..

Aint this the truth... I remember when CS 4tks first appeared - thought was, what will people record when they are no longer using their life savings to record studio demos (which at the time were always a knock off sound of whatever was popular - not what was good).

well... what happened was there were just more demos of more people doing the same thing, proving once again that more canvasas and more paint don't make more picasso's...

This is why artistry will survive even as the industry crumbles. the recording industry became an unsustainable beast. that beast gave me a decent career. not millions but a decent career. the death of the industry is just weeding out those who love what they do from the rest of the lot - in my opinion.

soon, no one will work in the industry unless they love the work, because there won't be much left to make it worth it. so for all the talk of "art vs commerce" you'll finally have it...

[Fm_Guy]

Originally Posted by Mitch97

Give them something they want and have to pay for and they buy it. Why do people buy PS3 and Xbox games? Because they CAN'T PIRATE IT!!! The answer is easy!!

Hate to bust your bubble, but you are wrong. Below is copy/pasted from a torrent site.


MLB.2K8.PAL.XBOX360-ARROGANE By: Anonymous
6.14 GB in 69 files 2 seeder(s) and 1 leecher(s) Snatched 2 times 2 Comments Apr 16th, 19:11 GMT

Universe At War Earth Assault PAL XBOX360-STRANGE By: Anonymous
5.75 GB in 64 files 9 seeder(s) and 14 leecher(s) Snatched 12 times 3 Comments Apr 16th, 12:54 GMT

UEFA EURO 2008 PAL XBOX360-PROTOCOL By: Anonymous
6.29 GB in 70 files 23 seeder(s) and 2 leecher(s) Snatched 36 times 1 Comments Apr 15th, 13:12 GMT

Battlestations Midway NTSC XBOX360-CCCLX By: Anonymous
6.73 GB in 77 files 5 seeder(s) and 7 leecher(s) Snatched 11 times 1 Comments Apr 14th, 07:16 GMT

CSI.Hard.Evidence.XBOX360-CCCLX By: Anonymous
5.53 GB in 62 files 7 seeder(s) and 1 leecher(s) Snatched 27 times 3 Comments Apr 6th, 06:49 GMT

Colin.McRae.Dirt.PAL.PROPER.XBOX360-DNL By: Anonymous
6.39 GB in 71 files 4 seeder(s) and no leechers! Snatched 28 times 3 Comments Apr 2nd, 20:41 GMT

Dark.Sector.USA.XBOX360-iMARS By: Anonymous
6.59 GB in 73 files 7 seeder(s) and no leechers! Snatched 50 times 17 Comments Mar 26th, 16:51 GMT

Viking Battle For Asgard USA XBOX360-VORTEX By: Anonymous
5.72 GB in 64 files 9 seeder(s) and no leechers! Snatched 53 times 4 Comments Mar 24th, 19:25 GMT

Football.Manager.2008.PAL.XBOX360-STRANGE By: Anonymous
6.64 GB in 74 files 2 seeder(s) and no leechers! Snatched 10 times 1 Comments Mar 23rd, 18:30 GMT

Guitar Hero II MULTi2 NTSC XBOX360-PMM By: Anonymous
6.38 GB in 74 files 2 seeder(s) and 1 leecher(s) Snatched 26 times 4 Comments Mar 18th, 09:50 GMT

Tom Clancys Rainbow Six Vegas 2 PAL X360-Allstars By: vcorsaman
5.46 GB in 61 files 21 seeder(s) and no leechers! Snatched 116 times 5 Comments Mar 16th, 11:41 GMT

SEGA Superstars Tennis PAL XBOX360-SPARE By: Anonymous
5.61 GB in 63 files 6 seeder(s) and 1 leecher(s) Snatched 39 times 2 Comments Mar 16th, 07:08 GMT

Scene.It.Lights.Camera.Action.USA.XBOX360-SuperX360 By: Anonymous
6.74 GB in 75 files 2 seeder(s) and no leechers! Snatched 19 times 4 Comments Mar 13th, 18:28 GMT

Turning.Point.Fall.Of.Liberty.PAL.XBOX360-SWAG By: Anonymous
6.37 GB in 71 files 1 seeder(s) and 2 leecher(s) Snatched 8 times 3 Comments Mar 13th, 17:43 GMT



That is page one only. There are 9 more pages of Xbox games.

[andychamp]

Originally Posted by djwayne

The problem with is, music is subjective, meaning one person may like it while somebody else hates it. So who's to be the judge ?? The audio engineer, or the artists ?? Music also has a way of becoming popular over time and many listens. Not all songs become popular at first listen, sometimes it takes a while to catch on.

Alas, current technology makes it all too easy for anyone and their mother to put out whatever "music" they come up with.
If a record co. sees any sales potential in that crap, they throw even more technology (=$$$) at it to make it somehow sellable. Autotune, beat detective, the works.

There was a time (man, I feel old!) when being published meant you already were good, because you had paid your dues and honed your skills in zillions of live shows to be elligible for recording.

The producers and engineers of that time had to have an ear for good music, because no one could afford to waste money. They were musicians entrusted with some new tools, while many of us today are technicians who happen to work on music. Quite a difference.

There are ways and criteria for us to tell if a songwriter/ instrumentalist/ singer knows his craft. We just have to re-learn them.

[Mitch97]

Originally Posted by Fm_Guy

Hate to bust your bubble, but you are wrong. Below is copy/pasted from a torrent site.
........................
That is page one only. There are 9 more pages of Xbox games.

So now what? Again this proves my point that human nature is to take for free that which can be. The only thing preventing people from stealing physical goods is the threat of punishment.

I'm not a dinosaur crying about the good ole days cause I've been recording digitally since I upgraded from my 4-track portastudio. I just want to find a solution to make people pay for music so we can start having a gd damn record industry again!! I'm tired of all this "what do we do now...how do I make money...why isn't there any good music out there...etc etc etc."

Come on, let's figure this out. Music...stolen. DVDs...stolen. Games...stolen. Digitaly delivered content will always be at risk of getting ripped off because at the end of the day it's just 1s and 0s that people can't feel the value in.

Music is not as valuable to people anymore because there is little or no value directly associated with it when it can be had for free. That's how I feel, and I'm not saying that has "killed" the industry. I would like to see music valuable again, that's all. And good, original recordings being made.