Wheels Of Fyre wrote:"Quirk said the deal was "yet another example of the damaging covermount culture which is destroying any perception of value around recorded music."
Beyond the covermounts, the value of recorded music is already under widespread threat from the rapid rise of digital downloads. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry estimated that overall music sales worldwide fell around 3% last year as a doubling in digital sales failed to compensate for falls in physical CD sales and digital piracy."
Les Paul & Mary Ford - probably the first (and greatest) recording artists modified existing technology to record in ways never before imagined (the creators of multi-track and overdubbing). Modern recorded music owes everything to them. Beyond their technological advances they recorded QUALITY music.
I'm in agreement with the comments quoted above. The digitization (if that's a word) of music has satisfied the gluttonous, fast-food mentality for more music more quickly BUT what has it done for the QUALITY?
Aside from all of the crying over money lost here and there my question is:
Where is the next Les Paul?
People couldn't get enough of Les Paul because he and Mary put out QUALITY and had something ORIGINAL to offer. Today, there is little quality and even less originality.
WoF, I agree with your comments 100%. I'm not dishing out $18 for 3 good songs, and a bunch of filler. No way. And that's what most of today's Cds are - filler.
BUT, as far as the music that is marketed on THIS site. Having more than one release date is BY FAR the number one reason for the illegal downloading. If I'm in the USA(which I am), why would I wait 1, 2, or even 3 weeks for a CD, when it was JUST released in Europe, and within a couple of days I could get it on a P2P site?
And just while I am on that topic. Most of the people *I* know, use P2P for OOP stuff. If these record companies kept stuff IN PRINT, they'd be far less downloading.
Interesting story for ya:
About 3 or 4 years ago I was going through my cassettes, and was serious thinking about getting them all on CD. This would be a daunting task because I had well over 700. All sorts of obscure hair metal, melodic, and glam/sleeze stuff. I came across Vinnie Vincent's Invasion, and wanted to start with that one. Don't ask me why, I've always liked that stuff. Well, after finding out it was Out Of Print, I went trolling on eBay. I found many copies for WELL over $100, and also was looking for LeatherWolf's first Cd. That, too, was well over $100. I said fuck that, I'm not paying that.
So I got in touch with Chrysalis(UK), and wrote them a lengthy, in depth letter about how the Vinnie Vincent Cd was catching over $100 on eBay. I got a reply of thank you for letter. We will look into this matter and get back to you. About a WEEK later, they emailed me again telling me that they looked into it, and were now going to be in the process of re-issuing that CD. When it was released I bought it for $17.
OOP stuff is what drives my friends and I too download. Also, and I almost forgot. European bonus Tracks. I'm not spending $35 for ONE extra track. The basic cd is $18, but the Cd with the LONE bonus track is $35. That's $17 for one song. Again, no thanks, fuck you. I'll pick up that extra song on WinMx.
Anyway, that's my story.