OT--Has Downloading Ruined The Overall Music Experience?

[mikemarrs]

Has Downloading Ruined The Overall Music Experience?

bands aren't releasing as much new music these days.music with great cover art is becoming a thing of the past.some musicians are bitching about having to tour more now and not release as much newer music because of downloading biting into overall sales.i remember waiting weeks or months and buying albums with great music and fantastic album covers especially journey.i am glad that downloading made the record companies stand up and take notice that consumers won't be ripped off for 20 dollar cd's any longer.the music buying experience is much different these days than years ago.

[Liam]

Well...for me...Kinda. I used to LOVE going to record stores the day of release and getting the newest album by whomever. It was one of those really cool things that I used to do. Like when Raised On Radio came out...I was at Sound Castle's front door at 9 am when they opened so I could get it. Unfortunately it's not like that anymore.

[Saint John]

Well...for me...Kinda. I used to LOVE going to record stores the day of release and getting the newest album by whomever. It was one of those really cool things that I used to do. Like when Raised On Radio came out...I was at Sound Castle's front door at 9 am when they opened so I could get it. Unfortunately it's not like that anymore.

Same for me with TBF. I listen to that album now and think...."Man, when did Perry lose his balls?" Then I remember...oh yeah...1983.

[Liam]

Well...for me...Kinda. I used to LOVE going to record stores the day of release and getting the newest album by whomever. It was one of those really cool things that I used to do. Like when Raised On Radio came out...I was at Sound Castle's front door at 9 am when they opened so I could get it. Unfortunately it's not like that anymore.

Same for me with TBF. I listen to that album now and think...."Man, when did Perry lose his balls?" Then I remember...oh yeah...1983.

No...it was 1984, dude.

[Memorex]

Has Downloading Ruined The Overall Music Experience?

bands aren't releasing as much new music these days.music with great cover art is becoming a thing of the past.some musicians are bitching about having to tour more now and not release as much newer music because of downloading biting into overall sales.i remember waiting weeks or months and buying albums with great music and fantastic album covers especially journey.i am glad that downloading made the record companies stand up and take notice that consumers won't be ripped off for 20 dollar cd's any longer.the music buying experience is much different these days than years ago.

Saint John's idiotic comment aside - I think shitty music has ruined the overall music experience more than anything else. I hear all this new music and my kids are so into it and none of them listen to anything they listened to a year ago. A song is here and gone in such a short time. Some bands release less music, but overall there is so much more new music now than when we were young. Just a wider variety of cookie cutter artists.

And none of them have the balls Steve Perry had and I'm sure still has!

As far as downloading - yes, it has contributed to a less-intimate experience between listener and artist. But I walk into a record store now, um, I mean Best Buy or Wal-Mart and I look at the bins and nothing calls to me.

[mikemarrs]

Well...for me...Kinda. I used to LOVE going to record stores the day of release and getting the newest album by whomever. It was one of those really cool things that I used to do. Like when Raised On Radio came out...I was at Sound Castle's front door at 9 am when they opened so I could get it. Unfortunately it's not like that anymore.

Same for me with TBF. I listen to that album now and think...."Man, when did Perry lose his balls?" Then I remember...oh yeah...1983.

that was the part after he shaved his mustache in the 'faithfully' video but it ended up on the cutting room floor,lol

[conversationpc]

No...I've found so many great new artists and discovered old ones via downloads (ones I PAID for, not stolen).

[mistiejourney]

I don't think so - I do miss the record store "experience", but it is so much easier now to take your music everywhere and I surf the iTunes site like I used to surf record stores.

My tiny little BOSE iPod dock sounds a thousand times better than any rack system I had!

These days you can sample the song and then buy it. Sort of like the old 45s - you're buying singles without "B" sides.

I do miss giant album covers, though. Learned a lot of who the big session players and back up musicians were. Who the songwriters were, the producers. I need a magnifier if I actually buy the physical CD!!!

[Rip Rokken]

Has Downloading Ruined The Overall Music Experience?

Overall, YES. It's changed everthing, and IMO has just about killed all the good things about enjoying music -- all the stuff that makes it such a personal experience. I think it's also detached the younger generations from their bands (not that there are many modern ones worthy of attention). Just another song among thousands in an iPod, and they may never know much if anything about the band.

[mistiejourney]

Has Downloading Ruined The Overall Music Experience?

Overall, YES. It's changed everthing, and IMO has just about killed all the good things about enjoying music -- all the stuff that makes it such a personal experience. I think it's also detached the younger generations from their bands (not that there are many modern ones worthy of attention). Just another song among thousands in an iPod, and they may never know much if anything about the band.

That's why I miss album covers!

[mikemarrs]

shorter careers too now since most have one hit song because everything is now song oriented and then the record company throws them out for the next one hit wonder.no longevity anymore so you won't hardly see any bands like journey,def leppard,etc. who last twenty or thirty years.all of the good melodic bands will rule the airwaves here in a few years number one because they are better and number two by plain default simply because the newer music sucks and has no staying power.i see more kids now into classic rock than the newer stuff.just look at all the new fans classic rock has gotten due to things like guitar hero.kids are amazed at how good the music is because bands actually used to make an effort to sound good plus they had an image unlike the bands of today.

[brywool]

If anything's ruined music, it's Mtv not digital music. Digital downloading, etc. gives you access to tons and tons of music for cheaper than it could be gotten before. MTV only shows you good looking or hip people in videos (WHEN they show them) and they drive them into the ground and play the same thing over and over and over. They pretty much tell kids what they're supposed to like, etc. Same with formatted radiio. It's just so rigid and boring. I cannot remember the last time I heard a song on the radio and went "I want to buy that"

I have so much more music now than I used to and that's due to digital audio.

[Rip Rokken]

If anything's ruined music, it's Mtv not digital music.... I have so much more music now than I used to and that's due to digital audio.

I do agree on the MTV aspect. They grew into an intensely arrogant, in-your-face network that just sort of proclaimed their own hipness to the world, even though the quality of their programming went straight down the tubes.

I don't think legal digital downloads are bad at all, but the change in music delivery via digital has been one contributing factor the the distancing of new listeners to the musicians. As mentioned, record companies and radio behemoths have also been guilty for pumping us full of overpriced and uninspired schlock from the mid-90's on, only giving people more of an incentive to steal music.

Even CD's affected me in a real, surprising way when they came out. I found that I was often no longer that knowledgeable of the song titles on a CD, because I didn't really need to look at the song sequence to find what I was looking for anymore, as with albums or cassettes. I would just pop it in immediately and start skipping around. I literally have tons of CDs for which I may not even know some of the song titles by name due to that. I've actually just started to make more of an effort to pay attention, and will now look at the track listing while listening to the songs just to I form an association between the title and what I'm listening to.

[styxman]

I personally think what's going on in the music arena right now is vibrant and exciting. Downloading and the good old ipod has enabled us to select the old tracks we love and skip over those album fillers. If you enjoyed reading the CD notes on the inner, such as...we thank Marshall amps and Fender and love goes out to all those involved in making this CD and then each band member thanks about 20 or so family and friends...then you're being short changed with downloads. I was never one for that, music straight on the player.

My ipod now has downloaded on it a range of music from Robin Beck's, coke song - two JSS albums (every single track, as there's not one I can call an album filler), a Night Ranger Japan track, right through to Katherine Jenkin's 'Hymn to the fallen' I've never before had such a varied selection of songs from the old to the new, it's fantastic.

The ipod makes for a more intimate music experience, you hear so much more with the earphones and it's great browsing the tune stores and thinking, fuck! I haven't heard that track for years.

Take a look at the front page of MR, music is alive and kicking big time and there's new (young) bands out there creating great music, together with the old bands finding a new lease of life.

Never been a better time, long live the download

[Spike]

I think you’d have to draw a distinction between legitimate downloads, which contribute towards total sales numbers, and illicit downloads, which do not.

Broadly speaking, I’d say as consumers, we are in a better place now than ever before. I love being able to carry a large proportion of my music collection around on a tiny device, and it is an improvement to me, that I don’t need to find storage for more and more LPs, cassettes and CDs.

I don’t miss cover art, particularly. I do miss the information on contributing musicians and vocalists, and in the long term, I’d look to bands providing that sort of data on their websites, where I could view it in the screen resolution of my choice. I’d hope lyrics would be offered that way, too.

I don’t consider that downloads are the prime driver in changing the relationship between musicians and their audiences, though. I do believe that corporate business in the guise of radio stations, record companies and other stakeholders are culpable in making it increasingly difficult for anything different to find its audience. Those businesses are about money, and I suppose it’s understandable that they would seek a lowest common denominator to maximize their sales. But the download is just a delivery mechanism, and arguably the difficulty is in bands, who don’t fit the current corporate model, achieving enough public awareness that their music is available.

At its best, it seems that the download can improve and increase the intimacy and relationship between musician and listener. Musicians are now selling their music direct, rather than it being channeled through a record label. Many, like JSS for example, communicate directly with their audience.

As for having to tour more, despite the best efforts of record labels over the years telling us otherwise, this is the first and best method to deliver and hear music. Many bands have made their name based on live music; and Journey was one of them. Music, to me, is about being played, and about the art and talent, not about the dollar. Yes, musicians have to live and eat, which is why I support paying for music. However, I think that the 30-40 year window which saw musicians able to command millions of dollars for record sales is closing fast.

There is great music ‘out there’. We have to look with our hearts, not the charts, to find it. There are talented musicians who welcome the opportunities that direct downloading gives them to find a wider audience; one which they might not have connected with without the internet and downloads.

[strangegrey]

I think you’d have to draw a distinction between legitimate downloads, which contribute towards total sales numbers, and illicit downloads, which do not.

That entirely depends on whether or not you're talking about the 'personal' experience to the "consumer" or music in general.

[ProgRocker53]

I'd say 10% of the people my age range (18-22) are relatively old-fashioned in their music habits, including me. This includes actually buying CDs, consistently attending shows, getting in touch with other fans and actively promoting their favorite artists.

The rest really do seem to be after the three-song fix, where they seem fixated on popular artists' two or three biggest hits, and no more.

[X factor]

While I think it's clearly hurt the industry from an aesthetic perspective ( No more album covers, liner notes, pictures of the bands etc. ) I'm not sure it's that big of a deal to those who grew up without it. I miss that aspect, but what the hell does a 20 year old care about cover art?
No, folks...what's hurt the overall industry is the corporate greed of the Record labels! STILL, mind you , even after the fact that record chains are closing all over the country and a "Number one selling album" for the week routinely only moves 70 or 80,000 copies (and that's a GOOD week) - STILL these greedy fuckers continue to charge 20 dollars for something that costs them pennies to make. (WAL MART being the exception- and now their underpricing is putting what's left of the record chains out of business! ) Then they get their artists to go on the warpath about how illegal downloads are "stealing from them & taking money out of their pockets" ( which, to me is right up there with the Latrell Sprewell "I gotta feed my family" comment for sheer ironic lunacy!). Sorry- I don't buy it. Everybody knows the artists REAL money comes from touring, so who 's really getting hurt? You guessed it...besides, the industry saw the writing on the wall YEARS ago and wouldn't jump on board, now they're fucked. Good riddance, I say.
I , like many of you, love being able to pick and choose from the Itunes type sites. I think it's great for the music that already exists. For newer artists? I'm not so sure. It kinda makes me sad that we'll probably never have another complete work from an artist (ie an ALBUM) that finds that elusive "mass audience" - like THRILLER , BORN IN THE USA or APPITITE FOR DESTRUCTION did. To me, that seems like a real loss- but who knows? Never say never...

[stevew2]

I am a dinosaur, but I still miss going to the record store. I still listen to records {and cds} and got all the Journey albums. Its cool to see all the picts from the concerts.

[StoneCold]

I am a dinosaur, but I still miss going to the record store. I still listen to records {and cds} and got all the Journey albums. Its cool to see all the picts from the concerts.

Ditto what Steve said. Good music stores were a great alternative to going to a movie. Easily 1 or two hours checking out album covers and listening to whatever the freaks and geeks were playing behind the counter.

[stevew2]

I am a dinosaur, but I still miss going to the record store. I still listen to records {and cds} and got all the Journey albums. Its cool to see all the picts from the concerts.

Ditto what Steve said. Good music stores were a great alternative to going to a movie. Easily 1 or two hours checking out album covers and listening to whatever the freaks and geeks were playing behind the counter.

Then make a trip to the head shop next door right??

[Aaron]

Yes