Re: SV: [microsound] Re: fileswapping is killing the record industry

[John von Seggern <johnvon@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I was thinking about this same phenomenon recently and wondering about its
implications for the future of the music biz...does this mean that the balance
of power is going to be subtly and gradually shifted away from prefab pop stars
like Britney and in favor of underground indie music whose fans care about it
more (and also care how it sounds more)?

At the very least, it seems like this might mean that a bit less of the music
industry's machinations will be focused on selling music to 14-year-olds, since
they're not paying for music anymore.

I would be very interested to hear what other list members think of this.

In my own case, I know that I bought fewer CDs for awhile when I first started
using Napster...then I started buying even more CDs than before, as I heard
more and more music from all over that I wanted to get in higher quality
versions. The changes in my own buying habits now are that I rarely buy
anything I don't like (since I've already heard samples), and I never buy major
label product. I rarely shop in record stores either, I usually end up ordering
stuff online that I would never have heard of in the pre-Internet era...

John

Janne Mårtensgård wrote:

>
> The reason FAX, 12K etc are selling out all stock is that they print only as
> many albums as they anticipate being able to sell. That means extremely
> limited runs. The argument that mp3:s are not hurting small labels since
> they do sell all albums they press is therefore incorrect.
> However, the smaller labels, especially those concentrating on "fringe"
> music, are probably hurt less than the majors. This list is not at all
> representative of the public at large - yes, mp3:s make us buy more albums
> because we discover new music through it, yes, we mind audio quality and
> yes, the music we are looking for is quite often out of print/hard to find.
>
> To the average Britney listener this means *nothing*.
> A 128kbps file is adequate enough - it will only be pumped out through
> substandard stereo equipment anyway. The music the Britney listener
> downloads is music we're all exposed to daily through mainstream radio and
> television. The albums are readily available anywhere, so there's no need
> for any album fetishization. What's more, most of the average Britney
> listeners out there are teenagers, with extremely limited amounts of cash.
> There's no way in hell they are going to cease copying BabyOneMoreTime.mp3
> out of respect for the artist.

--
John von Seggern
http://www.digitalcutuplounge.com