On the benefits/disadvantages of CDR as a medium for distributing music...

[Christopher Murphy <chris@xxxxxxxxx>]

Dear All,

Just wondered how everyone felt about the issue of releasing music on CDR
and/or the whole issue of CDR only labels. There seem to be quite a few
who feel that CDR is a non-medium, which disappoints me as I think there are
quite a few CDR only labels who's work is very compelling and of extremely
high quality (Barcelona's Alku label, in particular, springs to mind).

To dismiss works released on CDR (in some blanket fashion, as some seem to
do) is to dismiss a lot of interesting music, no?

My post was triggered by reading the following note:

<I no longer bother with MP3s or CDRs - if the artist does not think it's
worth pressing a real CD (which is inexpensive enough) why should anyone be
willing to listen to and even pay for it?>

I find this remark a little off-the-cuff. It's obvious that anyone who makes
this kind of remark has never really looked into the actual costs of
properly pressing CDs. Yes, in real terms the price per pressed CD isn't
very high, but if you multiply this unit cost out to a run of say 500,
you're quickly talking about significant amounts of money.

In many cases this is money artists (or labels) simply don't have.

We're in the process of establishing a CDR sub-label at Fallt titled
'Ferric' - the reason we decided to pursue this route is purely financial.
Contrary to what you might think we are struggling financially, despite that
we still feel it's important to expose people to some of the fantastic music
that falls through our letterbox from time to time...

To me CDR is just another medium - like .mp3, a cassette or even a score -
it's a means of getting something (music) from one point to another. I can
think of many pieces of music I've bought on CDR: Staalplaat's Microwave
series (some excellent works including pieces by Chartier and Massimo);
Touch's Live CDR releases (a great piece by Fennesz) and, as mentioned
above, Alku's many excellent CDRs (including work by Pita).

If my attitude was that this music wasn't worth pressing I think I'd have
missed out on quite a few little gems.

<Most self-releases could do with some critical discussion both on musical
matters and and technical - being your own critic is hard to do and requires
much knowledge and experience.>

The above comment follows on immediately from the one edited above (both
are by the same person, in the same paragraph). This second comment seems a
little contradictory to the first. Surely, the majority of artists who
go to the effort of releasing their work using CDR as a medium are doing it
precisely because they're looking for their work to be engaged with
critically?

So, I'd be interested in hearing what the list thinks. Is CDR publishing a
waste of time? Do some labels invest as heavily in the design and content of
their CDR releases as their 'real' releases, thereby making the CDRs equally
desirable (Alku, definitely). Would you buy music on CDR? If so, should it
be priced at a lower price point? If so, what do you think is a fair price
to pay for an album on CDR?

I look forward to everyone's thoughts.

Take care,

Christopher

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