Parting with CDs

Do you really think the recording industry cares about 'art'?
The recording industry cares about money. End of.

 

Stop telling me that I'm telling you how to listen to music. That's not my position.

What I am saying, perhaps not carefully enough for you to comprehend, is that in a few short years when record labels are no longer pressing CD's at all, you're going to be left with a choice to stream your favorite artists new albums or never year your favorite artists new albums.

As for listening to streaming on an airplane, good God man, at least understand the technology that you are criticizing. Any song, album, or playlist that you listen to in streaming mode on Apple Music can be downloaded for offline use prior to leaving the ground. Furthermore, American Airlines (and soon several others) are allowing their passengers to use free in-flight wi-fi to stream Apple Music, so they have access to all 45 million songs at 20,000 feet.

 

No offense, but you’re still not getting the picture. The only mental condition I’m seeing is the block you have to others participation in a hobby they enjoy. Some folks collect physical media for the music and/or unique mastering, some for the CD art ...even though it’s a reduction in size over vinyl LP packaging. Others may acquire and keep CDs on display as a library (CDs being a surrogate for books, reflecting the musical taste of the owner). It allows friends to browse and provides an opportunity to share the owner’s listening experience with friends on request.

How do you share an iconic musical catalog wrapped up in streaming services? Do you use a filing cabinet and itemized log book or what? Do you direct guests to your online filing system? That’s gotta be a great ice-breaker at parties! Do you ask friends to scroll through lists on your terminal? Hopefully you can see how ridiculous this looks and why it acts as a barrier to sharing interests.

When folks with skewed arguments like the one you’re presenting relegate CD and LP ownership to mental decay, it invariably fails. Attempting to ascribe any sort of mental decline to the entirely normal activity of collecting music strains credulity. Collecting, in it’s purist least psychologically conflated sense, is a healthy mostly-male pursuit that stretches back to Man’s origins. It’s ingrained in our hunter/gatherer culture. Hoarding, in the extreme sense, is a totally different issue having nothing to do with the orderly pursuit of collecting.


Cat

 

When I was kid, people who still wanted to buy 78s were forced to buy them on the used market, and the record companies seemed OK with that. Same deal when the record companies killed vinyl in the late 80s, they had moved on to the next thing.

 

And here's another wrinkle: So do the artists.

There's another thread that just opened up, some artist named Joe Bonnaroo who recorded a video rant about how Spotify isn't paying his musicians, writers, and producers enough. And I wonder, why exactly isn't he going after the label that's getting the lions share of the revenue? Why isn't he volunteering to take some of his $20 million dollar net worth and kicking it back to those who put him there instead of buying a 4th house in Malibu? Why isn't he putting on a few shows where all the proceeds go to his support team? Why is all the responsibility for the financials focused all on the distribution network?

Because of money.

 

Yes, excellent analysis. People tend to make future projections based on only considering one or two variables. But many things change, and some change rapidly. Physical media - the ability to take a sound recording home with you and play it - was itself a product of technological innovation. There was nothing sacred about "the album as art" or anything like that - it's just the only means that the average person had of playing the music. But what they want is the music, not the object. The mass movement to streaming is not because people have been turned into mindless herds by evil corporations, it's because this is all most people ever wanted. Most people view the notion of having the music without having to store a physical object with the music on it to be a thorough "win."

 

You've actually just described one of the best features of a streaming service. You create a Playlist of your favorite artist/genre/whatever, you post a link to it to all your friends and followers on Spotify and Instagram, and they instantly can listen to what you've curated. I can just hit a button and share my Best Of The 70's Soul Playlist to 100's of people, and as a result I can have an entire office in China discovering Billy Paul for the first time.

Your living room and Marantz tube receiver can't do that.

 

Agreed. While I have a core music collection I’ll never part with, I don’t have the same relationship with movies that I do with music, and all I want to do is watch a movie once, and I love watching movies on Netflix or renting them from ITunes and no longer having to own stacks of plastic DVD boxes to do that.

 

Brilliantly put, Nettle.

While losing the clutter of CD storage towers is a plus, I like streaming because it puts all my music anywhere I want it. I can bring a 3 pound smart speaker to a family vacation in a cabin in the woods and its 45 million songs at my fingertips. That's real magic. I mean it. Magic.

 

My grandfather had a gorgeous library of hardcover books in his house that he hadn't opened or read in 50 years. But it was a wonderful way to decorate.

 

Hoarding is a very different prospect to collecting and displaying one’s CDs / LPs in an orderly manner. I have watched TV shows on hoarding, including one featuring a man with decades worth of newspapers which he refused to part with. He had to crawl on his hands and knees to get into one room, they were piled from floor to ceiling. That is clearly ridiculous not to mention a massive fire hazard.

I have space in which to store my CD collection in a way that it will not fall on anyone or trip anyone up. I’ve paid for them, enjoy collecting AND listening to them, and am not going to throw them all out so I can listen to music through a mobile phone using the internet. I couldn’t care less if anyone wishes to look through my collection or not. If they do, and I can introduce them to a band I love, it’s a bonus. But in no way do I expect that people will look through it all. They are primarily for my own enjoyment and the majority of my money after bills goes on music.

 

What streaming can do for you, and it's really just a matter of if its important or not as you're 90% there already, is add magical convenience.

Where now you have to tether your iPod to various speakers in different rooms of your house, you could just use Apple Music, get a few HomePod smart speakers, and use your voice. "Hey Siri, play Eleanor Rigby in the living room and the dining room and play Hell's Bells in the basement and the patio" and on they come, no buttons to press, no cords to manage.

 

schnitzer, please listen to the video in this thread on this forum:

Spotify controversy continues, Joe B weighs in

Joe B is Joe Bonamassa a very successful, by today's standards, blues rock musician. This is reality not theory speaking.

 

Yes, actually. I do.

Retailers guide the music industry moreso than technology. People seem to forget that the big buyers of physical music aren't hipsters with turntables but rather executives at big box brick and mortar stores. When the last few record/book stores dry up and the likes of Barnes & Noble and Target decide that slow-moving low-margin inventory doesn't make financial sense, bye-bye CD's.

 

I binned (at the Brits like to say) my cd's a few years ago. Ripped them to flac, and they reside on a home server, backups, and a Dropbox backup. I use in-home streaming (Roon these days). I do not miss the silvery discs at ALL.

It would be nice if/when Roon allows me to stream that same library when I'm outside of my home.

 

Who told you that music collectors are only interested in new music/albums? Collectors are predominantly interested in the best masterings of older albums by their favorite artists.

Also, who informed you that folks generally prefer listening to their favorite music under sub-quality conditions like airplanes? Personally, I’d much rather listen to music over my higher end system at home.

I haven’t checked out that thread yet, but I hope you’re not mangling Joe Bonamassa’s name. He’s the blues rock phenom who also happens to be a personal friend of the family. If he’s critical of streaming, that cinches it in my book. Game, set, match, we’re done.


Cat

 

I think half the reason for

I think the reason for tiny homes are. They can be mobile. So many as ling as the get computer connection some can work from home. But sometimes I think it's just that there gome so long from home,the smallest place doesn't bother them. It's like a tiny home bedroom community.
Were getting older where I live.But I'm a very very long time away from moving. Even with a kid out of the house.
I think myself and wife just like our house too much. 4 bedroom ranch style. No steps.Getting older with health stuff. It's amazing how nice it is with no steps.

 

Speaking of mental illness, I once saw an Oprah show in the 80s that claimed that holding onto material things is a sickness. So I took the 12 years of TV guides I held onto since I was 12 (1973 through 1985) and dumped them in my trash that night ( aside from a handful and all Fall Previews). I never meant to collect the, when I was young, I just thought it would be cool to keep these so I could look back to see what used to be on tv. There was no internet in sight at that point. I chucked them. I regretted it later when I would go to memorabilia stores and they were all $5 or $10 for any of them. I’m still mentally sick with Beatles items though.

 

Yes, I did. Watched it twice, in fact.

What I found interesting is that Mr. Bonamassa:

1. Didn't mention that the record labels are getting the lions share of the revenue.
2. Didn't mention that he personally has a net worth of $20M and his career isn't at the halfway point yet.
3. Wholeheartedly and completely blames Spotify for the financial condition of his writers, musicians, and producers.

My takeaway from his virtue signaling is that he is a spoiled, out-of-touch celebrity who is protecting himself and holding his label blameless while making accusations against a distribution network when the problem may actually be how he is compensated and how his label is compensated. It's like watching Oprah talk about poor children in a decrepit school without writing the check herself. She does- and that's what Joe B successful blues rock musician may want to consider. A fraction of his net worth can make his writers and musicians comfortable for the rest of their lives. Go for it, Joe. Put that money where that mouth is.

 

You haven’t been listening to much less understanding anything anybody has told you, have you?


Cat

 

And collectors can have them. The best mastering of older albums are out there by the millions and very easy to obtain on auction sites and used record shops. Streaming doesn't affect these collectors at all.

No one, I was merely pointing out that when one does travel by plane, car, or commuter vehicle that it is extremely convenient to have all 20,000 songs in your personal collection as well as 45 million other songs at your fingertips without having to sync or maintain any sort of library or organized file system.

Never heard of the guy so I typed from memory. Came close, not bad. He's critical, all right. But he is conveniently blaming the distribution network (Spotify) instead of himself or his label, the two culprits continuing to collect 1990's style revenue while writers, producers, and musicians get the screws. I found his video very distasteful. No one blamed UPS when CD's replaced cassettes. Not sure why Spotify is the devil. Spotify creates a revenue stream from millions of fans who already paid for the very music they are streaming, and paying for again.

 

Does anyone remember what their first streamed song was?

 

At the end of the day, CD's will continue to be sold as long as people buy them. They make up around 70-80% of the current physical market, and you can buy CD's in garages, supermarkets, and newsagents. The companies will make them as long as people buy them. They aren't going anywhere in a hurry. They might be a niche product in 20 years, but vinyl is a niche product now.

 

It's impossible. Because there are so many of them.

 

Where did you get the $20 million from? Joe Bonamassa made his money by touring incessantly, making studio cds, and recording many of his live shows and releasing them as cds and dvds. This requires a very large crew and lots of studio time. There is no way he could pay everyone involved enough to make them rich. I'd bet he does pay his musicians and crew well.

You criticizing someone else as out-of-touch and a virtue signaler is so ironic that it is absurd.