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| Author |
Message |
mcnally
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Legal MP3 downloads
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Feb 12 16:32 UTC 2003 |
Over the past five or six years, millions of words have been written
about the impact of MP3s on the music industry. The overwhelming majority
of what has been written, however, seems to be concentrated on file-sharing
services like Napster and Kazaa and on the major music-industry titans'
unrelenting opposition to the downloadable music revolution.
Although it may no come as news to everyone here, there's another side to
the MP3 issue that gets considerably less attention. I've been very pleased
lately with the number of musicians who have been providing legal download
material for their fans.
Since we already have several items which discuss file-sharing services and
the music-industry's crippled music download services, I thought it might
be interesting to have an item devoted to legal music downloads..
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| 22 responses total. |
mcnally
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response 1 of 22:
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Feb 12 16:38 UTC 2003 |
One development that I find highly encouraging is that a number of artists
on indie labels, which lack the traditional promotional might that a major
label can bring to bear on behalf of one of their artists, have begun
really reaching out to fans with free downloads, either of teaser tracks
from upcoming releases or to make available live performances and other
non-album tracks from bands whose followings are not large enough to
justify B-sides collections or live-album releases.
A great example of this trend is the lo-fi experimental pop collective
Elephant 6, whose label site offers quite a bit of download material for
affiliated bands. This morning I downloaded 237 Mbytes of live and
unreleased material by four Elephant 6 bands from the label's web site
and there was a good deal more music by bands whose work I'm not as
familiar with. Once I get through listening to the downloads from the
bands I know, I'm sure I'll go back and listen to some of the other stuff
and it seems likely that I'll buy one or more albums as a result.
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mcnally
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response 2 of 22:
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Feb 12 16:56 UTC 2003 |
Another promising sign, I think, is the work done over the past several
years by musician Roger McGuinn. McGuinn is famous as the leader of the
tremendously influential pioneering 1960s folk- and country-rock band
The Byrds.
The commercial phase of his musical career has been mostly inactive since
his successful 1990 solo album "Back From Rio", but McGuinn continues to
record music that interests him -- he's just not doing it for release on
a major record label. Which is probably good, because it's unlikely that
any major label would be enthusiastic about promoting McGuinn's homemade
recordings of traditional folk ballads, spirituals, and sea chanteys.
Instead, McGuinn has been recording, and releasing on his own web site,
one track per month of his interpretation of some traditional folk tune.
CDs are available from MP3.com for those who don't want to download the
music but fans who just want to sample can go to his site and download
thirty or forty tracks of work from the past several years.
The upshot is that in McGuinn's case, with enough residuals from Byrds
material to probably see him through the rest of his life, he's free to
concentrate on making whatever music he wants, whether it's commercial
or not, and he can deliver it directly to his fans without any
intereference from a record company. This is the real promise of the
digital downloadable music revolution and one can only hope that more
artists will take advantage of it if they manage to find enough success
in the commercial system to establish themselves comfortably.
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mcnally
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response 3 of 22:
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Feb 12 17:05 UTC 2003 |
One more comment on yet another type of legal music download --
the pre-release teaser.
I've also been finding lately that a number of my favorite bands not
only have new upcoming material that will be released soon, many of
them are promoting the material with teaser tracks available months
before the album is due for release. (At the moment I'm listening to
one such track by Yo La Tengo, one of my favorite currently-recording
bands, called "Don't Have to Be So Sad" from their upcoming release
"Summer Sun", due out in April.)
Since I think the last time I heard a Yo La Tengo single on the radio
was three years ago, and that was in Ann Arbor on WCBN, this music
download is about the only way I'm likely to hear a single intended
to promote the new album. Despite a strong indie following and great
reviews from the music press, like many other bands they simply don't
fit into any of the commercial radio formats prevalent across the
country these days.
So yet again, another win for legal MP3 as a promotional tool.
Everyone can understand why the big guys are so afraid of MP3 but it's
really heartening to see the smaller players in the record industry
realizing what it can do for them..
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cyklone
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response 4 of 22:
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Feb 12 21:17 UTC 2003 |
Great posts! I also see the day when a substantial portion of an album may
be downloaded for free, and a small payment will purchase bonus extras,
like cool packaging or a special video.
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steve
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response 5 of 22:
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Feb 12 21:36 UTC 2003 |
I have been trawling for music at mp3.com for four years now,
with great success. Although I like all sorts of music, I've
spent at least 95% of my time looking for various electronica
there, and have found about 550 titles so far that I have on
my laptop. I've talked with several of the artists there,
mostly musically inclined types who don't see much of a
future in making a career of it, but who like making it and
spreading it to the winds. At least one artist compared
what he was offering on mp3.com with the idea of open source
code, which I found interesting.
So yes, there are definitely sources for legal downloads
and thats what I've been interested in.
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tpryan
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response 6 of 22:
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Feb 13 00:13 UTC 2003 |
Go to mp3.com and search for "Fire In The Sky", from a
forthcoming Space CD. The song was quoted in part by Buzz
Aldrin in his comments on the loss of Columbia and her crew.
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steve
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response 7 of 22:
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Feb 13 07:22 UTC 2003 |
Interesting. I'll go look.
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greycell
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response 8 of 22:
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Feb 16 08:38 UTC 2003 |
can u tell me good websites to download mp3....must be p2p ..
cya
regards
mukesh
:)
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krj
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response 9 of 22:
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Feb 17 03:32 UTC 2003 |
My guess is that www.slyck.com is a good site I've found for news and
recommendations for filesharing networks. I haven't tested any
of their recommendations so I can't evaluate how good they are;
I just use them as a news portal.
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dbratman
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response 10 of 22:
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Feb 17 07:19 UTC 2003 |
resp:9 Good for McGuinn! The musician who's free from commercial
pressure and can perform whatever he damn well wants is always an
attractive figure, whether one's own taste meshes or not, and your
description makes me want to check him out.
"Fire in the Sky," the song that Buzz Aldrin quoted, was written by a
friend of mine, Jordin Kare, best known as a science fiction filksinger.
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vishruth
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response 11 of 22:
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Mar 17 04:47 UTC 2003 |
The intervention of the word 'legal' cuts off the word 'free' from music
(I suppose).
Who would be willing to 'buy' MP3s at the price of the actual music CDs?
I would rather buy the CDs instead. If the MP3s hold any future at all,
they need to be associated with the word 'free'... If it's not, I
suppose it will either become a prey to the pirates or it will become
just another one of those obsolete technologies.
http://www.parikrama.com/
Parikrama is an Indian rock band. They play very good music. And yet,
they have never released even a single 'album' on cassettes or CDs. They
manage to live on quite comfortably even though they don't sell CDs of
their music. This is the fact - they are not greedy! They play for the
sake of playing and not for money alone.
They offer free downloads of their music at the above given URL. You can
find complete songs (in the format of mp3s, and I think they support
this 'real media' too).
Parikrama throws the Gospel of Mammon right out of this world!
(Don't forget to download 'But it Rained' from that site. ;)
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anderyn
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response 12 of 22:
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Mar 17 13:06 UTC 2003 |
I will try them. The problem for most (working) musicians I've spoken to is
that they do have to eat, raise their families, and pay the mortgage. So that
means bringing in money -- and a lot of the ones I know have "day jobs" just
so that they can do the music they love when they can. It's hard to make a
career out of music when the cash isn't there.
"But it Rained" is an interesting song. I'm not sure I "get" the backstory
just from the lyrics and sound. But I'll listen again. (I read what it was
supposed to be about after the first listen..)
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vishruth
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response 13 of 22:
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Mar 18 08:03 UTC 2003 |
Good to know that you found that song interesting. :) This song is a
little different from the ones they usually play. But it's just as good
as others, none the less.
The members of Parikrama are professional musicians. They earn by
performing at different cities. Their quality attracts a good crowd and
they get paid very well for that. As far as I know, they don't have any
other jobs than playing music on stage. They have no problems with what
they are getting now. And they are confident that the the people will
keep wanting them on the stage. So they don't have any problems with
money right now.
They know that they have the potential to amass huge amounts of money.
But they aren't doing that. If people do use their abilities to amass
huge amounts of wealth, I see only one cause behind that --- greed.
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cyklone
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response 14 of 22:
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Mar 18 13:02 UTC 2003 |
Huh? If a "normal" person seeks to ensure financial security for the future
we call them prudent, but if a musician does the same we call it "greed"?!?
Sounds like you are one of those who prefers that artists be "starving" in
order to preserve some mythical "integrity" or artistic "purity."
Damn, I feel like beady using all these quotes . . . .
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anderyn
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response 15 of 22:
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Mar 18 13:17 UTC 2003 |
It's great if you can make a living by touring. I'm happy to hear that the
band can do that. I think most musicians I know would be very happy to be able
to do that. And if they're happy with it, that's also very good. I suspect
that this may change as people have families, more expenses, whatever, but
maybe not....
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vishruth
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response 16 of 22:
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Mar 21 04:39 UTC 2003 |
Cyklone,
If a "normal" person does that thing, then I consider that too to be
"greed". Why would a man wan 10 million dollars instead of 1 or 2?
Greed dude. I am not talking about those people who are not so popular
in the world contemporary music. My guitar teacher is struggling to keep
up with his expenses. He too tries to 'earn' money by playing music. If
he does something to add up to his earnings, I wouldn't call that greed.
But if a man, who knows that he can be rather well off with whatever he
already has for years and years to come, tries to hoard more and more
(continue till infinity) money, I couldn't call it anything but greed.
That what's called seeking luxury, not just that, but seeing extreme
luxury. Bying a lot of property, yatches... sheesh. Anyway, since when
did musicians become "abnormal"? I mean, they too are "normal" aren't they?
What I wished to say is that certain musicians do not have that much
attachment for money. Sure, they also need money to live with. But when
they know that they have already made enough efforts to secure a safe
(financial) future, why would they try to get more money? In this case,
the band I was talking about - Parikrama - they know their future is
secure. So they don't run after money. Heck! Do you know how much money
they could have made if they had sold their music to record companies?
Well, but I do have one complaint against Parikrama... their music is
mostly live and CDs/cassettes of their music are not available. So it's
quite hard to get their music.
Twila Oxley Price,
Well, I think you are right. But then again, I don't know if they are
married or not. Most probably, they already are. There's this friend of
mine who knows the band personally, I'll ask him when I see him again
(which happens only once in a blue moon).
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cyklone
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response 17 of 22:
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Mar 21 13:25 UTC 2003 |
I know nothing about Parikrama; what makes you so sure "their future is
secure"? You describe a band that apparently does not make a lot of money
off records and probably doesn't participate in the types of tours that
generate millions of dollars. So if one of them were suddenly unable to
sing or play an instrument, how exactly would they live comfortably secure
lives? I'm very interested in how you define a secure future and what
makes you so sure they have one.
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vishruth
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response 18 of 22:
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Mar 23 14:05 UTC 2003 |
You really don't know Parikrama. They are not popular (in your parts,
perhaps) because they don't sell themselves, their talents or their music.
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cyklone
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response 19 of 22:
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Mar 23 23:16 UTC 2003 |
Yes, that is why I began my paragraph with "I know nothing about Parikrama".
And you haven't answered my questions.
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vishruth
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response 20 of 22:
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Mar 25 15:37 UTC 2003 |
Ok, I was tired and didn't want to explain something which I had failed
to do once. In the post #16, I tried to explain what I call 'greed'. And
what I wouldn't call greed. And I probably didn't manage to explain that
well. Anyway, I'll give it another go...
I clearly read your statement where you said that you knew nothing about
Parikrama... by your post, I already knew that you (really, really)
didn't know about them. Just stressing on that point...
Anyhow, Parikrama have already made enough money so that they can live
for years on end without doing anything. I thought I had already made
that clear. They ARE the kind of band who can make millions of dollars
by selling records, but it may be quite difficult to catch this point
because they are quite different from other bands with similar abilities
to hoard a lot of money. So what is the difference? The absense of greed
(or the absence of too much greed, if they do have a trace of greed
somewhere) in Parikrama makes all the difference. They don't need to go
out of India to 'make themselves known to the rest of the world'. They
can be well off just by touring in India (as they have already shown
that they can be rather well off just this way). I was not talking about
a band who are struggling to make a living. I was (and still am) talking
about a band who are satisfied with what they are getting and a band who
have made 'their future secure' already. I just wished to say that
Parikrama is well off with a few million dollars and even though the
band has the capability to make 'a lot of million dollars', they just
aren't doing that. It's just their philosophy, I guess. But certainly
it's not because they can't do this that they aren't doing this.
I hope, I carried my point to you clearly this time. :) (hehe, stupid me.)
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cyklone
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response 21 of 22:
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Mar 26 00:28 UTC 2003 |
Well, that certainly answers my questions better. I was curious if they'd hit
the million dollar mark. Thanks for the details. How many are in the band?
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shinje
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response 22 of 22:
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May 10 12:28 UTC 2003 |
If any of you goto Mp3.com There is a large list of artists sharing with you
1 or 2 tracks off an album for you to listen too some of them you can't
download, some of them you can! One my my faves is Kid Conspiracy which is
a local band from where I live! who have been on Radio one... and even though
there not on a record label (still trying to work otu why not) theyb got one
of there songs onto Kerang magazine (due to making up a fake label) *lol* Very
fun set of guys...
L8erz Shinje!
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