Disclaimer - Please no talk of share sites or PP software and how/where to do it.
I just read an interesting interview with Glen Frey who said that he thought that there was still plenty of options left in the music business for CD sales etc rather than it moving to a stage where artists made the bulk of their income from playing live shows and tours. He talked of the woes of downloading and all the difficulties with copy protection these days also.
I was personally hoping that we would move into a new era where bands did make their income from playing live. I'd like to see more artists that can actually put on a live show and have a catalogue of strong songs. It pains me to pay up for an album without hearing it first that ends up only having one decent song on it and the rest is just "filler". I borrow a lot of stuff from friends or listen to it round their house first as often I find there's only one or two track worth owning and £12.99 is a lot of money for two songs. I think this is the reason a lot of people are illegally downloading music.
Youtube is also great for these purposes and you don't need to get into the shady business of downloading the music. For example I've recently watched a load of videos and live performances by Ritchie Kotzen. I feel I've seen enough to go out and happily buy his back catalogue and not worry about getting ripped off as a customer. However there are a number of artists who ask youtube to take stuff down due to copyright infringement. I'll have no chance of finding out whether they deserve my money or not unless I can hear them.
My own moral conundrum lies in this analogy though .......
You can't expect to walk into a restaurant and ask for a small serving of the steak and sauce as you'd like to try it before you spend your money and order it, it's just not realistic. You need to take advise from trusted friends who have eaten there already to give you a description of what it's like. At some point though somebody has to take the risk and spend some money there first. He/she may have liked or disliked it for personal tastes that may conflict with your own.
However, if the restaurant had an open plan kitchen where you could see the chef cooking live and experience the sights and smells whilst you had a drink at the bar you may feel a lot more secure with the purchasing decision you were about to make.
Anyway, the interview with Mr Frey was very interesting and I was wondering what you guys thought about the current state of the music business.
Eggy
I just read an interesting interview with Glen Frey who said that he thought that there was still plenty of options left in the music business for CD sales etc rather than it moving to a stage where artists made the bulk of their income from playing live shows and tours. He talked of the woes of downloading and all the difficulties with copy protection these days also.
I was personally hoping that we would move into a new era where bands did make their income from playing live. I'd like to see more artists that can actually put on a live show and have a catalogue of strong songs. It pains me to pay up for an album without hearing it first that ends up only having one decent song on it and the rest is just "filler". I borrow a lot of stuff from friends or listen to it round their house first as often I find there's only one or two track worth owning and £12.99 is a lot of money for two songs. I think this is the reason a lot of people are illegally downloading music.
Youtube is also great for these purposes and you don't need to get into the shady business of downloading the music. For example I've recently watched a load of videos and live performances by Ritchie Kotzen. I feel I've seen enough to go out and happily buy his back catalogue and not worry about getting ripped off as a customer. However there are a number of artists who ask youtube to take stuff down due to copyright infringement. I'll have no chance of finding out whether they deserve my money or not unless I can hear them.
My own moral conundrum lies in this analogy though .......
You can't expect to walk into a restaurant and ask for a small serving of the steak and sauce as you'd like to try it before you spend your money and order it, it's just not realistic. You need to take advise from trusted friends who have eaten there already to give you a description of what it's like. At some point though somebody has to take the risk and spend some money there first. He/she may have liked or disliked it for personal tastes that may conflict with your own.
However, if the restaurant had an open plan kitchen where you could see the chef cooking live and experience the sights and smells whilst you had a drink at the bar you may feel a lot more secure with the purchasing decision you were about to make.
Anyway, the interview with Mr Frey was very interesting and I was wondering what you guys thought about the current state of the music business.
Eggy