Hobo_Jojo

lol

corradoboy

Let the record industry crash & burn. Along with the media broadcasters they've devalued music to the point of self-destruction. It takes so much effort to find quality music these days that I no longer bother. My TV is full of Blue, Busted, Gareth, one Spice Biatch or another, some bint from Neighbours or gaggles of warbling karaoke bimbos who can't hold one note, so flit between a dozen to cover it. My radio is full of monotonic halfwits, talking about drivel to a sampled Bontempi organ. When I occasionally stumble across a sincere musician, who's in the trade through a love of making music, not money, or simply enjoys entertaining people, then I always buy their stuff in a nieve bid to support and encourage quality musicianship. The bulk of the music buying public seem to have fallen for the mass marketed shallow devoid garbage fed constantly to us by those who think it's what we want to hear. I think they have wildly missed a huge market. Teenagers with the musical taste of a baboon have a tiny profit potential, and yet their taste is catered for 24/7 by the media on every channel. Most of my friends are 30+ with large wads of disposable income, and cannot find a forum for their tastes (except for Bob Harris late on a sat night, and the odd Jools show). When singles sold millions and albums 10's of millions, they quality of the music was many leagues above what is fed to us incessently these days. If the BPI want to up their profits, they should maybe look at their own business strategies than those of an excellent company like CD Wow. I used to buy between 1 and 5 albums a week, and have many £000's of hi-fi gear to enjoy it on. But somehow it all seems wasted these days, as I've simply not got the time or enthusiasm to search out the stuff I want to hear, as it's all hidden away on late night radio, obscure digital/sky channels or in mag reviews that I don't have time to read. To sell it, it must be heard, and if the TV shows Fast Food Rockers 70 times a day, that's 70 missed oportunities for promoting something which just might sell a million, instead of the 5000 it takes to hit no.1 these days. I fill my life with other interests these days, as music has lost its way, and will probably never recover while the likes of Simon Cowell breathe.

All IMHO

Long live CD Wow! Down with the BPI.

corradoboy

Just realised how much I typed . What a bore

Dracoro

I'm with corradoboy!

I download (free) the odd track that I wouldn't buy anyway, bit cheeky but no-ones lost anything as I wasn't gonna buy it in the first place. However it may get me interested in the band and I might then go buy the album.

Also there are many tracks that I want that I CAN'T buy in the shops as the record companies decide to not sell them. What choice do I have, not have the song at all? That's not good for the artist as their music isn't being distributed.

Asda etc. being cheap is no good to me as they only stock chart crap, which in the whole world of music is a small minority.

Major record companies are killing the industry. They get rid of limited market appeal bands. They're interested in the profit of the band, not the music that they bring to the public. Independant labels are being bought up leaving the small bands they have with no record label as they drop them.

The charts are so full of crap (they always used to have a fair bit of crap, but now, it's overwhelming) that many people who don't have that much time to search out bands are giving up listening to music radio channels and TV shows and thus aren't getting to hear about new exciting bands.

There are still a lot of good bands writing and playing good music out there, they just aren't getting the exposure anymore.

Hobo_Jojo

oh and th likes of cdwow dont stop new bands developing, the music industry does that by having moulds groups have to fit before they sign them (in the majority) self release stuff can be far far far superior

MattN

On the subject of downloads, to me, it smacks of grey imports. Look how that went, they spent millions trying to stop it, then accepted it was here and joined in and everyone was happy.

If the record companies provided a fast inexpensive site so that you could download (high quality) songs you may not want to go out and buy (older stuff, you know, you like a track but have to buy an album for £17) but, for the sake of a few quid would download. Then they should invest in that, rather than waste millions trying to police the internet, and use that as a reason for making CD's more expensive!

corradoboy

There is iTunes Music Store, but you can only use it if you have a US billing address so far. I believe the Ausie version is starting soon with the UK later this year. $0.99/download with printable artworks. 30sec sample clips. PC version available from Apple

dba

Musicians deserve to be paid,i don't see why its anymore complicated than that

as for downloading so you can "try the band" and you "wouldnt buy it anyway" well,25 years ago we went to gigs and tried the bands,and the musicians at least coulod buy a packet of soya mince

I saw Def Leppard amongst others before they were big,they needed gig money to get going (ironically,i think Leppard have been the biggest sell out ever and i hate them now,so maybe not a good example)

the whole "music for free" thing is a p1sstake imo

pslewis

Well, I think we should support the poor record companies - they work damned hard for their outrageous wages

And poor Victoria Beckham needs a new croc handbag - so, please, stop moaning and help contribute!!

There was a time all music was free, the fella that turned over a hollow log once and knocked a beat out!

I reckon we should just pay them what we think they are worth - have an auction on CD's and DVD's .... let market forces dictate!

As long as the wonderful New Labour get their cut I don't care!

Pete