"Low Fidelity: The Reality of the Record Business, circa 2013"

Here's a pretty funny rant from Decibel Magazine's blog by the owner of an indie record store.



http://www.decibelmagazine.com/diary/low-fidelity-the-reality-of-the-record-business-circa-2013/

My favorite bit: "Every time some a**hole on 'Pawn Stars' brings in a record that is worth good money, some hapless a**hole brings in a box of moth eaten records to my store that look like two wolverines f**ked on them and expects whoever they’re hoisting this sh*t on to pay out."

I just read an article in Rolling Stone a couple days ago that says the summer of 2013 has seen a massive drop-off in the amount of full-length records/CDs/downloads being sold. The amount is lower than it has ever been in the Soundscan (1991) era.

Only singles are selling.

I said it before, and I'll say it again: Since so many people are buying digital copies as opposed to physical copies, they should count digital copies in sales. If an album sells 1,000,000 physical copies and 3,000,000 digital copies, it should be credited with selling 4,000,000 copies.

Required Fields wrote:

I said it before, and I'll say it again: Since so many people are buying digital copies as opposed to physical copies, they should count digital copies in sales. If an album sells 1,000,000 physical copies and 3,000,000 digital copies, it should be credited with selling 4,000,000 copies.

Digital copies are counted. Please see the following page on the RIAA site:

http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinum.php?content_selector=criteria

Awesome, but too short!

"Even rarer is someone being o.k. with what you offer them. They will go around the store and pull the same records they are trying to sell and ask if they will be getting the amount they see on the price tag. Well, you need to make money to keep the lights on, which means you need to make money from what you sell. I thought this was taught in high school business classes. I always tell people if they want the most money they should sell online. This is generally met with bovine stares because they never thought the computer was for anything but cat pictures."

 

The reality that I choose to always ignore when buying CDs is that the format is dying or as I read in an article recently, it is in its terminal stages. I must confess that while I have played my part in keeping the CD alive, the vast amount of music discoverable on streaming services the likes of spotify makes it evermore so difficult to continue making a case for the physical format.

I really like music in physical format - that feeling cannot be replaced by streaming sure but where streaming wins for me is how accessible everything is. There are no waiting times, no odd packaging to deal with, no need to worry about finding where to store music, but most importantly the amount of very diverse music you can find all at your finger tips.

In a way it is unfortunate that we have gained all this unprecedented access to a near limitless library of music but along the way lost the experience of interacting with the music - from the feel of the phyiscal format, to talking to the experienced store clerks, to bringing the album home and feeling that initial excitement of unwrapping and playing the album for the first time in your home environment.

It is impossible to reproduce that feeling with streaming services. I am still not feeling entirely clear and comfortable with the streaming experience over the physical format experience, I find the former almost as a guilty pleasure yet I think as time wears on it will be more difficult to make a logical case for the physical format. If anything the CD has endured more than most would have imagined and will continue to do so for some time to come but the limitations of the format versus the near limitless possibilities offered by streaming services will eventually push the CD to extinction (but for perhaps very limited editions of new albums, much in the way of vinyl pressings).

The thing is, there are still plenty of albums and songs that arent yet in digital format. For example, i wanted to DL the W.A.S.P. song "Sunset and Babylon". I checked both amazon and itunes, and it was nowhere to be found.

Meh, I think I will stop buying music once there is no physical format available. To me, it seems like that's the point you're not getting a substantially superior product to those who download illegally.

However, I'm all for supporting the makers of the music. I'm just lost at how it works anymore. If a band puts money towards recording an album, I want to pay for my share AND end up getting something that is worth something. And no, a digital download is not worth anything.

And don't talk about concerts or buying t-shirts. Lion's share of that money ends up in the pockets of club owners and crappy clothes manufacturers who have no relevance in making the music. Unlike the producers, engineers and studio musicians who actually contribute.

^ Yeah, but... "CD's are outrageously overpriced!!!!!!"....hm..

Lari wrote:

Meh, I think I will stop buying music once there is no physical format available. To me, it seems like that's the point you're not getting a substantially superior product to those who download illegally.

However, I'm all for supporting the makers of the music. I'm just lost at how it works anymore. If a band puts money towards recording an album, I want to pay for my share AND end up getting something that is worth something. And no, a digital download is not worth anything.

And don't talk about concerts or buying t-shirts. Lion's share of that money ends up in the pockets of club owners and crappy clothes manufacturers who have no relevance in making the music. Unlike the producers, engineers and studio musicians who actually contribute.

i am with you on that.

I'm not sure you can discount club owners. I've talked to band members who say a lot of their money is made on selling stuff at clubs plus any cuts they get from ticket sales.

Lari wrote:

Meh, I think I will stop buying music once there is no physical format available. To me, it seems like that's the point you're not getting a substantially superior product to those who download illegally.

When you buy something from a shop, you are not getting a substantially   superior product to someone who shoplifts the same item. It just means you are not a criminal!  

I do agree with you though. I never really feel as though I have anything worthwhile with a download (even if the music is great) I love artwork, lyric sheets and to be honest the unashamed nostalgia of vinyl.

Having the actual Cd in my hands is why I still by them. I will continue to buy them. In fact I'm excited because as of October 1st I'll be moving to a city with a local Cd store.

That helps, having a cd store in town. Where I live we have a small one but it's pretty cool but when I go to Portland there are still 2 bigger music stores I go crazy in.