Thursday, December 9, 2010

Paying for Music

The record stores are on their death bed, and Steve Jobs is slowing pulling the plug with his wiry nerd arms.


I still regularly visit record stores like any other music fan. It used to be so that I could scare everyone on the way to the heavy metal section. Then when I got there, I would stand around long enough for another guy looking at metal CD's to see how brutal I was, by scoffing at every album of interest he picked up and looked at.

Those were the glory days. Now all the kids got the computers and the MP3 players and the iPhones and the whatnot. The steady rise of digital music distribution by the likes of iTunes, and Rhapsody, has in turn meant the steady decline of the record store. Nobody is buying CD's anymore, and I find myself more and more alone in that heavy metal section, with no one to play victim of my silent ridicule.

So to keep up with the times, my record store habits have changed. I still try my best to horrify the 2 or 3 patrons left on my way to that metal section in the back corner. After I arrive, I diligently flip through the titles for something that will grab my interest. Once I find one or a couple of albums that I think I would want, I put them back where I found them. As the cashier eyeballs the metal detector with hawk-like precision, I leave the store. I'm going home to listen to it free.

With the way the internet is set up these days, paying for music makes you a chump.

Now let's get one thing straight here, metal isn't a platinum selling act. There's no money in record sales, and if there is, not much is going to the artist, if any. The game has changed. The only guys who are suffering from a lack of sold metal CD's are Robert Kampf, Markus Staiger and Brian Slagel, and don't worry. They're all doing fine.

Metal bands in this generation have no issue with uploading their entire discographies for listen on Myspace Music. I also hard press you to have much too much issue finding hiqh quality tracks of practically any metal song of merit on YouTube. Uploading songs is probably against YouTube's terms and conditions, but it's pretty easy for metal tracks to fly under the radar. You're probably going to have a little more trouble uploading Shania Twain than you would Vader.

So if you're on your PC, I guarantee you that if you put enough effort into it, you'll find the song you want to hear streaming for free somewhere. If however, that's not good enough, and you want to own a digital copy of the music files on your hard drive or to put on your iPod or Zune... well, you know. I'm not really going to publicly condone anyway that you can do that.

If the urge to attempt to download music for free is too great, I will tell you this: There is no festering malware hole worse on the internet than the world of free MP3 downloads. It's like shooting heroin: if you want to try that illegal crap, you're doing it at your own risk of getting AIDS.

You will be able to support your favorite metal acts easily enough by going to their shows, buying their merch and spreading the good word about them. You shouldn't allow listening to their music for free effect your guilty conscious.



Sidenote: I had my advertising pulled on the main page because of paying tribute to a certain 6-year dead metal guitarist yesterday. Probably from what I can only assume was due to his colorful nickname. I pulled the post and I'm waiting to see if that changes anything. For now, enjoy the lack of ads and RIP Darrell Abbot. 

21 comments:

  1. i totally agree with you Brenocide.
    downloading demilich, which is already out of print and relevance to almost anyone, isn't gonna hurt the band,they make most of, if you could call it income, from touring. its pretty much unmetal if you don't download it nowadays. i like to think of it as archiving the long lost greats for future generations when the modern music industry collapses on itself

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  2. Brenocide, what if your a collector too? Having the whole Priest discography as a DISCography sure would kick a whole lot more ass than having that digitally downloaded as a torrent.
    What's your opinion?

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  3. Hahaha had that happen once at FYE, the only place that was sort of decent, it was fun to go and see all the albums and hold them in your hand. But bottom line it sucked, they never have what you want, it's all mixed up, screw that, thanks Amazon. Don't remind me of Tower records, fucking awful, then you have to be all awkward spelling out album names for the dickhead to special order and still never get a phone call! So they either didn't order it or it's going to take forever, fuck that! I still like to have the albums, but only a select few, i realize they don't get much so buy a t-shirt and go to the shows.
    ^ IIRC Maiden had a picture spanning the spines of their CDs when you lined them up, all the more reason to eventually buy all of those.

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  4. Dude I don't think you get it here. Sure, not paying for music is right, -when it is an established act-, like Metallica or Motorhead. But you talk as if every metal band in the world has money or can tour every time they want. No dude, it doesn't work like that, specially in countries like mine where art and music are barely lucrative. Paying for music is a good way to help this bands and contribute to the genre and keep it relevant. Specially since it is already difficult for metal to sell.

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  5. ^ This is the guy that said there would be no Black Metal without Kiss.

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  6. I already said what I was refferriing when I said that.

    Also, you probably don't live in latin america where having a metal band is hard.

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  7. Yeah, you were referring to the "style". You're still the single wrongest person to walk the planet.

    And right, because playing metal is so easy for the rest of the world. You clearly don't know what you're talking about with anything you say about anything. I'm going to have an amazing time choosing to ignore you for the duration of this blog. Have a nice life, and spend it doing some fucking research.

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    Replies
    1. How about you do some research? The reason why the metal artists are so talented is because their genre is so underground and nobody really listens to it and when people do listen to it, they are stolen from (generally). With this, they have to be talented in order to get people to come to their concerts and buy their music so they can make money.

      It's difficult to make money in such an underground scene.

      Delete
    2. How about you research how old the comment you're responding to is? Leave.

      Delete
  8. When did I ever say that metal was easy to play? How am I wrong with this? You aren't even arguing right now, instead you choose to ignore and insult me. Look, I like this blog, that doesn't mean I have to agree with you in everything. As I said, paying for music is fundamental for a metal band to continue, otherwise they would fail and be forgotten. And with the touring stuff, as I said, not everone can afford to that, and they need record sales to do it. At least that's how it works where I live where you barely get a record deal and a massive lack of support for metal.

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  9. For the most part, I do agree with you. However, if the package for the cd is awesome, and they put effort into that, I will buy the album. Maybe that is the old school part of me, is that I love the package with artwork, lyrics, and all that shit. I will download it for free or check it out online first, if I find that like a good percentage of the tunes, I will buy it. I know bands used to get about 0.37 cents per cd, but shit, if they put effort into it (sound, songwriting, artwork), I will buy for it.

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  10. "There is no festering malware hole worse on the internet than the world of free MP3 downloads."

    I'm pretty sure this is just another hyped lie straight from the RIAA that everyone mindlessly parrots even in the face of their own personal experience.

    In mine, for example, I have NEVER gotten a virus from downloaded mp3s. I don't think it's even possible. Hell, I've downloaded software along with cracks worth THOUSANDS without trouble, and this was before the existence of torrents.

    Maybe I just know what I'm doing, or maybe this whole "pirating puts you at risk from viruses" is a load of scare-mongering bunk. If you're that frightened of a download that nukes your hard drive, try not using Win2k with IE6.

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  11. I live in South Africa. Good metal bands almost never come here so I have to support them by buying their CDs (which I need to import).
    I like owning the physical thing and metal CDs usually have great artwork and the discs themselves are so pretty! I find bands I like through youtube and sites like this and if I like what I hear, I buy some of their albums.

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    Replies
    1. Watch out! there's a loin trying to get into your hut!

      Delete
  12. I always buy the album, fuck downloading. and believe it or not, buying t shirts and going to live shows barely helps out the bands

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  13. The only thing I see wrong here is the fact that if you buy the CD, the label gets most of the money, but if good bands aren't selling CDs, labels won't sign the bands. The reason there's so much shitty metalcore is because a couple shitty metalcore bands sold alot of CDs and the labels want other shitty metalcore to make them money. If the band is truly good, buy their CD so more good bands get signed. Having the physical copy with the booklet, lyrics, and artwork is worth it.

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  14. i do agree paying for music online is stupid. but i like to have my favorite bands album(s), it just nice to have them. nothing wrong with that.

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    Replies
    1. I refuse to download music online unless I can literally not get the song any other way than a huge dent in my bank account. It doesn't feel right to me for stealing from the bands I call myself a fan of.

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  15. Ugh in record stores metal AND pop are mixed together.

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  16. If 10 people buy an album that could feed a band member from the dollar menu.. why not buy cd's?

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  17. i worked in record stores for years,
    so i used to be against downloading.

    but there is so much stuff online youll never find in a store.

    now, if i REALLY like someone,
    ill buy their VINYL.

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All readers that post under the name "Anonymous" and are too frail and weak to represent themselves properly with a title, shall be deemed false metal poseurs for the remainder of their pitiful existence.