Bulletin Board Archive

Topic: FEAR of the FUTURE

1. Jul 7, 2006 11:48pm by NRG - livin the art that is life ! www.64111clinic.com fam www.nrginmotion.com massage www.myspace.com/nrginmotion world community Location: havenhouse KCK/ 64111 Clinic 4 Life
   from LefsetzLetter note: Bob Lefsetz is an actual person with tons of music business savvy, who sends out his thoughts in the form of letters. sometimes a lot sometimes fewer I enjoy reading his point of view. subcribe if you like him Gnarls Barkley sold nearly 60,000 CDs last week. It's not because people love the act, think it's here to stay, believe that Gnarls Barkley is the next Beatles, but because they love the SINGLE! "Crazy" is one of the best tracks of the year. But there's nothing else on "St. Elsewhere" close in quality or hookiness. So if we lived in a total digital tracks world, how much money do you think Atlantic would be taking in? BUPKES! For the first time ever, the record industry is not forcing a new format down customers' throats. They're not making the CD obsolete, people are WALLOWING IN IT! Maybe because they don't know much better. To make it clearer... How many people who bought "Crazy" at the iTunes Music Store still buy CDs? I'd say almost none of them. Sure, sometimes a file is an impulse buy. Sometimes people will buy the CD if they want EVERY track. But the point is, at some point in the not too distant future, people will only want files, and THEN what happens to album sales? Oh, don't throw the fact that "St. Elsewhere" is number two on the ALBUM chart at the iTMS at me. Because ultimately the iTunes Music Store only represents a SMALL FRACTION of the files acquired. People buying there are early in their digital music acquisition phase, caught up in the euphoria of their new iPod. Read the reports, as time goes on, people buy FEWER tracks from the iTunes Music Store. (http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/data/pali_download_q2_2006.pdf, http://www.slyck.com/news.php?story=1222). In other words, people are buying albums because it's a hangover, they still BELIEVE in them. But will they continue to do so? And what made "Crazy" such a hit anyway? Endless airplay (it's number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100) and TV promotion created awareness. It's positively OLD SCHOOL! Top down marketing. And it works, if you want to sell tonnage. And THAT'S why the major labels are up in arms. They don't want to see the old system go. One wherein they control the means of promotion and distribution and only a few acts are featured. Where the buy-in price is in excess of ten dollars. But that paradigm is crumbling. Now terrestrial radio is not the only way to be exposed to music. And many people are not even paying attention to the old forms of exhibition. In other words, the major labels are on their way to becoming marginalized. They're all about collecting the mainstream and distributing it at a high price. Where now the mainstream means less than ever and prices are going down, since people only want a single track. Oh, people will want more tracks if they BELIEVE in an artist. But most people don't believe in today's artists. Those old credibility and artist development saws have conspired to create this environment. Today's mainstream acts are phony, made for the lowest common denominator/casual buyer. In other words, if you're going to the record store to buy complete CDs you're positively old school. The landscape is one of evanescent hits and Grateful Dead trading. Either people want ONE THING or EVERYTHING! The everything business will be the gold mine in the future. -- If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter, http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1
2. Jul 8, 2006 01:41am by JDFlow - [url=http://www.my.rawkus.com/profile/jdflow]JDFlow on Rawkus[/url] [url=http://www.myspace.com/jdflow]JDFlow on Myspace[/url] [url=http://ccedistribution.blogspot.com/]Distribution & Marketing[/url] Location: Seattle
   Word, recently I was askin a friend who also owns an internet based business for some database advice for CCE. He had similar feelings about the direction digital media is currently going - "It's a great idea, CCE. The only problem is that CD's no longer hold a feeling of personal ownership when it's just as easy to find a friend who has it, or download it and burn it." Very TRUE. I guess the compact disc industry is really relying on people who [b:af13b5aab4]A)[/b:af13b5aab4]Can't afford an iPOD (which isn't many now that the $99 option is here). [b:af13b5aab4]B)[/b:af13b5aab4]True fans who actually want either the artwork or just to contribute to the artists sales. [b:af13b5aab4]C)[/b:af13b5aab4]People who don't have a computer or the internet (probably don't have much of a music budget, or they would probably have both). I'm sure there are others I'm leaving out. I'm not gonna lie, it's hard to drop $50 for three or four CD's when I know I can download them for free. Even more of a problem, why would I pay for them when I can get them free? They even got underground file sharing programs now! Dayum, takin food out a poor mans mouth, but in a consumer based economy when you say free the last thing people care about is how, why, or at who's expense. I guess you have two ways to look at it. Bad and good. The bad being the millions lost by labels independent and mainstream. The good being a musical revolution tearing apart the mainstream glam and putting it right next to the underground artist in the download circuit. Take it back to the roots of the music. Tour, live performance. I guarantee there are plenty of underground artists who's live shows rip the major artists apart, I've already seen a lot of them.
3. Jul 8, 2006 01:58am by MILES - [url]http://www.MilesBonny.com/[/url] Location: KCK
   [img:5be2988a76]http://www.falck-racing.dk/no_fear.jpg[/img:5be2988a76]
4. Jul 8, 2006 06:00pm by JDFlow - [url=http://www.my.rawkus.com/profile/jdflow]JDFlow on Rawkus[/url] [url=http://www.myspace.com/jdflow]JDFlow on Myspace[/url] [url=http://ccedistribution.blogspot.com/]Distribution & Marketing[/url] Location: Seattle
   BE AFRAID, BE VERY AFRAID!!! THE EVIL HAND OF THE INTERNET IS COMING TO TAKE ALL THE MONEY OUT OF YOUR POCKETS AND PLAY WITH YOUR DREAMS UNTIL YOU SUCCUM TO IT'S DEADLY GRASP!!! 👿 👿 👿 👿 👿 👿 👿 👿 👿 👿 👿 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆 this is obviously a joke, but seriously, if you have a plan of action then you need not fear the future. Just remember one thing. The hardest lesson of loss for a businessman is this "There is a difference in boldness and stupidity."
5. Jul 8, 2006 06:10pm by NRG - livin the art that is life ! www.64111clinic.com fam www.nrginmotion.com massage www.myspace.com/nrginmotion world community Location: havenhouse KCK/ 64111 Clinic 4 Life
   this letter is one persons' commentary take on now what's yours? no big bad wolf here just food for thought so what do you think
6. Jul 8, 2006 07:51pm by JDFlow - [url=http://www.my.rawkus.com/profile/jdflow]JDFlow on Rawkus[/url] [url=http://www.myspace.com/jdflow]JDFlow on Myspace[/url] [url=http://ccedistribution.blogspot.com/]Distribution & Marketing[/url] Location: Seattle
   You mean, beyond what I already wrote? OK I'd say that it's a known fact that history repeats itself. Over the last 30 years alone we've seen popular audio formats change drastically. Records, 8 tracks, tapes, CD's, mini-discs, mp3's and other digital formats. With the rise of iTunes, plus the countless other free file sharing programs and mp3 players I'd say it's only safe to bet that this will be the next popular media (it's already happening). Anyone here read technology mags? Major digital media companies are already building Smart Media Cards that are compatible with a new series of digital cameras, cell phones, home stereos, car stereos, computers, mp3 players & DVR's. You'll be able to have all of your entertainment on one card that's about 1/8th the size of a CD. I wasn't downplaying the "NO FEAR" or "FEARLESS FUTURE" replies with -"Know the difference in boldness and stupidity". It means be careful in a risky situation and make decisions based on facts. Example: Now would probably be a bad time to invest your life savings into getting your disk pressed. Once it hits file sharing programs your losing your ass everytime someone downloads it. You can only hope they like it enough to see your live show when you're in thier town. Wouldn't it be cheaper to sell as mp3's? Especially if you have your own website. Who's stopping you from starting a PayPal account and accepting funds in return for an email with mp3's enclosed? Will CD's completely die within the next few years? I doubt it, but I'd bet money on the continuing decline of sales.
7. Jul 9, 2006 06:04pm by Adru
   forget him thats hillarious wait till i start my new portishead/anthony keidis/nrvana/marcy playground/everclear/axle rose/everlast band-- "mary magdelline" ima make them love me yall aint ever heard me sing oh wait you listened to seed the joint about my boy just didnt comment hmmmmm......