Is albums a thing of the past?

[tallcoolone]

I predict it will be people over 50 that still want full albums and space taking cd/records

And once we are all dead all music will be AI

 

[RaceU4her]

And once we are all dead all music will be AI

Well like I’ve been saying, I can’t wait to tell some ai generator give me an album with Hendrix on guitar, Bonham on drums and Cornell singing, and Jimi’s rig is a LP into a diamond nitrox. Let’s combine the old with the new for something cool. Fuck whatever happens when I’m dead lol

 

[VonBonfire]

And once we are all dead all music will be AI

The world will get what it deserves for killing us with modeling amps and IR's.

 

[rsm]

one look at the grammys over the last several years has proven we didn't need AI or digital guitar gear to destroy modern music.

the record industry did it the old fashioned way, finding something simple, with wide appeal and low cost, that makes money and duplicating it ad nauseum

 

[blackba]

When has a platform ever cut off an artist for no reason?? I’ve never heard of this happening

I didn't say for no reason, I said at anytime it can happen. A quick google search shows that a number of artists have cut their music off of Spotify to protest. You don't have to worry about that with physical media. The risk is much greater with streaming services for Movies and TV shows.

There is room in the market for streaming and physical media. Both have their drawbacks and both have their value and you have pointed out the value of streaming in this thread and I agree with those points, its great to be able to dig into someone's catalog right away.

 

[Little B]

I couldn't resist, but there is truth in this and can totally relate

 

[Hiwatts-n-Gibsons]

Seems like they are just an overpriced business card now but one that you still need to have for promotional purposes. I'm thinking about turning out one, maybe two, full length records and then just releasing singles digitally after that but I'm not sure it's acceptable as an industry practice or not. I got the next record more than half written right now but still gotta do a lot of tracking.

Seems like the whole business is in a transition right now but no one really knows what the future brings with A.I and digital streaming. Even for the big names albums don't sell very well anymore. People just buy the songs they like digitally or stream them. Almost no one has a CD player these days. I gave all my CD's away a few years ago. I only been printing my band CD's in batches of 100 for this reason otherwise I'm just sitting on boxes of them. I'm getting more streams than physical sales, which means zero dollars. Ten years ago I moved about 250 units with a lot fewer gigs while I was still in Tampa bay. The last record I moved about 50 since last October and had quite a few more gigs to get it done.

I'm guessing since guys are a little older here on average there are still a few CD enjoyers. How are the other band guys on the board doing things? Any music listeners wanna chime in with some feedback? Is the big $$$ for printing vinyl worth it on the sales end, more as a collectible/souvenir/or audio enjoyment? I haven't tried that. Thought I would ask for some opinions. Thanks to anyone who cares to voice their thoughts.

I like to buy vinyl directly from the artists online store or at their shows these days. Seems like the one way to actually support them.

I maybe bust those albums out a few times a year, but even when listening on streaming if I'm not browsing for new music I tend to put on whole albums vs shuffle.

 

[TheGreatGreen]

I like vinyl because they can last a century and nobody can take them away from you when they decide to replace an album with a shitty flat sounding remaster for legal reasons.

FLAC is king for digital listening, and as long as your files are backed up and don't only exist on a single drive that will lose all its data when it dies, you'll have a music collection that will last as long as the format will be supported or can be losslessly converted to whatever newer standard might come along later.

Vinyl and FLAC files are where it's at. Streaming is convenient but not exactly reliable.

The biggest problem I've found with music files on a computer is finding software that makes sorting through them as fun and interesting as sorting through a real record collection. Double clicking files in a stark white folder in Windows Explorer isn't exactly inspiring.

 

[DanTravis62]

Vinyl for home

CDs for the car

For both the stuff I listen to

And for the stuff my bands produce

 

[romanianreaper]

It is all about the experience. It is like having an ice cream cone in front of a Mom and Pop shop on a Saturday afternoon. Yes I can Doordash ice cream snd sit on the couch, but life is about the experience.

I want to go to a small show and meet a band, buy their vinyl and have a beer and talk about rock and roll. I'm tiring of conveniences. They create lazy people and lazy bands.

 

[VonBonfire]

I'm in my 60's and I can't remember the last time I bought a CD. I run my computer audio through a stereo receiver and good speakers and I listen to music on YouTube.

This is mostly what I do too Johnny.

Spotify can’t even stream an album on my damn phone without jumping to other album’s songs and other artists before I’ve made it past three songs anyway. I think it sucks.

I have my stuff on spotify. It doesn't seem like a very artist friendly platform and they send junk emails to my inbox that I have to delete all the time. I log into my account once every couple of months cause checking it mostly seems like a waste of time.

I think the most legitimate plays I've gotten were from my youtube and from youtube channels with more subscribers than my channel that have re-uploaded other people's music onto their own genre dedicated account. Likes and comments there seem to help do better than "tWenTy nInE mUnFlY LiSnErS" on spotify who as far as I can tell are anonymous. I'm not sure there is a way to interact with them. Apparently spotify pays more than the other platforms but we are talking pennies so the whole thing is a waste of time other than the fact that the CD printing service basically set the account up with me. I guess I'll see how the next release goes when I can build a small buzz behind it but the platform as a whole doesn't really strike me as something blues fans would use.

 

[fantom]

When has a platform ever cut off an artist for no reason?? I’ve never heard of this happening

https://www.engadget.com/2019-04-04-google-play-music-artist-hub-shuts.html

 

[DanTravis62]

https://www.engadget.com/2019-04-04-google-play-music-artist-hub-shuts.html

Yeah this literally happens all the time

Can't say anything that doesn't support the intersectional shitlib orthodoxy or you'll get deplatformed and maybe de-banked

 

[RaceU4her]

https://www.engadget.com/2019-04-04-google-play-music-artist-hub-shuts.html

ive honestly never even heard of google play, which im sure is why they parent company google are doing away with it for youtube. im sure youll be able to find whoever you are looking for on there on any of the streaming sites where you can download the songs if you'd like, is that really gonna scare you to start buying cd's?

 

[Hiwatts-n-Gibsons]

It is all about the experience. It is like having an ice cream cone in front of a Mom and Pop shop on a Saturday afternoon. Yes I can Doordash ice cream snd sit on the couch, but life is about the experience.

I want to go to a small show and meet a band, buy their vinyl and have a beer and talk about rock and roll. I'm tiring of conveniences. They create lazy people and lazy bands.

Exactly!

 

[fantom]

ive honestly never even heard of google play

So it must not exist.

Google Play is the Android app store. It is effectively iTunes for Android users... That article would be the equivalent of kicking independent artists off of iTunes so they could migrate iTunes to Apple TV.

 

[RaceU4her]

So it must not exist.

Google Play is the Android app store. It is effectively iTunes for Android users... That article would be the equivalent of kicking independent artists off of iTunes so they could migrate iTunes to Apple TV.

Not sure where I said it didn’t exist, I don’t use an android. But cool

 

[tallcoolone]

This is mostly what I do too Johnny.

I have my stuff on spotify. It doesn't seem like a very artist friendly platform and they send junk emails to my inbox that I have to delete all the time. I log into my account once every couple of months cause checking it mostly seems like a waste of time.

I think the most legitimate plays I've gotten were from my youtube and from youtube channels with more subscribers than my channel that have re-uploaded other people's music onto their own genre dedicated account. Likes and comments there seem to help do better than "tWenTy nInE mUnFlY LiSnErS" on spotify who as far as I can tell are anonymous. I'm not sure there is a way to interact with them. Apparently spotify pays more than the other platforms but we are talking pennies so the whole thing is a waste of time other than the fact that the CD printing service basically set the account up with me. I guess I'll see how the next release goes when I can build a small buzz behind it but the platform as a whole doesn't really strike me as something blues fans would use.

I’d love to check out your stuff

 

[mentoneman]

I couldn't resist, but there is truth in this and can totally relate View attachment 435872

amen.

i’m so over modern pop and metal i’d take this any day (tele solo at the end

 

[Stumplegriltskin]

I gave up on guitar and albums. I spent a lot of time and money with the band in studios and merch. Basically nobody up here likes hellbilly music. So I threw in the towel. Can't stand playing guitar by myself, so got rid of all that gear. So now I make beats with electronic shit and scratch. I am thinking about making an album nobody will listen to and sell merch that nobody will buy. Need a couple venture capitalists or private equity firms. If anyone is interested in funding a dead end project, LMK.