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The Future of Electronica / MP3 / Internet Radio...
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| Swamper |
Prior to the average person having heard about Napster, I (and thousands of others) used it as a tool to hear music we would never have been exposed to otherwise. Sure, there were raves going on - but I wasn't going to them - and it is not as if the radio stations here ever play electronica (maybe 1 or 2 in the wee hours of the morning, but that's about it)
Many seem to blame the recent drop in record sales globally on the proliferation of MP3 and people who "burn" their music instead of purchasing it. If this were indeed the case then you would expect there to be a direct relation between the # of individuals using music file sharing/peer-to-peer services and the decline in record sales. I don't have the figures handy (do any of you?) but I've seen them before and there is a discrepancy. The record companies are scrambling because they see no easy solution to this problem - no amount of marketing can aid in controlling the copying that takes place. What is to blame? Recording artists who are signed to multi-year/multi-album contracts who are come out with a couple of good songs and then have a bunch of other songs that are basically "filler". Consumers then are less likely to want to spend the $15-$20 to purchase it knowing that the majority of the songs are not worth their time - so, what do they do? They download them. While the dispute over "blank" audio cassettes and recording from radio in the 80s caused debate it was no where near the attention MP3 (aka the 'recorded' cassette) & the internet(the method of distribution) have received.
The media have been successful in demonizing "MP3" even though it, by itself, is nothing but a standard. This has led to many believing that anything that has to do with MP3 must be evil since it is "ripping off" the industry.
This may be true for mainstream music, but what about the majority of electronica? How many people can actually name the original producers / track names / remixers of popular tracks? Not many. Those that can are either avid electronica buffs to begin with OR live in a country where this kind of music receives significant airplay that has the person on the radio talking about the producer/track name - otherwise, how would they know? Consumers in North America are not willing to risk spending 50% to 100% more on an imported electronica compilation if they are not familiar with a) the quality of past releases in the series or b) the tracks featured on the CD
This non-familiarity with the producers of the music means that those producers themselves have trouble gaining a reputation for themselves on their own, they must rely on popular DJs to play their tracks and hope for the popularity to propagate. In the same way, having your track featured on a popular "compilation series" (say Global Underground, Tunnel Trance Force, etc.) will also gain you recognition - but on a global scale electronica has very poor proliferation.
In many parts of the world there isn't much electronica on radio, it's restricted to certain parties/clubs and it is up to the individual to seek out this music on their own. The strangle-hold/influence that the USA has on musical tastes worldwide is apparent - both from foreign countries buying into American TV programming and integrating some of their cultural practices (and musical tastes) into their own. This makes it even more difficult to promote electronica. How many 'popular' electronica tracks get produced by people who live outside Europe? Sure, there are a few notables in Canada/USA but if you put the numbers side by side you can clearly see the disparity.
As these European producers begin to age their tastes may begin to shift, many European countries have been exposed to Electronica as a whole for many, many years. North America is way behind music in terms of Electronica - but - will this ever change? How can it. It is becoming increasingly difficult for people in certain states in the USA (and some parts of Canada) to organize big electronica parties because of all the legal requirements AND the increasing rates that many popular European DJs charge to spin their sets. Their market price is mainly driven by European demand - I mean, why should they fly overseas when they can easily stay within Europe - less jet-lag, right?
So, if the demand for Electronica in Europe declines then it would make sense that some of the producers of this music would lose interest and move on to other endeavours in order to make a living - resulting in less and less new, quality content - and a declining interest globally as a consequence.
Point being, were it not for MP3 many producers would not have such a loyal fan following and many DJs would not be in enough demand to be flown outside of Europe to spin a set. Live DJ sets are a great way to get to know a DJ's style, and having a few singles from those sets spread around only helps to expose it to other DJs who go out and buy the vinyl to spin it themselves. Internet Radio has helped in spreading Electronica - but even that too is at risk now.
I italicized 'many' because there are people that have followed electronica for years here in Canada/USA prior to MP3s being widespread, but, those are only a handful of people in comparison
Sorry for the long message, but I just had this floating around my head all week. |
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| Orbax |
Yeah, good thoughts :)
I think the mp3 spread has definitely been beneficial to the electronica industry because it is hard to find some of the rarer songs on certain mixes and CDs. I played some Sasha and Digweed for my friends, and they all went out and bought CDs because they wanted a lot of quality music. Not weird remixes and stuff, they wanted the real thing. Countless times ive played a sample (sometimes thats all you can find) and people go out and buy the CD. NO ONE knows much about this genre, and its sad. Pretty much everyone loves it when they hear it, just the frigging media and government here in US make raves impossible like you said, and media makes everyone who listens to it a whacked out drug addict. The majority of people would still rather buy a CD, because most people dont know much about file sharing and burning. They have to have a "hook-up" to get their burned CDs hehe. US just looks down on partying and clubbing generally and raves and electronica are the serious epitome of that. I dont know what can be done, but I think the file sharing has gotten not only my friends, but me, into a lot of sub genres and DJs wed never heard of, and gone out to purchase a more complete set of stuff. |
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| Tranzlucent |
| Maybe the mainstream musik out now is , so no one is buying, and more people are listening to older musik they already have. If MP3's disappear, so will our favorite DJ's careers and money. I knew about electronica before MP3's, but never had the knowledge I had now. I don't think MP3's of electronica will ever die, because half the we listen to it white labels and live sets, and the more you look, the more is on internet radio. I'm not losing any sleep over it... |
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| Damo |
| Napster is what got me into good trance.... |
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| thewarpbrothers |
| this site and the boards got me into really good trance music |
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| trance[]control-fan |
| if it wasnt for Mp3 i would of been listen to other types of music...and listen to euro dance music and commercial crap...thank go for mp3 and the internet.... |
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| Carona |
| quote: | Originally posted by trance[]control-fan
if it wasnt for Mp3 i would of been listen to other types of music...and listen to euro dance music and commercial crap...thank go for mp3 and the internet.... |
I can say the same. I think mp3's kill the commercial stuff a lot but not as much as electronica. I wouldn't have bought all the cd's I have now without mp3's. I use to hate buying a cd and finding that I only liked 3 songs on it :whip: |
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| DaveC |
I do feel sorry for Mainstreem artists such as Britney Spears and the pop industry, because they only sell music on Cd, which can be easily burnt onto a cd with a cue file and covers printed.
But as for electronica artists, I think they should think themselves lucky that Mp3 files was created. Their main income is through the the sales and distribution of 12". Only commercial trance/electronica gets put onto CD. My Point being that thousands of people listen before they buy. Release groups do a good job of releasing Mp3's from promos (although they are gettin extremily big headed) and people are able to hear the music, if they like the music they will go and buy. All the 12" i have has been downloaded prior.
12" is expensive, especially the underground stuff which most of us are interested in. Most 12" i buy from JUNO.co.uk (which is a very cheap site) retails around £6.50 mainly because it is imported from around europe.
So people arent just gonna buy 12" not knowing what is on the 12". I wouldnt even buy a 12" from tiesto unless i had heard the Mp3 first. Sure his prior releases are excellent, but take his remix of Kosheen -Hungry, what a load of cop that was!.
So basically im saying....
Mp3's are being used as great promotional tools to electronica artists. Without their being mp3's for electronica, especially Trance i believe that 12" sales would decline IMMENSELY.
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| trancaholic |
| quote: | Originally posted by Swamper
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As these European producers begin to age their tastes may begin to shift, many European countries have been exposed to Electronica as a whole for many, many years.
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So, if the demand for Electronica in Europe declines then it would make sense that some of the producers of this music would lose interest and move on to other endeavours in order to make a living - resulting in less and less new, quality content - and a declining interest globally as a consequence.
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I think we are seeing this already. After all it's been litterally *years* since we last saw an anthem of "Café del Mar"/"1998"/"Orange Theme"/"Lizard"/"Age of Love" standard. Personally, I feel less enticament to go out and buy CDs these days, as mostly the tried-and-tested producers seem to have run out of steam/fresh ideas. Examples could be RMB, Yves Deruyter, Push, Ferry Corsten, Taucher, Tiesto, Armin Van Buuren etc. All have released below usual standard stuff the last couple of years - and I don't see fresh talent emerge to replace them. Furthermore, I don't see a lot of new fans entering the electronica world today, perhaps underlining that we are in a quality-crisis.
MP3s might be helping to slow down this development, or maybe they are only helping brand-DJs (like Tiesto) get recognition in the entire world instead of helping unknown talent. I think MP3s of new and/or obscure tracks are mighty hard to get hold of. Sure, if you are going for the newest PvD track it will be all over Audiogalaxy, but if you need some wicked remix of some Ricky LeRoy track you're in for a challenge.
What would be needed - in my view - is a site where you could download *every* track known to mankind in ty quality (like 96kbs), and then purchase a good quality version if you liked it. At least that way, I would start spending more than 25$ a month on music. |
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| DJ_Bod |
I couldn't agree with you more.
In fact, Napster is what got me interested into what exactly "trance" was. Cuz I liked electronic music, and I just typed in "techno" into Napster. The thing I happened to download was a set called "DJ Tiesto - Live at Magik VI Amsterdam" :) This totally blew my mind. So I investigated it more and more. And thats what really got me into the whole electronic scene.
I am glad for MP3s because its opens up the door to music that I never would have otherwise.
Bah, That makes no sense, but I alreadyt yped it all, so I'm gonna post it. LOL |
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| webmeister |
I've posted thoughts on this before, but there is a lot of evidence that suggests CD burning and MP3 trading are not directly responsible for declining music sales.
The music industry has long been guilty of price-fixing, and it seems this practice has finally caught up on them. Also, music companies make their biggest profits on album sales. Which is why they don't sell any singles - it costs roughly the same to produce a single that retails (in oz anyway) for about $AU10-15, than it does to produce an album that retails for $AU30+. And the imported double CD stuff, like Ministry of Sound crap can get as high as $50-$60.
But if people hear a song on the radio that they like, most people won't mind buying the single - you know what you're getting. But you can't buy the single, only the album, which is 2-3 times the price, and you don't know if you're going to like it. So you go home without buying anything, and download the track :D
Bingo, there goes another sale. If record companies actually knew how to cater to a market rather than just selling what directly makes the most money, they wouldn't be in the fix that they are now.
Note: if you want to read something that'll make u vomit, check out Why the RIAA thinks CDs are "great value!" Incidentally, I like the way they talk about being able to listen to CDs anywhere etc, which makes one wonder why they're starting to develop and sell CDs that can't be played in computers. I also like the way their sales figures end conveniently at 1996, just when all the price fixing began.
Makes you wonder, eh? |
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| Taz |
| quote: | Originally posted by trancaholic
I think we are seeing this already. After all it's been litterally *years* since we last saw an anthem of "Café del Mar"/"1998"/"Orange Theme"/"Lizard"/"Age of Love" standard. Personally, I feel less enticament to go out and buy CDs these days, as mostly the tried-and-tested producers seem to have run out of steam/fresh ideas. Examples could be RMB, Yves Deruyter, Push, Ferry Corsten, Taucher, Tiesto, Armin Van Buuren etc. All have released below usual standard stuff the last couple of years - and I don't see fresh talent emerge to replace them. |
Not to bring back a dead thread, but this quote's been on my mind for quite a while. A slightly bigger issue than whether or not to shave your balls. :rolleyes:
I'd like to know how many of you check out the amateur producers' forum here. Yes, I hear you, "It's all newbie crap!!" but anywhere you go, 90% of what you find is crap and 10% is PURE GOLD. Sometimes the 10% is right in your face, sometimes you have to look long and hard for it.
If I'm not mistaken it was MP3.com that helped break PPK and Astral Projection big. Even as bad as dot-con are, they're a decent resource and they're going to hang around - they settled all their lawsuits (F**K YOU DEBBIE!!) :p
| quote: | MP3s might be helping to slow down this development, or maybe they are only helping brand-DJs (like Tiesto) get recognition in the entire world instead of helping unknown talent. I think MP3s of new and/or obscure tracks are mighty hard to get hold of. Sure, if you are going for the newest PvD track it will be all over Audiogalaxy, but if you need some wicked remix of some Ricky LeRoy track you're in for a challenge.
What would be needed - in my view - is a site where you could download *every* track known to mankind in ty quality (like 96kbs), and then purchase a good quality version if you liked it. |
Yep...but the question is what level of underground would that site reach down to? There's the middle ground of imports on small labels, then right below it there's do-it-yourselfers who, for all we know, could be half the white-label presses; and right at the bottom is an unfinished track in joe nobody's bedroom. So it all depends where the line between super-rare release and "starving indie" is drawn.
Of course it's all about quality, but that's only determined once you get to hear it. |
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