Are you reading the forums? Weird. Me too.

[jebreject]

I'm firmly of the mind that the destruction of the record industry is both necessary and desirable.

[elpollodiablo]

Yay!

[diesel_powered]

I'm firmly of the mind that I don't want to go shoot some shit for somebody right now.

[The_Tourist]

I'm firmly of the mind that the destruction of the record industry may cost me my job.


but that it is both necessary and desirable.

[jebreject]

Sorry Tim, it's nothin' personal

Basically by "record industry" I mean the dying dinosaurs that are the gigantic multinational record companies that are largely driven by profit motive only.* The album is a dying format for the majors and they need to adapt (quickly) or they're gonna be fucked.^† I think music-as-mass-market-commodity isn't going to go away any time soon, but the way it's sold is going to be changing considerably, and I wouldn't be at all surprised to see a push (back) toward the single (in the form of a digital download [and ringtones?]) as the main format for mainstream artists. It's cheaper, has a higher profit margin, and is a better fit for the no-attention-span-whatsoever Myspace generation. The album is a pretty recent advent anyway, considering. Really though, this is all neither here nor there, as it was an off-the-cuff comment that I didn't really mean much by. I do think though that for music-as-art to thrive, the business models that refuse to see music as anything but a money-maker need to go away completely. Whether this will actually happen or not, who can say; it's not particularly likely--as long as you can make money on something, there will be people looking to do just that. (Just as there will always be pockets of resistance.)

Wow. That's an awful lot. Apparently I will take any opportunity--no matter how ridiculous--to pontificate. And use footnotes.

*And I know that a lot of the A&R people and even execs genuinely love and care about music, and I don't mean to say that these people should be left by the wayside; there will certainly be a place for them in whatever new model does appear, though of course it's hard to really say what's going to happen next.

^†I can't see the album dying completely--independent/boutique labels I think will begin to thrive for this very reason. Smaller bands that would have a harder time relying only on digital downloads and merchandise sales will need the album, though I'm not sure that CD has much more of a future. Labels by-record-nerds-for-record-nerds will be the go-to guys for bands and fans alike who like the album format, particularly vinyl. It'll be really interesting (or perhaps tragic) to see what this is going to mean for record stores.

[elpollodiablo]

OH NOES NOT AGAIN

[jebreject]

Yeah, except this is not in any way a filesharing argument. Come on, this shit is fucking interesting.

[Ah_Pook]

jeb how do you feel about the changing roll of major labels in this brave new world of tomorrow let us discuss at length

[jebreject]

Oh FFS guys.

[elpollodiablo]

jeb I was just being facetious; you know I find this shit fascinating

[Ah_Pook]

but jeb wait, what about this new fangled digital distribution ive been hearing so much about? let us discuss at length.

[jebreject]

Was only sort of funny the first time, Pook.

[Ah_Pook]

im just bored you know, just postin some posts

[Ah_Pook]

but i figured if i could stem off a serious discussion on the topic it was all worth it

[jebreject]

I judge about 75% of the posts on this board on whether they're funny or not, so I mean, there you go.

[jebreject]

I JUST WANT TO BE TOLD THAT MY ANALYSIS IS THE CORRECT ONE

[Ah_Pook]

do you keep track of my posts in a database and update my funny/not funny ratio on an hourly basis? because that would be great, we could compare charts and so forth.

[guanajuato]

i always kinda liked supporting folks like david geffen. it was like i owned a piece of his sandy beach.

[jebreject]

Oh, totally. Geffen is a really interesting dude.

[jebreject]

do you keep track of my posts in a database and update my funny/not funny ratio on an hourly basis? because that would be great, we could compare charts and so forth.

I wish I had the time for that!

[The_Tourist]

i know it's nothing personal, ebbers. i agree that things have to change and are definitely changing (at this point i couldn't say whether it is for better or worse).

and you're right about what you're saying. singles, digital ep's, mixtapes, those ringaboogaloowhatever cd/ringer things, etc are what is being released by the big guys these days. breaking artists are making more money off ringtones than they are album sales. forget 40 minute albums, people can barely pay attention to a 3 minute song and prefer the 30 seconds of noise coming out of their little cell speaker.

things are messed up and weird. people are making less money off everything, paying less money to everyone, and jobs are disappearing. the great business model shift might be happening pretty slowly, if at all, but everyone (especially from the inside) see the steady slide down the hill of the business in general and are starting to scramble.

i'm not really saying anything new, i just get to see it more up close and personal than the average person.

[elpollodiablo]

I have to take a geography quiz on the US map & world map today, and I'm playing with one of these online flash map quiz thingers. Way fun!

[Lucy]

link plz!

[elpollodiablo]

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/web_games.htm

This one's just capitals and states, but still: fun!

[jebreject]

Tim, what is it you do exactly, if you don't mind my asking?