Chadnliz, the point is that if/when the album is ripped and posted, after that the sales are limited. If you are watching the bottom line, this is an impediment to doing big numbers. But- if you make LPs, smaller projects will be able to do bigger numbers and better overall.
Plus you get the benefit of better sound. Even 24-bit 88.4KHz recordings made from the master don't equal the finished LPs. |
Johnnyb53-I am new to HDTracks, but they include the liner notes and cover art as pdf files. Not the same as LP cover art. I remember fondly Yes, Pink Floyd, rolling Stones, etc, where cover art was one of the reasons for buying the album! A recent interview I heard with Herb Alpert with the cover of the girl in whipped cream and he said a lot of people never listened to the album before they bought it! Nothing will replace LPs in the near future. CDs are just not the answer. That said, Redbook done well is still great music, ti's just not quite analog. |
I understand that plus I wish your band well but IF someone is going to rip it anyway (which they will) then why not sell to everyone possible, your idea is only going to keep honest people honest......like a cheap lock. |
Chadnliz, here's why: you can hear our band and do a download at myspace.com.thunderboltpagoda (the cuts are from a live show), but if we make a CD, somewhere someone will copy it and post it online. CD sales will then be weak. This is what is happening with the major record labels.
Although by no means impossible, it is a lot harder to 'rip' an LP. This reduces IP theft. In addition, the LP sounds better, plus the kids think they are cool. One of the most popular bands in the Twin Cities did an LP with no CD release, and from what I have heard are already sold out on the first press. So **someone** is hearing their stuff...
A lot of new releases have either a download certificate an/or a CD included with the vinyl purchase. So far, LP is the best way to prevent illegal copies and at the same time give the best quality to the listener- win/win. |
06-17-08: Tgrisham
In the future, bands will only release online, by download. ... I downloaded a sampler from HDTracks. The quality is excellent. They will soon have 96KHz/24 bit downloads, DRM free. If you want a hard copy, burn a disc.
If they start getting the writers and graphics artists involved, they could offer a pdf of cover art and liner notes and recapture something we've lost from the LP days. That arrangement would be the best of both. I like the sound of 24/96 or 24/88.4 as MLP on my humble Oppo DV-980H. I can't abide 16/44.1, but 24-bit dynamic resolution and 88K or 96K sampling I can live with. Besides near infinite resolution of LPs, their other big advantage was the visual experience. CDs shrunk that to illegible miniaturization, and downloads eliminated it. If you added in quality commentary and graphics to accompany hi-rez downloads, you could approximate the album experience with the download advantages of portability and robustness. |
In the future, bands will only release online, by download. The Eagles release of their latest exclusively through Wal-Mart shows that only the bands in control of their own releases will decide how to do it. The internet is cheaper for the record companies, they make more profit. I downloaded a sampler from HDTracks. The quality is excellent. They will soon have 96KHz/24 bit downloads, DRM free. If you want a hard copy, burn a disc. In my view of the future, you can buy the LP for quality and/or buy the download for your computer based system. The production, packaging and distribution of CDs in "jewel" cases will be obsolete, due to cost. |
I dont understand why any band would only release on Vinyl, sure its cool and exclusive but its also a way of making sure you will never get the music to all those who may want it. |
Several bands here in the Twin Cities (including mine) are releasing LP only. Five years ago this would have never happened.
RCA had announced back in the 1980s that by 1987 they would be done making vinyl (boy were *they* wrong). In the course of 27 years, CDs failed to stamp out LPs (no pun intended). Obviously that will never happen either, though that is not to say that LPs will never die- it just that something better than CDs will be required. |
After 3 days of equivocating, I decided to take one more look at the R.E.M. LP at my local Fred Meyer, and guess what?
It's a 45-rpm release mastered on TWO 180g LPs! That was the clincher. Even though I'm not a huge R.E.M. fan, I wanted to celebrate the experience of buying a new shrink-wrapped vinyl album of a mainstream artist from a mass-market department store in 2008.
Even though it's 45rpm on 180g vinyl, don't expect it to sound like an Analogue Productions release. Even so, it is very quiet, reasonably dynamic, and sounds pretty good, though I'm aware of its digital roots. It also comes with the CD. Not bad for $26.99. |
The article in the cnn.com link about the resurgance in vinyl was in today's business section of the Nashville paper. The word is out. |
hi,
About 12 years ago I got divorced. I had shelves ( about 12 running feet packed with LPs ( jazz, classical, rock and folk). I BECAME TEMPORALY INSANE and when it came time to move I gave, yes gave, most of them to oe of the men on the moving van ( THANKFULLY I KEPT MOSTOF THE CLASSICAL SUFF). I could kick myself now. I thought CDs were more convient.
So now what am I doing .... buying vinyl wehaerever I can find it.
sigh,
Larry |
I also agree with the above statements about tape, but that day won't come again. Digital does keep getting better, esp. SACD and DVD-A. Again, it requires expert mastering and direct to disc with minimal eq. I was listening to Bob James/Dave Sanborn last night on LP. Then I listened to a CD of Dave Sanborn. Both were great, but the CD was quieter and almost as dynamic. New CDs are now costing $15 while new LPs are even more. It means that computer based audio is the future. |
I live in the Pacific NW, and yesterday I was out on errands with my 21-yr-old stepson who wanted to get a CD at Fred Meyer. When we got there, lo and behold, there was a shrink-wrapped 2-disc LP of R.E.M.'s "Accelerate" release, leaning up against the music dep't's cash register. The clerk didn't exactly know why it was there, but since it had a price tag and UPC code, I could have bought it.
But after reading the link, now I know how it got there, and I may have to go back and get that one.
Fred Meyer selling vinyl in the Pacific NW is like Mervyn's (in CA) or Target (anywhere) selling vinyl. It can't get much more mainstream. |
In addition to response of Neway317, it also means that more jack-asses who are would be record dealers are going to flood the market with more crap as well...let's face it, it's a crap shoot(your everyday sellers) or VERY expensive (reputable dealers) to collect the REAL lp's...AND if you're into searching for hot stampers, well, you just keep your fingers crossed.
To add to Tgrisham's statement, not to be too serious, but vinyl will NEVER be as good as the tape...it's a plain and simple fact...the Tape Project has a good idea, now they just need some musical taste!(I'll never hear the end of that one I have a feeling)...and CD's do have a lot of potential...D/A's keep getting better...but hard disc server type playing is a lot closer to a master sound IF ONLY THE FLAT MASTERS WERE NOT MESSED WITH AND RELEASED AS IS! Digital Audio is capable of reproducing ALL the dynamics, it just gets in the hands of idiots who think that over eq-ing is a remedy to dynamic loss that tape experiences over time...blah blah blah. |
Abucktwoeight- Score! I think that as the older audiophiles have passed on, their children have simply dumped their LPs at these stores since all they know is CDs. That's good for us. There will be a point at which there will be no more old great LPs available. The great news for me is that if the demand continues to grow, so will the availablity of new pressings. The mastering engineers that I read of are horrified at the compression and distortion of the new releases on CD. Let's hope that, like the "Director's Cut" on DVD releases, that we will eventually have the "Recording Engineer's Cut" on LPs. I want to hear the way it sounded to them in the booth when the album was first recorded. A pipe dream maybe, but hey, reality is over-rated anyway, so I'd rather dream. |
This past weekend I picked up the Carnegie Hall Library of Classical Music (18 boxes with 5 lp's in each box) for $25 at an antique store. These are quality Deutsche Grammophon and Philips pressings from the '70's. Look to never have been played. At another antique store I picked up a dozen excellent quality lp's for a dollar each. Seven of these look to never have been played. At the third antique store I found 2 box sets of Archiv Produktion J.S.Bach sets, still with the obi. The recording dates on one lp is 1961. Looks to never have been played.I can see these finds will become harder and harder to find. |
In the area of pop, rock, perhaps jazz, vinyl seems to be in demand. In classical, I think not much, and for good reason. |
The Barnes and Noble store in Destin FL. have removed most of their CD's from their store. Why I asked? "Because there is no longer a demand for them", was the reply. DVD's are selling so they have taken over the store.
Good riddance to theis poor format. |
Seems as though more and more folks "get it"...finally! This is indeed wonderful news for those that appreciate superior sound as opposed to convenience...long live vinyl. Now wouldn't it be strange if film cameras came back into fashion 25 years from now? |
This is bad news... It means that there will be more people fighting for cheap vintage records at thrift stores..
Glad I picked up all my Stones, Beatles, The Who at the local Goodwill this weekend for a buck a piece. ;)
If I see never another Rodgers and Hammerstein musical LP ever again, that'll be too soon. |
