I’m 40, and when I was a teenager, EVERY band had CDs. And I know a lot of music has shifted to digital. So much so that I heard Best buy stopped selling CDs. Presumably because nobody buys them.
So I wonder what musicians sell besides t-shirts and posters at concerts. Do the kids have ANY CDs? Do they buy mp3’s? Do they just use pandora and spotify? Do they even own their own music?
I’ve given up on trying to understand the lingo. Other generations lingo sounds stupid to me, but still understandable based on context.
I have NO idea what a skibifibi toilet is…sounds like a toilet after some taco bell and untalented jazz, but maybe I can try to understand their thought process on media consumption.
I remember being in high school about 15 years ago and going to a show where a band was selling music on a flash drive. That felt so clever, since the world was just starting to ditch CDs at the time.
I didn’t really answer your question at all though, sorry lol. I don’t think many people buy. Some people collect stuff but it’s probably analog/vinyl, not CDs. Everything is just streaming over buying now.
Nkt exactly young anymore, but I would and I do. Music you don’t own can disappear any day on the whims of a company. I don’t like that.
I’m 38 and man, you sound like you’re 75 🤣
I’m assuming you haven’t been to a concert in a few decades? I went to see Pantera and Lamb of God about 6 months ago and the only merch being sold was overpriced t-shirts, like $45-50 USD.
That’s probably just because those are old acts that have the benefit of charging fuck you prices for a shirt. The last time I saw disturbed, their shirts were priced like that.
Other I saw alestorm and gloryhammer last year and the shirts were like 35, CDs were 20, and I got a rubber duck captain thing for like 15. mc chris had similar prices, but he also had a full discog flashdrive for like 100, and as much as I’d love to support mc on that, I have all but like 2-3 albums so it’s just not worth it to me.
40 meaning 49 years old
I think most are inclined to buy something like a t-shirt, but my girlfriend does collect CDs in the same way I collect records
I want to see a pic where you both lay out your whole cds/records collection out on a queen bed, or a king bed if you’re rich and fancy…but just lay all your music out on a bed and take a pic.
Some bands I see sell cassette tapes and vinyl records at their shows. These tend to be heavy metal bands. There’s a niche interest in physical media in music, and it’s mostly for analog mediums.
I like it when they do that and also give you a free digital download code so you get both.
I am currently still buying CDs for my Plex collection off of eBay, so for sure I would.
This might answer some of your questions. Music isn’t the same. It’s mass produced entertainment that we can browse at our fingertips with infinite options. Music devalued itself by being so accessible and throwaway.
I mean…it didn’t answer my question per se, but it was a great insight into where an industry is, and how they got there.
I saw a 12 minute run time on the video, and thought “I’m not going to watch this whole thing…”
But the man makes great points.
In the 90s, if you played video games, and you played an SNES RPG, those were typically very text heavy, story driven games. The memory on an SNES cartridge was very data limited. So you couldn’t have a 9,000 page script. It simply wouldn’t fit on the memory allowed.
So developers would write a first draft, and find out they were over limit. So they’d cut it down by 30%. Find out they’re STILL over the limit. Cut it down by 5% and NOW it fits. Just barely.
And what you ended up with was a direct, straight to the point story that hits its plot points in a very matter of fact way. You get an oversaterated story that makes sense, and is pure plot. They cut the fat.
What I’m saying here is that limitations are frustrating, and require more effort to work around, but they also breed creativity. And that seems to be the main point this guy is making now with music. Sinatra is dead, his music three quarters of a century old, and still feel timeless. He had barrels of creative limitations, and he overcame them.
Or, not discussed here is Bethoven. I’m not even sure he was ever able to record any of his music himself, but he recorded the sheet music. Which means anytime you hear Bethovens work, you’re technically hearing a cover song. Yet despite not having a way to distribute his music, his works are still timeless centuries later.
But this video discussed more about music production from the manufacturers viewpoint. Fascinating stuff for sure, but I’m more interested in knowing from a young consumers viewpoint.
Although, I will admit, his video reminded me of Green Day. Simply because my sister bought me my first CD in 1994. I was 10. It was Green Days Dookie. I can remember listening to that cd over and over and over, studying the box art and booklette, just like this guy said.
They sell tee shirts stickers vinyl and sometimes drum heads or tour eps.
Said the 43 year old guy
I almost always buy a vinyl. Great artwork, lasts forever, makes putting a great album on a special occassion.
Nah, CDs don’t make sense for me anymore. Nowadays I stream from Apple Music.
You buy stuff at a concert to support the band.
People go to the concert to support and see the band. Not everyone is able to double down when prices are the way they are.
Okay, I’m sorry. Please allow me to rephrase.
When one buys stuff at a concert, the intention is to support the band.
jfc
I’m not trying to be obtuse and I’m not against supporting artists. I’m just pointing out that a lot of people don’t want stuff they won’t use even if it does offer support. That’s why everyone will typically offer wearable merch. If you bought it based on how it looks chances are you’ll wear it. The reality is cds don’t get much use anymore, vinyls don’t travel and most people can’t tell the difference in quality or haven’t taken the time to notice it and will never unless taught.
CD? No, I can get mostly the same sound quality, if not better via streaming. Vinyl? Yeah because it’s a set piece. It’s a great conversation starter to have a cool collection.
Is a CD collection any different from a vinyl collection?
And Vinyl is also kind of a ritual. With taking it out of the sleeve and putting it on.
I’m not much younger & I’m not going to read the comments. They’re either ignorant, or they don’t care, or they’ll reflect my opinion. You need to stop & think – how do I get money from my hand directly to the artist(s)?
The artists receive very little from streaming revenue or CD sales (unless onsite at concert, maybe). The recording label eats up a lot of profits. So honestly I’d buy tickets, I’d buy merch at concert, I’d put cash money directly into their hand.
Anything else might be stolen by the venue, the recording label, the third parties, the goddamn United States government, etc etc etc.
I’m 32, I bought a cassette at the last concert I went to. (I generally prefer vinyl, but I don’t wanna buy a vinyl before a show starts cuz then I have to awkwardly hold it for the whole show)
I’m 22 and 240 months… And I wonder why not small USB sticks with m4a files on them… Maybe some behind the scenes footage and a digital poster or message/manifesto?
A) it’s a horrible idea from a security standpoint
B) all the anti-piracy groups would probably have a heart attack and attempt to shut it down in any way possible
C) it’s a lot more expensive for the band to pay for this type of distribution compared to CDs
D) it will most likely end up as e-waste
For point c, it’s actually cheaper depending on how they do it. One of my favorite artists, mc chris, has done USB discog sales for over a decade. He charges like 100 for it last I saw, but it’s also a custom USB along with having like 10-20 albums and Eps.
It would be much more expensive to press, bundle and package/ship that many CDs in comparison to a single USB drive. And since it’s also merch, point 4 is unlikely. He’s never cared about his music being pirated (and even has lyrics about his music being ‘forever free for the poor kids’, so B isn’t an issue either.
Option a is basically do you trust the artist, which one would hope they’re trustworthy, but they could also Sony you if they weren’t…
For point c, it’s actually cheaper depending on how they do it. One of my favorite artists, mc chris, has done USB discog sales for over a decade. He charges like 100 for it last I saw, but it’s also a custom USB along with having like 10-20 albums and Eps.
That’s pretty cool, but at what quality? MP3? AAC? M4A? FLAC? You don’t know until you buy it and plug it in, you know that a CD is going to be WAV files which is uncompressed audio mastered at the best quality possible, which you can then rip to your desired format. If whats on the USB drive isn’t FLAC, you’re limited to what they gave you.
It would be much more expensive to press, bundle and package/ship that many CDs in comparison to a single USB drive
It all depends on if you’re doing it yourself or if you have someone that’s already setup to do it as a business. After a quick search, I found a site that will do 100 CDs with inserts and jewel cases for $255, I’m sure the price goes down with the more you order. The same site offers custom USB drives with silkscreen printing (how else are you going to know what’s on it amongst all your other flash drives assuming you intend to keep it?) is $330 for 100, so if the artist is actually putting multiple CDs onto a single USB drive than it definitely is cheaper for them, but I’m not sure how many bands would actually do that.
And since it’s also merch, point 4 is unlikely. He’s never cared about his music being pirated (and even has lyrics about his music being ‘forever free for the poor kids’, so B isn’t an issue either.
That’s one artist, lots of artists care about their music being pirated because it cuts into their revenue, which they get very little of in the first place (referring to CDs, not streaming which is a lot better for them in terms of revenue). IDK how old you are, but I’m guessing you don’t remember Napster/Limewire/Kazaa. Also, a lot of the time it’s the companies that own the rights to the music that care the most because they’re the ones that get like 70% of the profits.
Option a is basically do you trust the artist, which one would hope they’re trustworthy, but they could also Sony you if they weren’t…
Ah, yes, the good old Sony rootkit.
I could see this being awesome but include FLAC and MP3 on a branded USB promo card like this:
https://www.logotech.com/technology/usb-flash-drives/usb-business-cards.html
I’m not a younger person but I used to collect vinyl and had to quit because the younger crowd got really into it and the ensuing popularity led to prices going nuts. 10 years ago it was crate digging for $1 records and new releases for $10-15 and now it’s crate digging for $5-10 and new releases for $40-60. Fuck that.
That said before I bowed out I saw plenty of artists also release on cassette and cd as well as vinyl. Those formats weren’t as popular as vinyl but still were popular, likely for one of the reasons I originally got into collecting physical media for cheap. The vinyl releases would be $40 but the cd would be $15 and the cassette would be $9.
Of course, you lose the other main reason which is the vinyl often has superior mastering to cd/web sources but I honestly don’t think a lot of the new releases are being listened to anyway. But that starts the whole diatribe about the new generation buying up vinyl to either never listen to it or to spin it on a shitty $40 record player that will wreck the disc over time. And people always looooove hearing about that lmao
The whole thing got really scummy too. The price rises were initially because the popularity caught labels off guard and pressing plants couldn’t keep up, especially during covid. But more have opened since then and they can press crazy amounts. They have just recognized they can gouge fans for $50+ dollars plus shipping for a single disc LP because they got away with it for a brief period. Plus then they quickly learned the hype tricks and now that shit is everywhere. Every album is “limited edition, only 1/3000” except then you look on discogs and there are 4800 registered. And then there’s 20 variants of the album for you to collect, show your support to Taylor or king gizzard and buy them all. It’s like funko pops except music. Don’t forget that there’s a limited run of 1000 signed copies! They’re not actually signed, they come with a little art card that’s signed and it’s probably signed by an intern but whatever, $75 for the album that’s normally $40 because you believe Olivia Rodrigo touched it for 3 seconds.
Totally gross consumerism but that seems to be what zoomers get shoved down their throats at all times. I thought us millennials got it bad because we had like constant product placement and advertising everywhere and boy bands and shit but man, they really fucked the zoomers even worse
Discogs keep pinging me new listing updates, only 111€ for a CD, last chance to buy!!!
