Tobbin, great reply mate!
This dialogue has got me thinking about various issues on the matter. What you say about needing to sample before bying is very true, as is the quality issue. The CD/Video idea is a great one. I don't know why they don't do it more. Multimedia CDs do exist, but they are rare. In late 2000 I produced an album to raise money for a school (commissioned by their music department) that contained Video footage, but it's definitely in a minority.
In answer to your great songs point I reckon there's more than one answer to that. The first is, the artist possibly think they're great songs (LOL) and that taste is in the ear of the listener.
On a more serious note and to the point of my reply, the fact that you can buy music, in my opinion has lead a detrimental effect on the writing and production of music. Because music is competing in the marketplace, not only with itself, but also against films, videos, books, sport, plays, games etc etc. it has to follow market principles if it is to survive. Those being image, packaging, product awareness, value, placement etc etc. ultimately shifting music from an ARTFORM into a marketable CRAFT.
Make no mistake and please note what I'm saying: Much 'art' is made from music. Such beautiful artistic works exist in abundance, but in my opinion these exist IN SPITE of the music industry rather than supported by it. (I'm not saying anything original here by the way)
I realise this perhaps contradicts what I said in an earlier post that music needs money to be created, and it does. I stand by that statement. The negative effect caused by demands placed on the music to pay off that investment seem to work inversely to the benefits gained from the luxury of time, gear, players and everyone else that that money buys. The risk factor.
In short I'm thinking if the net enables artists to distribute work, and somehow they make some sort of a living from it, it'll be a beautiful thing.
No artist needs to sell the ridiculous volumes that get sold to survive. The example being bands that record their own CD themselves and own it, making a larger margin than those on a record company roster. With a larger margin Cds could come down in price and make buying some not such a big deal.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts guys. I'm still formulating my own opinions on an issue that potentially affects my profession greatly.
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