AudioGalaxy shut down

Originally posted by MagiK: How is this bad for the music industry? I realize im uninformed since I do not utilize MP3's at all, unless you count the ones that are published in side the Computer games I play. It sounds to me like it was a move to ensure the artists and producers got a fair price for their work...I haven't followed this too closely since I usually buy the CD's I want. I read through that whole article and didnt't see anything unreasonable. Can someone explain it a little better for me?

Because Audiogalaxy & Napster etc, shift the power, from the record companies to the consumers and the Artists.
The record companies generally expoloit not only consumers, but also the artists.
And being the evil greedy Exploiters they are, the big record companies will fight this trend of shifting power to consumers & Artists and changing the market in favour of small dynamic and independent companies tooth and nail.
But in the end,The record companies are ultimately hurting themselves as well as consumers since this can only stifle and prevent the market from expanding in a more democratic way to the greater profit of all.
Since most people, when exposed to Mp3's tend to acutally by more records than they would have before, But one of the reasons for the fall in sales of C.D's, is simply that most people have now bought all their old record collection, and since the record companies stifle orginallity in their ceasless quest for profits, only the same tired old stuff gets revamped slightly and churned out again, and of course over time, this induces consumer apathy and falling sales.

Originally posted by Dramnek_Ulk: Because Audiogalaxy & Napster etc, shift the power, from the record companies to the consumers and the Artists. The record companies generally expoloit not only consumers, but also the artists. And being the evil greedy Exploiters they are, the big record companies will fight this trend of shifting power to consumers & Artists and changing the market in favour of small dynamic and independent companies tooth and nail. But in the end,The record companies are ultimately hurting themselves as well as consumers since this can only stifle and prevent the market from expanding in a more democratic way to the greater profit of all. Since most people, when exposed to Mp3's tend to acutally by more records than they would have before, But one of the reasons for the fall in sales of C.D's, is simply that most people have now bought all their old record collection, and since the record companies stifle orginallity in their ceasless quest for profits, only the same tired old stuff gets revamped slightly and churned out again, and of course over time, this induces consumer apathy and falling sales.

Ok...I can see your point there...except..how did napster and Audiogalaxy make sure the artists were compensated? From what I hear from the guys in the office, they aren't buying new media..they are just getting what they want online without paying anyone..and so it seems to me that that would be a bigger rip off than the record labels..at least the artists got something from the label but nothing from napster....it is a very confusing issue to me.

[ 06-18-2002, 03:53 PM: Message edited by: MagiK ]

[Grojlach]

I completely agree with Dramnek here. And yes, I'm one of those persons who didn't only start buying more CD's because of Napster/AudioGalaxy, but also expanded his taste drastically to a point that any billboard chart music is just not interesting at all anymore. Like Dramnek said, the record companies are only trying to place it the safe way and keep coming up with things they think the people want, the same old boyband/teenage singer/nu metalband/r&b or hiphopact/etc. over and over and over again. Cliche after cliche, and since many people's tastes are heavily influenced by the music which is often played on the radio and tv, these big record companies are actually deciding what's "hot" or not. The many bands who never get any exposure at all on radio and tv may get incredibly good album reviews, hardly anyone is actually going to head to the record store (in the hope it can even be found there!) to listen to a sample of the music, at least not as many people who get Britney Spears stuffed in their face day after day.
Now however there's suddenly the mp3, and even more interesting, the mp3 filesharing program. Music fans now have the ability to download those songs from artists (especially signed by smaller or independent record companies) they've read about but never really had a good opportunity to check out, because the acts from the bigger companies take up all the radio and tv airplay and/or the CD's are hard to find. People get to listen this hardly ever played music more often because of the mp3s and instead of buying the CD's the bigger companies used to stuff in their face, they decide to buy CD's from those smaller acts instead. Big companies get pissed and start lawsuits, while smaller acts get more publicity than they would ever had in the old situation.
Examples of bands of whom I don't think they would have become really big in the old situation: Rammstein, Blink 182, the entire nu metal wave. And those are just the acts which were overtaken and cloned by the bigger companies soon thereafter (and also acts I don't really like, but alas ).
As for myself? My taste has changed drastically over the past few years, starting 3 years ago with Napster, from middle-of-the-road rock to way more varied and experimental music. Only last month I have bought CD's from bands like Motorpsycho, Beulah, De Kift, The Notwist, Pavement, Queens of the Stone Age, And you will know us by the trail of dead, Sonic Youth, Sunny Day Real Estate, Einstürzende Neubauten. And earlier on CD's from acts like Seafood, Fireside, Godspeed You Black Emperor!, Sigur Ros, Fiona Apple, Autopulver, Caesar, Low, Sparklehorse, Pinback and Day One. And the list goes on and on... And you know what? Most of those acts I'd never even have gone into if there weren't mp3s of them available online. And I'm just one of many music fans...
And yes, Leonis, it's illegal. But if you just look upon it from a neutral perspective, it's only harmful for the big record companies who don't care about signing and promoting original acts but try to focus on the category of people who don't really like music in the first place, or are still too young to look beyond boybands or shameless coverversions of older hitsongs. The big record companies are the ones with the monopoly position when it comes to radio/tv airplay, and they like to keep it that way on the Internet as well.
Both Napster and AudioGalaxy have done miracles for the smaller record companies and many beginning acts, as it was the best publicity for them they could never have dreamed of in the pre-Napster period. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[ 06-18-2002, 04:45 PM: Message edited by: Grojlach ]

Originally posted by Grojlach: I completely agree with Dramnek here. And yes, I'm one of those persons who didn't only start buying more CD's because of Napster/AudioGalaxy, but also expanded his taste drastically to a point that any billboard chart music is just not interesting at all anymore. Like Dramnek said, the record companies are only trying to place it the safe way and keep coming up with things they think the people want, the same old boyband/teenage singer/nu metalband/r&b or hiphopact/etc. over and over and over again. Cliche after cliche, and since many people's tastes are heavily influenced by what is often played on the radio and tv, these big record companies are actually deciding what's "hot" or not. The many bands who never get any exposure at all on radio and tv may get incredibly good album reviews, hardly anyone is actually going to head to the record store (in the hope it can even be found there!) to listen to a sample of the music, at least not as many people who get Britney Spears stuffed in their face day after day. Now however there's suddenly the mp3, and even more interesting, the mp3 filesharing program. Music fans now have the ability to download those songs from artists (especially signed by smaller or independent record companies) they've read about but never really had a good opportunity to check out, because the acts from the bigger companies take up all the radio and tv coverage and/or the CD's are hard to find. People get to listen this hardly ever played music more often because of the mp3s and instead of buying the CD's the bigger companies used to stuff in their face, they decide to buy CD's from those smaller acts instead. Big companies get pissed and start lawsuits, while smaller acts get more publicity than they would ever had in the old situation. Examples of bands of whom I don't think they would have become really big in the old situation: Rammstein, Blink 182, the entire nu metal wave. And those are just the acts which were overtaken and cloned by the bigger companies soon thereafter (and also acts I don't really like, but alas ). As for myself? My taste has changed drastically over the past few years, starting 3 years ago with Napster, from middle-of-the-road rock to way more varied and experimental music. Only last month I have bought CD's from bands like Motorpsycho, Beulah, De Kift, The Notwist, Pavement, Queens of the Stone Age, And you will know us by the trail of dead, Sonic Youth, Sunny Day Real Estate, Einstürzende Neubauten. And earlier on CD's from acts like Seafood, Fireside, Godspeed You Black Emperor!, Sigur Ros, Fiona Apple, Autopulver, Caesar, Low, Sparklehorse, Pinback and Day One. And the list goes on and on... And you know what? Most of those acts I'd never even have gone into if there weren't mp3s of them available online. And I'm just one of many music fans... And yes, Leonis, it's illegal. But if you just look upon it from a neutral perspective, it's only harmful for the big record companies who don't care about signing and promoting original acts but try to focus on the category of people who don't really like music in the first place, or are still too young to look beyond boybands or shameless coverversions of older hitsongs. Both Napster and AudioGalaxy have done miracles for the smaller record companies and the beginning acts, as it was the best publicity for them they could never have dreamed of in the pre-Napster period.

Well said!

And just for the record, I listen to very underground music. I download 1 or 2 songs from Audiogalaxy whenever I read about an album that sounds interesting to me. Generally, I could not possibly hear the band before buying any other way. If I like the songs I WILL buy the album,(normally over the internet, as no shops in Australia will stock it) if I don't, I delete them. I own over 300 cds as proof of this procedure.

I'm sure there are people out there who download music and never buy, but I'm not one of them, and I believe that, in my case anyway, Audiogalaxy and other sites are simply giving exposure to lesser known bands that you won't hear on the radio.

As you can tell from my sig, I HATE commercial music. It's downright terrible.

Avi.

[Grojlach]

Originally posted by Aviendha: And just for the record, I listen to very underground music. I download 1 or 2 songs from Audiogalaxy whenever I read about an album that sounds interesting to me. Generally, I could not possibly hear the band before buying any other way. If I like the songs I WILL buy the album,(normally over the internet, as no shops in Australia will stock it) if I don't, I delete them. I own over 300 cds as proof of this procedure.

Yup... My CD collection is reaching ridiculous proportions as well now. You know it when you're getting a very obscure taste when you start ordering CD's online because there's no other way of getting them... [img]graemlins/uhoh1.gif[/img]

[ 06-19-2002, 03:27 AM: Message edited by: Grojlach ]

[flibulzbuth]

Well said Grojlach.
There's a lot of small, independant music producers who highly benefit from file sharing. These are usually the ones who give most freedom to the musicians, and the only ones not to take the artists' copyrights in their contracts.

[Sir Goulum]

Originally posted by Aviendha: All I can say is DAMN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I could always get what I was looking for there! Anyone got a good substitute?

This isn't the greatest, but try MP3.com. I'm not sure about it but I think you can d/l songs from there

[caleb]

But then she would only get willing artists songs and not illegal ripped ones...and wheres the fun in that

[Sir Goulum]

Originally posted by caleb: But then she would only get willing artists songs and not illegal ripped ones...and wheres the fun in that

Well, true true. You could get Limwire.

[The Hunter of Jahanna]

check out blubster.com. I downloaded it earlier today and it seems to be a pretty good substitute for audiogalaxy. So far it is better than Kazza or win mx